Hai District Hospital - Small Business Grants

Emma Parfitt Sep - Nov 08

My bubble has burst

I think the thing that did it was the episode of footballers wife's extras that I caught the other night. It was so surreal and such a naff show I don't understand why it was aired but I watched it all the same. It satisfied my appetite for UK TV (and reminded me how rubbish it can be too). The experience grounded me and I am feeling a lot less of an outsider. I am noticing more and more similarities between where I am and where I am coming from. This week Mama Mtey and I started our home visits, altogether we have seen 13 potential grant recipients. We are still to visit at least another 5. The experience was emotional and physically draining, we walked for miles and miles and miles. Often people weren't in as it was market day but we caught up with them eventually. I was shattered by the end of the day and with no sympathy from Mama Mtey. I was informed that now I am living in Africa I have to walk like an African women and so I did. The emotional element was within the stories that the people were telling us. How they came to be ill, who's children they had taken over the care of, how many loved ones they had lost, domestic violence, no ones situation was simple or acceptable. The assessment process for me has become a cross between applying business thinking and social work, separating the two is impossible. Although it has made me realise that a persons needs are the same regardless of which country I am in and whilst back home I never expect to ask someone their health status in relation to a business grant the emotional impact that the money will make is immense. The two factors are intertwined and as important as each other.

When I was researching where to go one my trip and what to do I kept referring back to my previous volunteering experience at the Dreadnought centre. While I was their I had a clear understanding of what was acceptable and unacceptable in relation to each of the children that I spent time with. I understand how a child fits into our social structure and how they should be treated. My main concern with volunteering abroad was that the cultural gap was too wide and that what I believed to be right would be irrational thinking to the people that I would be working with. I have come to realise that this is relevant, poverty is poverty I recognise it when I see it and no one should live within it.

I would never expected an episode of footballers wife's extras to have such an impact and I'm sure it never will again! Unfortunately the episode was a one off and instead my TV viewing has moved on to a Spanish show dubbed into English. The plot is so complicated and ridiculous that I don't have a clue what is going on. I do that there is a long lost son, a magical medallion, a rich girl with a job in a burger bar to prove her independence and there was a plane crash! I'll let you know how it all ends.