It could be a scene from a Hemmingway novel - the oxen plod along in a circle, powering a press while men put sugar cane into the press. The result is a sweet sugar cane sugar that is further refined into "clarian" - an alcohol as strong as straight vodka (so I am told!). This is a family business with one of the children walking along in the mud urging the oxen on.
We viewed this scene in a village covered by an HHF health worker,where we went to check on the success of the emergency distribution program of food for those families who took in family and other refugees from PAP. One 2 room home, with dirt floor, originally home to 7, now housed 21 people! This was but one example of the way the people of the area opened their arms to more than 3 times the number of people coming into the area.
We also saw the feeding program for the children identified with 2, 3, and even 4th degree malnutrition. The food for the day was a dish of rice fortified with pieces of vegetables and beans and a type of porridge called "akamil", a flour that is 3 parts rice, one part beans, and then sweetened with bananas and coconut. That is the akamil cooking on the pot on the left. All the children were fed the first mixture and those identified as malnourished also received a bowl of akamil. A day when they go home with full tummies - and that doesn't happen often!
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