Copied from my journal: Home visits with Mama Sara

I wrote pages and pages in my journal while we were in Tanzania, which was time consuming, a little tedious....and now, two months later, unspeakably valuable to me as I try to hold onto as many details and memories as I can of our trip. This blog post is an excerpt from my journal reflecting on Monday, June 28, which was our first workday with the Fribergs after our first night at the hostel in Mto wa Mbu.
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28 June 2011
It is hard to think about where to begin telling today's story. My heart is full to overflowing, and it's hard to find the right words.

The easy things: I slept better in my tent [here in Mto wa Mbu] than I did in any of the hotel beds [during our first three nights]. Quite peaceful, save the avocados falling from trees that sounded far more like baboons falling out of trees! So loud!

We began the day with devotions with the clinic staff. We met some of Dr. Steve's nurses and other staff. I loved watching him really in his element. We all shared hymnals and did our best to join in singing...our Swahili is more than a little, well, underdeveloped.

Mama Sara and Bethany Friberg

For the morning, I was part of one group that went into the village to do home visits to AIDS patients. We went with Mama Sara (Maya Lomayani) who is this amazing woman - schoolteacher and pastor's wife, a beautiful, happy, graceful woman with a huge heart. We wandered with her toward town, learning some Swahili vocabulary, watching the baboons along the side of the road, fending off vendors, crossing the aqueduct along the side of the road via a narrow, rickety bridge, and trying our best to keep from stepping on sleeping dogs and the chickens that were constantly underfoot.

Our first visit was to a young woman named Rukia, who lived with her mother, Zubeta, in a small, two-room mud house. Zubeta greeted us and ushered us in, pushing us back into the bedroom, saying, "Sit on my bed," and finding an array of stools and seats so that we could all sit and visit together. Mama Sara told us about just how sick Rukia had been, and how thin she had been before she finally was tested for AIDS. She told us how improved she was now that she was on medication. So surreal: here I am, sitting on a bed, squashed into a tiny, dark, dusty bedroom, sitting between Matt and lovely Rukia, being cared for by two women who have next to nothing, who were quiet but absolutely pleased and grateful for our presence. There was a surprising lack of cultural divide.

Visiting Rukia (red bandana) and Zubeta (purple headcovering)

Our group outside of Rukia and Zubeta's house

Our next visit was to Agnes, a 20 year old woman, HIV-positive, with twin 2-year olds: Hamisi, who has both HIV and heart problems, and Hassani, who is healthy. They lived in a tiny hut, built by her neighbors and on their land (at Mama Sara's urging) after her husband had died. This was a quiet visit for us. Agnes was heppy we wer there, certainly, and happy just to watch us as we stuck stickers all over Hassani, as he sat in Sara's lap and played with her necklace. He was also fascinated by Mike's watch and Matt's ring.

Agnes and Hamisi

Mama Sara and Hassani

From there, we walked to our last stop, all the while trying to have Sara help us bolster our Swahili vocabulary. She was very good and patient with us! She also, throughout our walking, encouraged us in our looking and question-asking.

Walking with Mama Sara

Our last stop was to a woman named Mariam, who lived with her son, Abdallah, and her father. Abdallah is nine, in second grade, adorable and polite, and was proud to show Jan all of his schoolwork and the high marks he was receiving in school. Mariam is HIV positive, but Abdallah is not. She was the most talkative of all the people we visited. She told us of how she was diagnosed with HIV after Abdallah was born, and how she moved back here with her family when she learned the news. Her father himself is quite sick - typhoid or malaria, probably. We went in to visit him, and in a horrible and awkward moment, we accidentally broke his already-rickety bedframe. We quickly took up a collection among our little group to pay for the repairs. He barely noticed, he was so frail. He hasn't been eating, and refused to speak, and it was heart-wrenching to leave him.

Leaving Mariam's house - Abdallah is the kid in the white shirt, clinging to Mama Sara

Truly Sara does amazing work - part nurse, part community organizer, part pastoral care. An amazing woman.

She took the other half of our group on visits after lunch, and then joined us for dinner. She thanked us deeply for coming, and for the work that we are doing. As is the custom, we offered our own words of thanks back to her before giving her some serious hugs she left.

The afternoon group - hopefully they will post some of their own stories soon!

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I wonder if I will ever see Mama Sara again. Since our trip, she has emailed our group, updating us on some of the people we visited and asking for our continued support. Hopefully we can find meaningful ways to continue to partner with her, even from the other side of the world!

Peace,
Melissa