An Arm Without Skin and a Funeral

We thought life would slow down a little after Sarah and Jennifer’s visit… but we were kind of wrong. Apparently our house has become the new hangout (any teenage boy cant resist the allure of itunes and youtube). Every night after dinner we sit at the table, doing what we do- ie drinking tea and relaxing, and we strain our ears every time we hear a noise outside and hope its not the guys coming over again. So that started off our week with going to bed late, and not getting the amount of sleep that Ayla likes.
Lately, the breadth and scope of our internship has been expanding. Into nursing and health care. A man in the village burned his entire forearm with third degree burns, and we are still aren’t sure how it happened, tho we have gotten many possible stories from the man. The burn was pretty fresh, it had been wrapped for the first time a few days ago. However, the man was out chopping wood, and dirtied his bandages. Which meant they needed to be changed. Enter social work interns. Apparently, to really survive what they call here “village life,” you must be a jack of all trades. (Due to the unfortunate quality of health care in South Africa, and their odd refusal to deal with burns and sores, the man had to be treated at Botshabelo).
So here is the scene: old man sitting in chair, surrounded by audience of children, as Dr. Marion wets his bandages and ever so slowly starts cutting them off. Ayla and Ilene are gloved and ready at Marion’s side. Layer after layer. Until we see skin. Or rather the complete lack of skin. As Marion began pulling off the last layer of bandage, and the man’s skin started coming off with it, Ayla began to feel a little sick. The man was black, and his forearm was pink- the pink of muscles- because that’s all there was there, absolutely no skin, except for the new growth that had started in the last 2 days, and that was now being peeled off. Exit Ayla. Ilene handled her shit. End scene.
The last few days have been a bustle of activity in preparation for a funeral. There is a family of 3 sibilings, whose mother died last Thursday (foul play is suspected, most likely poison). The kids hadn’t seen or heard from her in 2 years, so they were already somewhat emotionally disconnected. Fortunately they were able to contact one of her sisters, who she hadn’t seen in 25 years- thank you apartheid, to come up and help organize the funeral. Since the family is very poor, they buried her here at the cemetery in Botshabelo. Tragically, there was a secret plan to send the ever-hard-working Con and Marion on a mini vacation for a few days, but the money had to be used for the funeral instead.
Fast forward to last night, the start of the funeral. At sundown a vigil was started including singing, clapping, a little swaying/dancing, and some preaching thrown in. It was really amazing to see how the Botshabelo family came together to support the three kids. None of them actually knew the woman being buried, but they stayed up all night at the vigil with the kids. Also starting at sundown: the digging of the hole for the coffin. It took til 3 in the morning- about the same time the vigil ended. In the morning there was another short service (again preaching, clapping, singing), before making the long trek to the edge of the property where the cemetery lies. There was also a short viewing of the woman before she was taken to the cemetery. Not only did Ayla attend her first funeral, but both Ayla and Ilene saw their first dead person. At the cemetery there was more clapping and singing and swaying. The coffin was lowered, and then the older boys worked like maniacs to fill up the whole with their shovels and dirt. It only took 15 minutes to be completely finished with the burial. The we all marched back down, washed our hands in water with aloe plant, and then technically, ate. However, the family feared our stomachs couldn’t handle the food (we are not sure why), so they told them that Passover had started early and we couldn’t eat anything. Unfortunately, Ayla and Ilene had been asking to go to the grocery store for daaaaays, and only had eggs and corn meal at home, and were really looking forward to that meal. Bummer.
Now most of the kids are going home for Easter holiday, and the campus is eerily quiet. Sorry U.S. kids, South African schools close for 2 weeks for Easter. Hopefully we wont get too lonely, because we have adventures ensuing. Now you will wait in anticipation for our next blog. Ha.
-Ayla and Ilene