If I had a picture to go along with this post, it would be of a room, about eight feet by eight feet, with a little bathroom attached to it on one side (divided from the room by a curtain). The room has a window, covered with a curtain that matches the one over the bathroom doorway. There is a bed, five feet across and six feet long, and a pack and play (portable baby cot) at the foot of the bed, that just manages to be able to be wedged between the wall and the bed. Each bed has a mosquito net. Add two small suitcases and a diaper bag to the remaining floor space, and it's a pretty full little room. Oh yes, and add two adults that are too long for the bed, and a baby.
Andrew, Zarya, and I spent last weekend in Ikizu-land for a special Bible weekend event. More details about the work we did over the weekend will follow in later posts, newsletters, etc. For now, just understand that we were there for work purposes. At first we thought we might go for just one day, since doing a village overnight with a baby seemed kind of extreme. However, the ideas for what we could do while we were out there kept growing, and they were all such great ideas and seemed like really important things to do. So, in the end, we opted to travel with Zarya and spend two nights. As I said before, you can read about all the work stuff later.
The first night, the timing of things went a little differently than originally planned, and it ended up with Andrew needing to be the one to put Zarya to bed while I was off with the two Ikizu translators doing some work stuff. She usually goes to bed right at 7:30 without any complaint, so it seemed easy enough for Andrew to handle this job for one night. All he had to do was change her diaper and put her in her jammies and in bed.
At 8:45 I returned to the wee room in which we were staying (the one in the above "picture") to find Zarya wide awake with poop running down her legs and Andrew on the verge of desperation. (Fortunately for you all, there is no picture of that.) We immediately suspected she had amoeba, despite the negative test for it she'd had earlier that day. The same scene repeated itself again the next night, with her little bowels letting loose at bedtime, so it wasn't just the fact Baba was the one putting her to bed. (Side note: we got her tested again upon returning home, and this time it was positive for amoeba.)
If you're wondering about the desperation, remember the room in the picture? There was no running water in that bathroom, and there was no door or curtain, let alone three inches of space, between our bed and Zarya's. She might be cheerful about going to bed when in her own room at home, but when she knows we're just inches away from her, it doesn't go so smoothly. She was still plenty happy, but happy as in wanting to play, not sleep. She got the late night silly giggles and could not calm down, literally rolling around on her bed and laughing. You'd think having had really bad diarrhea minutes before would have taken the wind out of her sails, but apparently getting it all out of her innards gave her extra spunk. As for myself, it was a good chance to practice some fruits of the Spirit. There is nothing like wrestling a hilariously giggling baby into pajamas while trying to clean liquid poo off the bed with no water or spare sheets to give one an opportunity for gentleness and self-control.
Speaking of sheets, at least I've learned by now to bring my own stuff. Our room was equipped with one towel and one sheet. No soap, no hand towel or washcloth, no blanket, no toilet paper, no nuthin'. Andrew and I shared the towel, I didn't bother trying to wash my hair, and Zarya forsook bathing for a couple days. I'd brought cloth to use for my sheet, and I'd packed bedding for Zarya, so at least she wasn't cold. Andrew used the provided sheet. After four years of marriage, we know ourselves well enough to not attempt sharing a tiny sheet when already sharing a tiny bed with an ever tinier mosquito net.
We survived. I don't think we'll take any more village overnight trips with Zarya for a while. It was pretty exciting to get home and take hot showers and put Zarya down to bed at 6:50pm with no protest from her (she slept till 6:50 the next morning). I had been feeling grouchy about life in Musoma before the trip, and now I'm thrilled to be back in my lovely, huge-feeling home. Our bed here might be on the exceptionally firm side, but at least it's big! And there is water in the bathroom!
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