Akaa is amazing. The children remind me of cherubs with ebony skin that just follow us around everywhere because they are infatuated with the idea that people can be the color of the clouds. Now that I think about it, there’s nothing here that is the color white. Everything is coral colored because of the dust, or green because it is lush and living. And then there’s us. Clouds in a coral sky.
Last night we arrived and had many hands helping us carry our gear into the village. Everyone carries everything on their heads. Novel idea…it is SO much easier. Of course, they can balance everything so they also have use of both hands. Us bumbling tourists, however, cannot and use both hands to balance things on our beginner skulls. For dinner, we ate fried yams and chicken. The yams are like french fries, but so much better, especially with ketchup. The villagers made a fire for us that we all took turns jumping over. Daring. Symbolizes us taking a risk. One of the biggest risks I’ve ever taken. One of the team members here, “Rasta”, has dreadlocks that fall past his butt. He told us the fire-jumping was an Akaa tradition…it’s not. But now it is! One man from another village came to drink and to see the white people. He ended up stark naked jumping over the fire before someone took him away, hopefully to sleep it off. The chief brews his own gin which we tried as a sort of welcoming ceremony. It was the strongest thing I’ve ever put in my body. Sleeping was fine. It was actually a little chilly. No bugs because of my wonderful mosquito net. We woke up around 6:30am because the roosters start crowing and making so much noise you’d think they were getting strangled. The villagers get up even earlier to head to the farm and to complete chores such as getting water. We showered from a bucket in our lovely shower stall and then went to the school.
Today, I worked with Davis. We made a little progress writing his name while I guided his hand, but the comprehension part is non-existent. I wonder if that could ever change and if it has something to do with the language barrier, on top of his condition. We also worked on counting on his fingers, but his fine motor control is too weak to get past the number two. His attention span is extremely short as well, so that was difficult. It is challenging, but he is starting to listen to me and it seems he is willing to try to learn.
This afternoon we are going to walk down to Umbrella Rock.
Visit Dana’s personal blog to hear more experiences and stories: http://danalfeit.wordpress.com/
Akaa is amazing. The children remind me of cherubs with ebony skin that just follow us around everywhere because they are infatuated with the idea that people can be the color of the clouds. Now that I think about it, there’s nothing here that is the color white. Everything is coral colored because of the dust, or green because it is lush and living. And then there’s us. Clouds in a coral sky. 
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