Tababoos go to Kania

Friday

Today we traveled into the bush, and visited a village called Kania. We were going to experience the village life, but also in order to see the clinic there. The village is a lot more primitive and spread out than in Kabala, and their exposure to the outside world is extremely limited. As a result, when white people come to the village, it tends to attract a lot of attention. In Kania, they speak Koranko so we were called "Tababoo." At one point when we got out of the car the children that had gathered to see us, quickly ran away. They peeked around corners but would not come close. We got out our cameras and snapped a few photos to show them, and after that we were all best friends. They love to see their faces on the screen and often break out in joyous laughter as they look at others who have made funny faces. Even the older women of the village wanted us to "snap" them. It seems we made quick friends with Kania.

After a while, they welcomed us with lunch, and we tried our first hand at communal eating. The meal consisted of rice (of course) and palm oil and chicken soup (bones, gizard, feet, etc. in all). The soup is poured over all of the rice, and then is set on a small table that people sit around. In older times, we are told that they would have used their hands to eat, but we were lucky to have spoons.

After lunch, we visited the clinic. It was donated by a foreign country and consisted of 4 small rooms complete with 1 nurse and sparse supplies. There was no running water and no electricity (though there were wires running to the building). Patients were also sparse. Apparently in the villages and other rural places fancy clinics are often not even used becuase they are not sustained and the staff and medicine is not trusted. As a result they usually revert back to native medicine for help.

We returned to Kabala in the afternoon using the bumpy road that we came on. Apparently it has been much improved, but our teeth are still rattling from the ride!