Today's menu: popcorn and bread

June 21, 2006

My meals in the field suck. That first sentence should be a good indication of my mood. I’m hungry after running a handful of focus group discussions (FGDs) in some of the project sites and being drilled by cowflies. For breakfast, I had a tasteless meal of oatmeal making me feel like I was gearing up for the Preakness. After 20 minutes, I had a decent Nature Valley granola bar at the sub-office. As I headed out to the sites, I decided to get some bread I had surprisingly seen on display in the streets.

As I popped out of the car, I walked up to a seated woman breastfeeding her child. Oh, if only I could enjoy such a nutritious meal. I’m dead serious. Instead, I’m about to eat bread. It conjures up memories of Columbus’s scurvy-stricken voyage and a Revolutionary War soldier pulling out a fungus-ravaged biscuit after a day of battle. A child of about 5 comes running up to the stall with his slightly older brother bumping him aside. I look to the “elder” and ask him for 2 long rolls of bread. He opens the display only to use his large mitts (hands) to separate a grouping of 3 loaves. “Mmmhhhm, tasty,” I think to myself. Then he takes a used plastic bag from the ground and throws in the loaves. Let’s just assume the bag has “fallen” off the table.

The use of a used plastic bag, of which they don’t even do in Monrovia, is a topic that doesn’t concern me. Fine, he’s a decided to be an Earth ranger and likes to recycle. The problem with white bread in this situation isn’t its lack of nutrients. It’s that it leaves marks.

Halfway through chomping 2 pieces of bread like it was 1 whole piece, the piercing sun illuminates what I’m about to eat. Upon closer inspection, it’s not the indentation of a child’s finger on bread. It’s a mixture of dirt, dust, and whatever else his Velcro-like hands picked up prior to molesting my soon to be eaten piece of bread. Long story short, I could continue no longer with the bread.

Next on deck is popcorn. After a day of doing various hand shake-snaps with everyone from the baby to the school principal, I shove down buttered popcorn for lunch.

And who could forget the nectar of the gods. Only bottled water to complement this nutritious meal of 1 Clif Bar, 2 Nature Valley granola bars, ½ of 2 long rolls of bread, and 1 bag of popcorn. Wait, does my daily Malarone (malaria) pill and Centrum pill constitute food?

Ok, I’m done writing about something only my mother would be aghast at.

The fieldwork was solid today. I really feel privileged to record the voices of these youths. They have taken precious time from their essential daily chores to help me understand their choices, or lack thereof.