Community meeting today! Yay! But first thing's first, chores. Everyday/every other day, we sweep the entire house and mop the floors as well. That isn't too bad. What laid ahead of us - washing the latrine. So I said I would describe this "toilet" and I shall. It's legitimately just a hole in the ground that leads to a large pit where human trash goes. It reeks, it attracts flies, ants, rats, and other insects, and it is just so unclean. Additionally, becuase it has 4 walls, it traps in heat making the entire experience quite sweaty. (I'm getting better at my squats though.) But back onto cleaning. First, the remains (either human or animal) are swept into the hole. Then a basin of water is thrown into the latrine and the floor is washed using the brush. Then we smoke it by throwing dried banana leaves into the latrine and lighting it on fire. Though nasty, the latrine now has a nice smoky smell. Hopefully it lasts at least a day.
Post cleaning, we traveled to the church where the community meeting was held. We arrived at 2PM, but the meeting did not start until 3:30/4PM because no one arrives until we show up. Still, it was a great first meeting. Many people asked questions, vouched and supported us, and we were also able to ask them questions. Overall, it seems the entire group is really enthusiastic. We didn't get back to our house until 6:30 so there was no soccer game today, but on the way back we met some girls coming home from school - Gertrude, Winnie, and Brenda. All of them are so curious and happy.
After dinner, we walked out to share a team exercise of brushing our teeth and was immediately shocked by the beautiful night sky. With no moon, the stars twinkled and shined beautifully! It is so refreshing to see stars like tonight. It was absolutely brilliant and gorgeous. You could even see the Milky Way! Ah beauty!