She told me the children were her grandchildren and pointed out her daughter who was sitting a short distance away nursing a small baby. She said that her husband had gone to Mt. Kenya to find water and land to graze their animals. He had been gone for a week. I saw no sign of water or food in their home. She explained that they had not yet walked to the dam for water that day. I learned later that these villages were too far from the river (although the river is currently completely dry) and so they get water from a nearby dam that is also dirty and full of disease like the river water.
We just visited for a while and she talked with great animation and excitement in her eyes. Then she began showing us her feet and hands as well as the children's. They were infested with jiggers and she was asking us to remove them. We did not come prepared for that but she would not relent. She didn't seem to care as much about food and water but she really wanted those jiggers removed. (If you don't know what jiggers are.... they are small parasites that live in the dirt and burrow their way into the flesh of your feet or hands and then lay eggs. They will literally rot your flesh.) Josphine had a safety pin and so we did what we could removing the worst. You cannot imagine the smile on her face. Later when we went back to town, we bought some medical supplies and our friends went back the following day and finished what we had started.
Its hard to imagine what your priorities might be when faced with desperate circumstances. A severe drought leaving no water for drinking or cooking or planting food. There is no water to bathe to keep the jiggers from eating their way into their skin. No water for their animals and nowhere to graze them. There is no school in the area to educate their children. The closest medical clinic is a two hour walk away. There are many widows and orphans due to preventable causes related to the conditions they are living in. For this grandmother, the priority was jiggers. I don't know how long it will be before they are re-infested. Sometimes I look into the eyes of an older woman like this one and I wonder if most every day of her life has been like this day. I wonder if she has struggled for 60 plus years just to survive. I wonder if anyone has ever told her that she is beautiful.... loved..... adored.... smart..... courageous....even powerful. This woman had a profoundly powerful impact on my life. I wonder if I can (or Project 82 can) have a powerful impact on hers. I can see it..... can you?
