By Si Ning Chan MPH Candidate, Department of Global Communicable Disease & Epidemiology University of South Florida Upon arrival to Papoli on May 24th, we were immediately swept off into a 3-day and 2-night home stay experience to immerse ourselves within the Papoli community and obtain a deeper understanding of the culture and lifestyle of the community that we will be spending the next 10 weeks working within. What an experience it was!
I spent my stay in the home of my host mom, Awino Miriam, along with her husband, Milton, and 3 children; Hope (7), Steven (4), Oyese (2). Her children, and many of the neighboring children, only spoke the local language (Japadhola) so I found myself communicating through songs, dance, and games. It was amazing to see the connections you can form through language barriers and the kids were soon calling me “Auntie”. Though Hope is only 7, she does a whole lot more “adulting” than many Western teenagers. She spends most of her day helping her mom around the house with cleaning, washing dishes, collecting crops, and preparing meals; and still making time to play with her little brothers, cousins, and neighbors.
As a community based mainly around agriculture, the family spends a majority of their day in the field preparing the fields, planting, and harvesting. My family grew corn, potatoes, avocados, and lots of cassava.
A good portion of the day is also dedicated to collecting water for the family which is dispensed by a water pump that is approximately 1 km from the home. The water is collected in a 20L jug that sometimes needs to be filled up to 5 times a day depending on the season. Trust me, the water jug is a lot heavier than it looks.
Meals consisted of stewed meats with millet bread, rice, or posho. Millet bread and posho are staple foods here that is made through a process called “mingling”. My mom made it look easy but when she handed me the paddle, I quickly realized how wrong I was. We also had mangos galore! Since my family had a mango tree right outside the door of their home, one of my favorite things to do was watch the children climb into the tree to collect mangos for an afternoon snack.
On Sunday, I attended church at New Life Ministry with Miriam and her children. The worshipping consisted of a lot of song and dance that made the 3-hour service seem to go by in a flash! Everybody was very welcoming and made me feel at home even though I did not practice the same religion.
Though it was only a few days, I can truly say that my stay with Miriam and her family was a life-changing experience. I would like to give all the thanks to her for making me feel welcome and showing me what a day in the life of a member of Papoli community looks like!