One of the University of Pittsburgh students asked me what I’ve noticed about people’s responses to death here. During his month here, there have been several occasions where people seemed almost blasé about a death, even in times when the person was a close friend or family member. He wondered out loud if death and illness are so commonplace that one has to quickly move on, and said that he has had to check himself a few times when he too quickly accepted various outcomes of poverty and health disparities as “normal.” I noticed that in myself the other day. After interviewing Fani, I looked at the hut next to us and saw a child lying in it. I asked Mara if I could take a picture and took several. The little girl is lying on a cloth on the dirt floor, staring at the camera with a blank expression. There’s a pink plastic bowl nearby, with remnants of nsima I think. She hardly moved in the time it took me to take the photos. I’m going to ask Mara about this child when we go back there on Saturday, and don’t understand why I didn’t at the time.

I should say something about the comment I made about the three orphans we interviewed last week. A couple people have brought up the point that all three, and especially the boy, might have been shy to talk about HIV transmission. I agree, and think that it’s probably the case that they didn’t feel free to speak openly about their knowledge or lack thereof. However, what worries me is that it really seemed that they didn’t have a clear understanding of ways to prevent the spread of the virus because of the disjointed way in which they answered.

I've been trying to get more pictures and even video on here, but it's hard because they take so long to load. The really good pictures you'll have to see when I get back though because I don't want them to be online. :)

Gotta go do some interviews!