Rain, Mud and More Mud

After another lovely, leisurely morning spent drinking tea, and eating homemade bread and Tajik honey, our day begin. Janice and I drove out into the surrounding countryside to visit a health worker training being held in one of the villages. It had rained all night, and continued to do so all day. Thus, most of the roads were either muddy, rutted messes or littered with mini-ponds. Our drive was probably twice as long since the driver drove zig-zag down the road to avoid the deepest holes.

At first we thought we were going to have to walk up a long hill but a miscommunication had us going the wrong direction and luckily our destination was nearer than we thought. However, the car was having engine trouble and had to slide back down the hill while we mucked through the mud.

We observed the training for a while - a local doctor had written the curriculum and was training a member from each of several villages about the prevention, signs and treatments for upper respiratory diseases. These communities are far from health care and cut off by winter for several months of the year, so it's important for them know the danger signs of various illness and how to start treating at home before it's too late.

Our car still wasn't working well so we stood in the rain for a while until it was ready to go. On the way home we stopped and searched the river bed for special rocks - something Janice needed to do for an upcoming home leave trip. A long but good, albeit damp day with stunning scenery but it was good to get home where we joined Amy again and caught up on the day.