Day 3 in Bas Congo, Part 2

 

 The thrift store t-shirts we saw on children were often oddly ironic. I saw one man up a tree gathering coconuts, with a t-shirt advertising a Connecticut landscaping company.

 

We watched men playing checkers with bottle caps.

 

I bought some boxes of matches here with Congolese butterflies on them.

 

After lunch we returned to the village from yesterday to see a measles vaccination take place. I can't tell you how hot it was in this crowded blue room; I was curious that the mothers kept their babies bundled up. Everyone was very patient and quiet until the Governor came in and there was a sudden burst of singing.

It was difficult to watch this girl have an IV put in and her little arm bound with packing tape to a splintery piece of wood.

The nurse had her own baby strapped to her back

 In the afternoon we visited other families in Mbanza-Ngungu. The health centers use hand drawn maps to navigate the paths between houses in the clay villages.