Today- Weighing Babies!!

Today was awesome! I got my “hands” dirty (by which I mean feet, because a baby peed on them). The RCH trainees went to Vikon, a village quite near my own future village of Djigbe, and weighed babies! It was really fun. Hectic, but the moms were way into it there so it was encouraging to see. Some of them were so fat they were almost too big to fit into the sling! It’s funny cause we plot their weights on a growth chart for each baby so the mom can see the month-by-month trajectory for her child’s growth for the first three years, and it’s supposed to facilitate a discussion about malnourishment or just praise that the mother is doing well, but some of the babies were beyond the “healthy weight” category. There must have been about 75 mothers and babies there. We split into two groups of 7 volunteers and weighed all of them. Then one of our facilitators asked for a spokesperson to speak to the chief of the village on behalf of our group so I got up and thanked him for allowing us to come into his village and learn about babies’ health.. I also said something in Goun, not sure what but a PCV whispered it to me beforehand, so when I said it they all laughed including the chief. Must have been a good thing. It was a really enriching experience. I came home and Carole and I went to the Yovo store, la Championne or something like that. It was nice- I got 6 rolls of TP (thank god for buying in bulk), some weird marmalade to try (it’s delicious), some soap and a pack of cigarettes, just cause. We then stopped at a family friend’s home and they gave us a cold beer which was amazing. Now I’m at the cyber café and quite sad because although the speed of the internet is good todits of americana. e lots of good ones to share! I’ll try them on Facebook and see if that works. Miss you all and love you!

P.S. If you are dying to send me something, items on my wish list include: face wash (anything that exfoliates- don't care how cheap!), candy, pens, a ped-egg or some kind of foot file, a loofah (seriously- this one's important as I can't seem to wash the dirt completely off, ever), and other little bits of Americana. Or just call me... that's on my wish list, too : )