my name is mama joel

our time in the villages has been very special. i had hoped to go to the villages to watch the health groups being conducted but had thought i would stand at the back and be anonymous.

lesson no. 1 you cannot be anonymous in an african village. did i think they might not notice john and i? it's not just the colour of our skin. our mannerisms, probably the way we smell the way we sit and eat are so strange that have proved to be better than television. John and i have had to get used to having a row of children sit in front of us and stare at us or, more distressingly, have a child scream in terror at the sight of us so that we have had to step back while the child is comforted by the parent

lesson no. 2 it's hard to get even the simplest of things right. did you know john and i are hilarious? we have been practising the simplest response to the basic greeting and have rarely got it right. our pronunciation, the order of the words and our inappropriate sequencing (we often answer that we are well before we are asked) are cause for hilarity. i think the word gets out that there is great entertainment going on at the teaching and the more bumbling our efforts at courtesy the more people turn up to experience us saying good morning

lesson no. 3 despite our differences there is more that binds us together than keeps us apart. everywhere we have gone mothers have wanted to care for their children the best way they can. they are hungry for information that will ensure a healthy future for them. the easiest way to establish something in common with people is to share something about our family. people are very interested in the fact that we have 4 sons and 1 granddaughter with another one on the way. parents take their name from their firstborn child so in the groups i have been introduced as mama joel and john as baba joel. being introduced that way certainly drew a different response than being introduced as kristine and john. it seemed that if we could identify ourselves as parents they could make more sense of us as people.

the naming can become a little confusing because after the child's initiation (which we will explain to you in more detail when we get home joel) the child takes a new name and the parents are then known by that new name. hmmm. what shall we call joel. i've always favoured felicity

it has been great to watch the way the mothers care for their children. they have their babies and toddlers at their sides continually. they are breastfeeding for long periods and the kids look healthy. we've taken some great photos of babies at the breast. one of my favourite moments was when mama dave slung her baby onto my back and tied him on with the cloth. he rested with me for quite a while and it felt perfect.