I started teaching

I worked so late on Sunday that I couldn't wait to get to go to sleep. Once I was in bed I couldn't sleep all night because I kept coughing. I slept five minutes at a time and then woke up coughing.

I got up early and then got to office around 6:30. I waited around for the others for a few minutes and we were on the road a little after 7.

Trying not to look while these guys are standing
on a rickety stand to drop the screen.

The schedule was mostly the same. We drove to Bailundo in one of the mini-busses. The driver got caught speeding. Apparently they label the road when they are using radar, I hadn’t noticed a sign but I wouldn’t have. The Driver seemed to know immediately that he had been caught. When we got to the road block, the driver reached into ashtray, pulled out some cash and then we were on our way.

We were at a different location – an old theater. It was dark, smelled a little odd but it was mostly comfortable. I found it nice because there was a lot of room between rows so it was easy to get to any person in the row.

Adriano gives a very lively class.

I didn’t get to start teaching right away. The M&E team still needed to teach how to fill out the Spray Operations forms. At one point I asked where the bathroom was. I was directed to a restaurant next door. I got to the bathroom and discovered this filthy room with no toilet paper and no water in the toilets nor the sink. I figured that toilet was out of order so I went to the next. It was the same except it was a little dirtier.

Mango and Adriano finished their part around 3PM. I finally got to start teaching. Before I could even teach them how to use the phones I had to teach them how to pick them up. There was a routine that they were asked to use and it took nearly an hour to get the phones distributed.  to turn the phones on, start ODK, quit out of it, go back into it and then Mango started warning me that I had to stop soon because the roads get dangerous after dark. It was a little after 4 PM. I taught them how to return the phones. Adriano worried that some of the participants may be illiterate. I was really worried.

Mango always smiling

With Mango’s help I asked them

As we are traveling back to Huambo I noticed that  there appear to be numerous dead cars on the road. They always came and went too quickly for me to take pictures. I also noticed the kilometer markers look like tombstones. As the sun is setting, the scenery is just getting more and more beautiful and the skies turn pink and purple.

I ponder a few things that I had noticed. This appears to be a non-honking country. I am starting to classify the countries that I’ve visited as honking countries: Mozambique and Ghana; and non-honking countries: Tanzania and Angola. They use horns sparingly and make warnings and requests by flashing lights rather than honking.

It also appears to be a non-smoking country. In fact all of the countries that I have visited appear to be surprisingly low smoking countries. I’ve barely seen anyone smoke and when I do, they appear to be westerners. I was told that you are actually not allowed to smoke in public in Angola and can receive a fine.

There are also no tattoos and no piercings. I saw some piercings in Tanzania, but they were traditional piercings not style statements by the young.

Lourdes made us a lovely dinner of pork chops. She gave me some Robitussin to calm the cough and on top of that I took Benadryl AND Melatonin. I finally slept well.

Pictures