Silly Kawaaja

Every night before bed, I do one last round in the dorms. Because malaria symptoms tend to have their onset at night, many children begin feeling sick around bedtime. During nightly rounds I walk through each of the four dorms and make sure no one is getting sick. I touch foreheads and ask everyone if they are ok. Generally, I have complaints of tummy aches, headaches or coughs. Because the housemothers don’t speak English, I’ve been asking them “Ana kwes?”. I thought that meant “are you good?”. I learned today that for the past 5 days I’ve been walking through the dorms saying “I am good?”.

No wonder the housemothers always say “ay” (yes) with a smirk…