week 10

This would have been the beginning of my intensive Chichewa but last week Anne-Marie (the woman I was going to live with and learn from) got malaria and was completely wiped out exhausted. So my stay was postponed until the 17th. This threw up some problems in my mind due to my visa but it looks like it will all work out…we’ll just have to wait and see. So I continued my sporadic and helpful visits to Beria who was very surprised to see me…
I was feeling kind of itchy and a bit odd so I decided it was time to pop some pills and make sure Africa hadn’t gotten to me in a bad way…plus there have been a few people who have gotten the lake bug (schistosomaiasis). So I had taken the pills home as you are supposed to take them 3 months after swimming or possible infection but then I’d come back without taking them. Tuesday I decided was the day. So I popped 4.5 Proziquontel in the morning. About 15 minutes later I was really dizzy…room kind of spinning…so I went back to bed for about an hour. The rest of the day I was still a little off (queasy) but it didn’t stop me much.
The epilepsy clinic was busy! Well the whole clinic was busy. There were at least 48 total patients-half of which were there for epilepsy. And the halls were packed. I would take patients out after the dr saw them and then the translator would explain in the middle of the hallway…I kept pointing out that there was an unused room behind him but he wouldn’t move into it…oh well. It kept me pretty busy. Most of the patients seem to be doing much better on the medication (thank goodness) but they often fill out the book differently from the story they are telling us…some of the books are confusing…but when they take their meds they should mark that…and in another column if they have a seizure that day they are to put a mark…some are getting it very well. Some start well but when the month changes (new page) they stop or start doing it wrong. Some don’t get it at all. One family started very well and then there was nothing in the book. She did say there had been no seizures but we had to ask about if she was taking the medication since it wasn’t marked—it wasn’t marked because she had nothing to write with in the book…
Wednesday we went to another prayerhouse. This one was Chigodi. Much closer than the last (3km maybe and down the paved road). So we met at Abusa’s house at 8…left around 9. We walked toward the junction planning on taking a minibus when James Veitch drove by on his way to town. Nice ride down the road. Klaasje and I thought we would be back before lunch since we were so close to nkhoma and the last actually meeting minus travel time was about an hour and a half. Same little meeting in the back room as we waited for people to gather. Learned the Chichewa word for farmer—mlimi. So now I can say mlimi alima chimanga (the farmer grows maize). Abusa then said that there were no people here so maybe we’ll just go—there was a funeral and it is the beginning of the harvest and a good sunny but not hot day…there were some elders there so I asked if Klassje could ask her questions and they had some of the answers. Then Abusa said that he would say a few words to those who had gathered (a group of about 18) and then we would go. 4 hours later he stopped talking. As visitors we sit in the front of the group facing them—not really a good place as we don’t understand what is going on, the translation for us isn’t very interesting after the first hour…but there we were. Once again discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the congregation—they want abusa to visit more regularly, they aren’t tithing (again not just money but harvest is good tithe), people leave before services are over, elderly aren’t coming…and then abusa went over these (I think about 3 times at least). Nsima lunch when finished and then it was time to head home…walked a little way on the road before getting picked up by a passing vehicle.
I learned my lesson with the prozyquantel and took my albendazol (against worms) at night before bed. No side effects that way—or at least I slept through them. That was Thursday night. And then Friday I started my rabies shots…
Friday I went to the synod office to get a letter for my immigration permit. Hopefully this will ease all the immigration troubles I might come up against. But I’ll have to find out what they are looking for…I’ll apply for a Temporary Employment Permit though I’m not employed. I went to ask them about a Technical Assistant Permit but they don’t know it and think that this will work better. So we’ll see how it goes. Then off to visit some abusa who might be able to help me with the youth work as in one of the presbyteries there is already a program “girls for jesus” that I could look at and see if I can work along with it…but none of the abusa we went looking for were there—they were all out visiting prayerhouses (at least that is what I got from the conversations). It was a bumpy drive along lots of dirt roads, very scenic and a nice ride…(I was glad I wasn’t driving as the road was quite bumpy…we got stopped by the police at one crossroads…when they found out we were going to a church they asked for bibles. The only ones we had in the car were in Afrikaans. (before we left james was wondering about his license which they had taken in town the day before because it needed to be renewed but then they didn’t give it back that day…when the police stopped us they only asked for the truck papers—not personal ones!)