Later in the day after eating a big plate of Sadza, greens and beef we continued to hand out more material for sewing the re-usable pads. In the community I work with on Wednesday called Silozwe we started with 34 women and by week three we had over 100. It has been discussed that the rapid and consistent increase in numbers is due to the pads. What was super cool during lunch was when an older women had brought her (clean) underwear to show the other women how the wings on the pad worked.  After this she then tried to demo how I had shown to do standing pelvic tilts… which looked like a very large African women gyrating into the air repeatedly… it was hilarious!

I highlight of the project for me was when a Gogo come to me to show me 5 perfectly hand sewn pads and asked for her picture to be taken. She is caring for her granddaughter who has just reached puberty and she was so concerned as to what to do for her as she did not have the money for pads…she now is making these pads for her granddaughter!

On the day I did the prenatal class topics we ended the day with a discussion about miscarriage, still birth, and abortion. The room got very heated about these topics and the facilitator was having trouble controlling the crowd. There were many opinions about how a women should be allowed to grieve and what were the cultural norms ie usually to shove it under the table. I got up interrupted the mayhem and shared the story of my niece who was born after going to heaven last year…I talked about how women need time to grieve and the community needs to support them, I led a time of prayer and with many women with tears in their eyes I felt there was a glimmer of hope in allowing these women who have by circumstance been made so very ‘hard’, to soften a bit…it was a powerful time of ministry for me!

In week 4 we have been teaching about STI’s as well as HIV/AIDS. At the end of the day I shared the stats of how many women in the room would have HIV/AIDS based on the national stats. The women were shocked to find there would have been 12-15 of them who were living with it. It was a time where I could make an honest plea for testing which often comes with stigma when they do find their status, but with access to ARV’s they can live long lives.

Overall the last few weeks have really been a dream...I often find a silent moment while walking a distance to one of the latrines (hole in ground used as a toilet) and in the dusty, dry, hot spring breeze I often look up to see a goat or donkey walking by followed by the deep and hollow sound of its bell; the smell of earth and sun combine with the shaking of tree leaves, and I think… “Me? God did you really choose me for this? For this exact time you gave me the plan and then you called me… and NOW I AM HERE!”  I often feel like I have to pinch myself and then… I get to the latrine, smell of sewage, sweat rolls down my back, and then I remember YEP! This is the Africa I have come to love and know, so VERY different than anything you could write home about…it is so hard to capture what it really is like!