Saturday, July 25, 2009

Kids

There are lots of adorable kids running around the clinic. Many of them are smaller than an American 1-year-old, but walk with the skill and balance of at least a 2 or 3-year-old, and as it turns out, they are.


We use the offices as workspace, and often patients are sitting on benches waiting while we furiously type away. It makes for a lot of sheepish smiling back and forth. The people here don't seem to be as wary of cameras as they were in Kenya, perhaps because they know and trust the clinic doctors.
This mom was very smiley, and tried to get her daughter to come and greet me. The daughter was having none of it, and nearly had a meltdown when the mother tried to drag her over.


This little guy was rolling around during his mom's visit, and eventually wandered off out the clinic door. His twin brother came to get him, and seemed to be admonishing the first one to come back inside, swatting him with the toy he was holding. They looked about the size of a 9-month-old, but they were actually 2 years old.

These 2 girls were sitting on the bench across from where I was working for a long time. The older one was very curious about me, and watched me everywhere I went. When I gave her attention, she broke into a broad grin, but I couldn't get her to repeat it for the camera. She did like seeing herself in the digital picture, though.

2 comments:

Corona Claire said...

Out of curiosity, are the adults smaller, too? Or is there a point at which they start to catch up?

Veronica said...

Many are, yes, from nutritional deficiencies. But it's not as dramatic or noticeable as in Latin America, because it's variable. Today I passed a very tall woman in the clinic - she looked about 5'11" at least. And we passed a giant kid in the street - he looked waaaaay over 6 feet, maybe almost 7. Appropriately, he was holding a basketball, which you don't see a lot here.