Berawe Nzara Medical Mission: starting the day in Nzara

Waking up in the morning was my favorite time in Nzara. The very first night Courtney tried to convince me that I didn't need to set my wake up alarm because there were so many roosters. I set it anyways and after tossing and turning most of the night trying to adjust my back to the bed, I found myself wide awake by 4:30-5:00am with those roosters going off and Courtney had a "I told you so" moment. We didn't have to be up till after 6am so we laid in bed trying to snooze through the roosters when suddenly we heard these drums go off from the area by the Catholic church. I'll never forget Courtney's reaction "You've got to be kidding me!" About 15 minutes later we heard the drums again coming from the Episcopal church area on the opposite direction of the tukul. Later we found out those are the prayer drums that are played every morning starting around 6am. The morning drums ended up being much appreciated because when I heard the second prayer drums start I knew it was time to actually roll out of bed.
The first thing one must do each morning before stepping out of bed in Africa is turn on the flashlight and look around for spiders and lizards on the floor or ones who may have made a home for themselves in your shoes during the night. Luckily I never did find any in my shoes but I looked just in case! There are no sinks or running water so you grab the bottled water, toothbrush, and toothpaste and head outside. During mornings in the US, neighbors all say hi to each other while going out to fetch the newspaper with their cup of coffee (mostly in the movies and before iPad news was invented). In Nzara everyone does the same except people are brushing their teeth instead of getting a paper.
Bathing in Nzara was a totally different experience than one I've ever had before, but then again I never go camping as other Oregonians do. Near our tukuls and behind the Bishop's house is a small cement building structure with two areas. One has the deep pit latrine (toilet) and the other is what they call the "bathroom" and is a simple empty space the size of a closet where you take a bucket bath. During our stay the Bishop and his wife Sentina hired a local woman named Mary to help out. She was paid 20 South Sudanese Pounds per day or about $5 USD which is a good wage as many people in this world earn less than $1 USD/day. She worked very hard taking care of Courtney and I and always made sure we had good food to eat, coffee in the mornings, and hot bathing water prepared twice a day. Each morning Mary and Gloria (Bishop's 15 year old daughter) went to fetch water from the well which they carried back on their heads... real talent! Water was heated in a giant bowl over the fire and divided up into different buckets for people to use for bathing. I felt so spoiled that every morning I would go into the bathroom and there were two buckets with cups & hot water, ready and waiting for us. The very first morning I had no idea what I was doing, but I got it once the Bishop explained the basics about using the cup and that how it was ok for water to be splashed everywhere (I was trying to keep the area clean and dry for some reason!). A few things surprised me about bucket & cup bathing in Africa..... 1) How amazing the hot water felt on cool African mornings 2) How clean I felt afterwards 3) Once I got the routine down, it took half the time it does when compared to taking a shower at home.
After covering my body in sunscreen and bug spray, I headed out for breakfast under the mango tree. On the first few mornings we were out there by 8am for the typical breakfast which meant hanging out for 45 min-an hour eating bread and drinking coffee. The coffee was from the coffee tree in the backyard. It was hand picked, roasted, and made fresh each morning. Its literally the freshest coffee one can have!
I was always excited to get to clinic because I truly never knew what kind of disease or patient I would see that day besides the standard malaria, typhoid, and worms so by the third or fourth day I had fallen into my american ways. I went out just in time to grab a bread roll, pour coffee, and take it to go then sipped on it once at clinic. At first I got all kinds of funny looks from people wondering why the white girl was carrying a cup and drinking coffee at work. I told them "its ok, its an American thing" and they smiled with a little more understanding and acceptance of my different tradition. Even though I didn't take time to sit and drink coffee under the tree, I still cherished my five minute walk to the clinic. It was almost always sunny! We took a short cut through a few compounds and I loved getting to greet the people as I walked by. Once I reached the main road which lead me to the clinic, I would hear all the children because the schools are along the same road. Not a day passed where I didn't hear a kid yelling "hello, how are you?" from the classroom window! I tried to say hello back but I don't think they knew what to say next in english.

When in Nzara, the highest level of joy and satisfaction is found in the simplicity of daily tasks which are completed as if on auto pilot for those in the US. Contrary to what American's think, I have discovered that having very little gives a richer and fuller life; everything you have or experience is appreciated like saying hello to people in the morning. You'd never hear an American say they were so happy they got to walk to work and say hi to people they don't know.

roll out of bed