Survey diary 2

I wrote this on the 3rd evening of our survey in a village called Megabo.

It’s been dark for about an hour [i.e. it’s around 8pm]. We’re sitting in a large, smoky, one-roomed house made from bamboo and local wood, with a grass roof. In the centre there’s a dying fire, and the rest of the room is taken up with a raised platform where we sit and chat. Later we’ll sleep in here. Two paraffin lamps give off a dim glow.

Bonnie is doing the group questionnaire, Juliann is sitting in the corner with the women, Nelis is sleeping and I have been reading. Bonnie is about 40 minutes into the questionnaire so she probably has one and half or two hours left.

We haven’t eaten since lunch. Not sure if food will come. Should I snack on some crackers? Think I’ll wait a little longer. This morning we ate one roasted sweet potato each and for lunch I bought some roasted peanuts from a local market - very nice! In the afternoon we were given a pineapple which was delicious. Yesterday I’d been commenting to J and B how nice it would be to eat pineapple; and then today as we’re hiking from one village to the next a random stranger walking towards us stops, greets me, puts his hand into his bag and hands over a pineapple! Thank you God for your acts of kindness.

But no pineapple (or anything else for that matter) tonight. We’ll see what happens. Maybe it’s time for the crackers.

[I did eat some and then, of course, the food came.]