Visiting Ilna
Following Ilna – she wears her new backpack with textbooks. Entering Ilna’s yard. The gate is made of bamboo, the fence is a cactus called ‘raket’. We enter the courtyard (lakou-a) of her aunt and uncle. Auguste follows.
The house is mud and stick construction, so there are many holes in the wall and the rain comes in. Her aunt was at the market, so Ilna unlocked the door to let us in. Inside, Ilna stands in the everything room ‘grand sal’. I am standing in the bedroom doorway. The 2 rooms are separated by an ancient, flimsy curtain. Ilna sits on her aunt and uncle’s bed to answer questions. Her bed (which has no mattress) is directly across. She shares it with a cousin. Two other cousins sleep on the floor in between the beds. We see the kitchen table/cupboard – utensils and plates for 6 people, an empty toothpaste tube. We distribute toothpaste/brush/kotex/bar soap and facecloth.
Water for drinking/bathing/cooking is carried from a well many miles away. It is untreated. We distribute Aqua Tabs free of charge to all students, no limit.
I pulled the cover back on the bed Ilna shares with a cousin. It is a metal/barbed wire/stick frame covered with rags. assorted old clothes underneath.
Ilna stands in front of her aunt and uncle’s home. Windows have no screens, which would help alleviate the mosquito (marengwen) problem.
Ilna lives about 8 miles from the village and must cross the river, so shoes and socks come off and are replaced on the other side. She would benefit from a bicycle or from a place in town to stay Monday to Friday. We are looking into both bike programs and accommodation for her.