Part 3
Emmason had a meeting with two young women that lived in the village. Not knowing what to expect Laura and I tagged along. One was nineteen and one was eighteen. They both had children. They lived at home with their mothers, no men to speak of. I don't know if they were part of the vast majority living with HIV in the village but both their mothers had HIV. They told us the village has no water. So the nearest source of water is a 45 minute walk across the desert. Since there was no water, they couldn't grow their own food. Since they didn't have food or a job, they couldn't afford education. They both had perfect grades and qualified for secondary school but one had gotten pregnant at 15 and the other didn't have the money. So now they both walk 45 minutes to buy a bag of tomatos for 20,000 TSH they then sell them over the week and make a profit of 5000 TSH to feed their mothers, children, cousins, and whoever else lives with them.

An interesting situation. Unlike the people in Moshi, or at the centre we work at, these people felt hard done by. Their eyes held the wisdom of an old lady but they both laughed and had physical appearance of young women. They knew they had it tough. Emmason asked us for ideas. I had none. Build a well. Change locations. When there is a community impacted negatively by every aspect of the social spectrum there is no answer, and definitely no easy answer. We made plans to meet the next morning at 7:30 with their mothers and two more 'Mama's.



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