June 10th and 11th - Internal Conflict

Pic 1 - The game of Bao. This was a dirt version... some boards are
carved ornately into wood.
Pic 2 - The Weaver's shop, with Joyce, our guide.
Pic 3 - An Old man that we met at the Leprosarium. He and his 6
friends were working together to make a little bit of money by selling
small reed brooms. We bought a few from them and threw in a little
extra money.

Sorry for the lack of posts in the past few days: evenings
have been busy with either world cup finals or meet and greet with
other students at the TTCIH. I'll catch you up on the weekend.
This past weekend was a great couple of days for a number of reasons.
The first of which was our visit to the Leprosarium, a complex of
buildings that is only a few minutes' walk from here. We went with
Joyce, who we've got to know really well over all the breakfasts and
dinners we've eaten at her house. She took us to a weaver's shop on
the way there, where the owner took some time to show us how they used
the old fashioned looms to make all sort of fabric for bedding,
curtains, kitchen etc. It was neat to get that feel of local products
being made by hand in the old-fashioned manner. We all bought a few
things to support her business.
The Leprosarium both wrenched and lifted my heart when I saw the
institution. The staff weren't really around, but we were greeted by
an old man with a big toothless smile, two milky white sightless eyes
and a complete lack of fingers or toes. It was a shocking first
exposure to leprosy, but the warmth of his smile was humbling and
great to see. He was happy to chat with us for a couple minutes and
welcome us to the place he now calls his home. We later watched a
group of men afflicted with leprosy play a game of Bao, which is a
confusing array of nuts piled in small cups in a board. We have no
idea how it's played or how you win, but the old men seemed to really
enjoy it. Again, the contrast of emotions was evident, as the old men
had no fingers with which to grip the nuts and had to rely on younger
men to make all their moves for them.
The toughest part of the visit came when we went to see the old
women's dormitory. 7 women, most of whom were blind, were sitting on
the concrete in a small shaded courtyard. None of them had full use of
their hands or feet and most had to crawl on their knees, callused
thickly from too many years on concrete. They have the help of a
nurse, but life must by unimaginably hard for them: I could see it in
the wrinkles and creases of their weathered faces. Perhaps on par with
the cases of polio we've seen here, advanced leprosy seems like a
monstrous disease, slowly and unforgivingly stealing what function
these people have left. Thankfully this center seems to take good care
of these patients and provides them with some dignity in the remaining
months or years of their lives. I'm glad I was able to witness this
center and some of the people it is trying to help.
On the way back to the TTCIH, we passed through a community where 30
children were sitting around watching some girls play basketball,
although the net was only a small reed bent into a circle and tied
onto the top of a wooden pole. We stopped and a few of us even played
around for a few minutes. I totally dominated those kids… they had no
chance. I made them all cry and then brought out the smack talk. Ha.
Nah, it was great, and afterwards Jeff brought out a couple balloons
he had and they went nuts playing with it, then they went nuts when I
brought out a couple Canadiana bouncy balls I had brought for just
such an occasion. Kids are awesome.
Sunday was spent relaxing, doing my jail-house workout with water jugs
(watch out P90 X), swimming in the pool and playing Frisbee. We caught
the final of the World Cup in the bar on the compound with a few other
students. Great weekend.
Pic