Apples

You never know what questions children are going to ask or what comments they will say when giving a health talk. 

You have to be prepared for anything.

For example, back in October I gave a health talk at a secondary school with two other Volunteers.  A student asked the following, “Isn’t it true that syphilis started with the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Japan”.  We stood there with the blankest of looks on our faces.

This past week I helped a fellow PCV give a couple health talks at a primary and secondary school, with our main focus being nutrition. 

Side note: The ages of the students range drastically because not everyone can afford the school fees so often you will find a ten year old in P4 sitting next to a fourteen or fifteen year old.  Nonetheless, primary school can be compared to kindergarten to seventh grade and secondary school is from seventh grade to your senior year in high school. 

Back to the story.  We arrive at the primary school and are welcomed by about 160 children, eagerly waiting to listen to the muzungus.  During the talk we addressed the three food groups in Uganda, grow, glow, and go.  Grow foods are your starches and give you energy.  Glow foods are your fruits and vegetables and are full of vitamins and minerals, plus they tend to give your skin a healthy glow.  Go foods are your proteins.  I then focused my part on the importance of consuming a wide variety of food and to eat foods of different colors.  The children were very active, as their participation was rewarded with a pen. 

Towards the end of the lesson we allowed some time for clarification and questions.  Now I want to remind you that some of the students in attendance were about four years in age.  Sitting up in the front was the cutest little boy, who was jumping up and down with something to say.  His turn finally came and all he said was, “apples”.  Over and over and over again.  As a facilitator we responded by saying, “Yes, apples are good for you.  They are full of healthy sugars and vitamins.”  This small child was clearly not satisfied with our answer because he kept raising his hand.  We continued to call on him after addressing other questions and all he said was “apples.”  He is lucky that he is so darn cute and attentive.

As we left the school the children lined the fence and through the wood slats you could see their smiling faces and hear them shouting in unison, “Abazungu bye, abazungu bye, abazungu bye!”

Abazungu is plural for muzungu, which by this point you hopefully know means white person.