Wednesday, March 8, 2006

Dogoloya

A CARE staff explaining CARE's projects with the youth.

After breakfast at the Kabala headquarters on Wednesday, the Kabala CARE staff shared why they were excited to have us visit: to gain a new perspective on their work.

They explained that three years after the civil war, most people from the area had moved back into their villages as Kabala shifted from a state of crisis to a development mode. Kabala CARE staff have since helped villages and individuals restore livelihoods and promote social reintegration and human rights.

CARE Kabala’s major projects seem varied and critical to the successful redevelopment of the area. Through the child survival projects run by the Community Health Clubs in each village, CARE staff members teach leaders in the community methods of disease prevention for children. These local volunteers then teach their communities simple techniques to prevent the deaths of their most vulnerable such as using mosquito nets to fight malaria. After their training sessions, CARE staff members monitor the sharing of this information to ensure quality education. A similar CARE-sponsored workshop series trains local adults how to teach youth about sexual matters. CARE monitors school activities and community discussions in which adults help children understand the risks and responsibilities involved in sex. [ read more... ]

How can I even begin to do justice to this day? Trying to capture its richness is futile. From 7:00 a.m. until now, 11:00 p.m., non-stop activity. And a small village called Koromasilaya and the people who know themselves as Koromasilayans have won me over.

The whole village gathered to dance under the moonlight.

I have just returned from dancing under the moonlight on the drying platform built by the entire village with CARE's help. Women and men, teenagers, elders, even babies came to dance, many of whom wore colorful traditional local dress, which for women is a colorful patterned skirt with a matching head tie. Others wore foreign tee shirts; one little boy wore a shirt that read "kiss me, I'm 40 and over the hill." A drummer led the group, the women sang in unison, song after song. Wow, these women have rhythm- their feet moved faster than my camera could focus, their heads perfectly still and controlled all the while, their arms out to their sides like wings guiding them in flight. Even the babies danced along. It was one of the more astounding things I have seen. Villagers dropped contributions into the drummers' bowl to support his profession and ensure that the music continued. Jurist, Amelia, Clare, and I were inducted into the community one by one through dance. I entered the circle and received clapping from everyone- prompted especially by the beautiful woman who I befriended right after lunch- the one in the giraffe print dress with the pearl necklace and blue head wrap. When I had told her that I loved the way the headscarves looked, she promptly untied her blue wrap and put it around my head. Touched by this spontaneous gesture, I gave my CARE baseball hat in exchange. [ read more... ]