July 16

There are always a lot of (fairly) healthy people waiting around the hospital, because families are expected to cook for the patients (over open wood fires), wash clothes by hand, and take care of the patient's basic needs. But it doesn't take all day to do that, so there are lots of people basically hanging around all day with not quite enough to do. This little boy needed a bath, some clean clothes, and some shoes! But at least he had something to eat. He was with his mother, who I recall also had a baby on her back, and the entire family was probably there just in order to take care of someone. At night, if there happen to be empty beds, the families will grab those and sleep in them. But if the weather is nice and the hospital is pretty full, people sleep outside on the grass or on woven mats that they own.

The other picture is of the mission garden. A lot of our food comes directly from here but they supplement with meat and cheese that is bought in the capital city (Kigali) on regular trips that the staff make there. We have plenty to eat, and often I feel guilty about all of the people near here who may only have one meal per day. Someone told me that it takes about 500 francs (just under $1.00) in daily earnings by laborers in order to buy food for a meal. If you don't find work and don't earn 500 francs today, you don't eat today.

Notwithstanding all of this poverty & occasional sadness, the grown-up expats got together tonight for games, thanks to Eric and Jennifer. Usually I am not big on games and not very good at them(!) but entertainment is so hard to come by here (no TV, no movie theatres, no restaurants, no wine bars, no dinner parties) that this was a huge treat. We played for hours and stayed up late. We didn't have any formal games or cards, but we used paper & pens. People recalled games that they had played and what the rules were. One game was like Taboo (Tabu?) with a twist. Another game was called, "what were you thinking?" - I don't think I can describe it briefly enough to write here. At one point we all sat around and counted how many countries we had been to. I had been to 18 countries, but there were two people tied with 35 each. Apparently I need to go to Dubai, because most everyone had already been there! A very fun evening :)