A quick post

I just wanted to write a quick post before the craziness of this month catches up to us. We've had a great couple of weeks at site. They told us coming into Peace Corps that the "highs" will be high and the "lows" will be low, and they've been right on the money. I'm sad to say that I've really put off my responsibilities with the nutrition center that brought me to Karaga because the preschool was taking up all of my time. We've had the last month off of school, so I've really been focusing on getting lessons together for the moms who come and stay with their malnourished babies. They've been going so well! I've been focusing on the importance of eating a variety of different foods (not all starches), malaria prevention (since it's the rainy season and the mosquitoes are ridiculous), HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness, family planning (I was at the clinic and a 26 year-old woman came in who was giving birth to her 9th baby, and only 4 are still alive), and the importance of breastfeeding. At first the women were quiet (my counterpart was helping me translate), but after the second lesson they were laughing and asking questions. It was just beautiful! The thing that always bothered me about the center is that we would rehabilitate the babies, but send them home without any proper "health care/food" education for the moms. Many of the babies (upon a home visit a few weeks after they came to the center) would lose the weight again and be right back where they started. I'm hoping to continue these lessons with my counterpart in the hopes that eventually he'll teach the lessons, if I'm there or not. It's nice to be somewhat busy....makes the time go by faster!

Cameron has a pretty awesome month ahead of him, which he'll tell you about next week, so check out the blog in a few days.