11. Wednesday

Today I went to the early morning Mass. According to the notice, the Mass was supposed to be in English. Unfortunately, I arrived late as it starts daily at 6 o'clock. There were about 50 visitors. I was the only white person. I simply sat in the back row. Unfortunately, the priest conducted the Mass and now the sermon in Chichewa. As I was meditating, after about 10 minutes, the young priest suddenly spoke in English and looked only at me, giving a brief summary of his sermon just for me. The rest of the Mass continued in Chichewa. However, at the end, the priest addressed me again and apologized for not conducting the Mass in English and invited me to come back next Wednesday.

Today we wanted to visit a school to provide oral hygiene awareness and distribute toothbrushes and toothpaste.

It was arranged that we would be picked up at 8 o'clock. At 8:30, no one was there yet. After consultation, the driver finally arrived at 9 o'clock, but he still had to go refuel.

We were accompanied by a very nice Public Health officer (Bachelor) Francis and an intern George.

Loaded with boxes, posters, and models, we drove along narrow paths past settlements until we reached a school that was built in an open field (and was even being expanded).

The reception there was gigantic! About 700 children ran towards us and cheered. AMAZING. Goosebumps.

They surrounded the car. Then we were greeted by a headmaster and briefly discussed our concern and the procedure of the demonstration. All the children sat on the ground. We started explaining the brushing technique, duration, nutrition, etc. using models and posters. Sentence by sentence, Francis translated everything into Chichewa. Then the children were quizzed and they had to repeat everything.

Then it was time to distribute the toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes. The children were supposed to form 2 lines. But it didn't work so well. After 5 minutes, it started to get chaotic. The children pushed from all sides and wanted to have a toothbrush and paste. More and more children came. They now came from the whole area, because it had probably already spread that the Azungos distribute toothbrushes. When almost all of our brushes were distributed (750 brushes and 750 toothpastes), we had to stop because some children even lined up twice.

After the teachers and Francis had brought some order to the group, we brushed our teeth together with the children.

Deeply impressed, but with the thought that it can still be done better, we left again.

On the way back, we discussed with the Public officer. He said he would organize it differently next time. Unfortunately, it is currently vacation and the schools are closed. Let's see how it will be next week.

In any case, it was a unique and very emotional experience!!!!

P.S. Only videos can capture it, but unfortunately, they cannot be posted here.