JOCV 50th year anniversary

Name: Hitomi Furukawa (maiden name Ozaki)
Batch: FY2005-1 (Jul 2005 - Jul 2007)
Technical Field: HIV/AIDS Control
Host Organization: Mzimba District Social Welfare Office,Luwerezi
Hometown in Japan: Muroto City, Kochi

A Piece of Memory: "A Day Without Rest"

I was dispatched to the small village of Luwerezi as the first JOCV member for HIV/AIDS control. It was one of the most rural villages among the places of assignment where JOCV members were sent at that time, and of course there was no electricity or running water. On my first day, I started my life by building my kitchen (kamado oven) using bricks and soil with the help of my neighbor Amama.

I still remember the nights when the sound of animal noises and the wind would make me nervous every time I went in the pitch dark to the bathroom outdoors across a small path.

After a few months, I became accustomed to life in Luwerezi, and my activities gradually became busier. Every week, together with the members of the AIDS Committee to which I was assigned, I frequently visited schools and distant communities, spending three to four hours each way on foot or bicycle.

One day, I was so tired that I fell ill and went to bed. I did not have the energy to get out of bed because of the fever, so I decided to rest and sleep all day and did not go to the office.

As I was asleep, I woke up to the faint sound of "Odi, odi…odi!" It got louder and louder. My head was in a daze, but when I opened the door, one of the members of the group I work together with was standing there. I asked, "What's wrong? What happened?" He replied saying, "I heard Nyazgambo (my Malawi name) got malaria, so I came to visit you," indicating that he came right from the office.

It was just a fever caused by fatigue, not malaria, but if I recall, my colleagues used to say "I'm not feeling well today because of malaria" when they had a strong fever or fatigue, as if having malaria meant catching cold.

After a few minutes of conversation with my colleague, he left, and just as I was about to take a rest, there was another visitor saying, "Odi." After that, colleagues and neighbors came one after another. Some colleagues brought me a Fanta drink and cookies as a sympathy gift. In the end, I could hardly lie down that day, as I had to repeatedly deal with visitors.

A visit with a colleague that took several hours to an area that is inaccessible by bicycle

It certainly was quite difficult to deal with a number of visitors with my head in a daze, but it was a day of great peace of mind as I was able to experience the customs of the people in the village, who attach great importance to caring about people with illnesses.

One of our activities was to support AIDS patients, but in Luwerezi, where medical care was fragile, many people were dying because they could not be treated at the time. Whenever I visited their homes, I felt that not only the family members but also people in the village were there for them until their last moments so that they would not have to face a lonely death.

Through this experience during my illness and my work with my colleagues, I was taught once again by the people of the village that there is nothing better than the precious life of human beings. My experience in Luwerezi 14 years ago is the foundation of my current work as a public health nurse amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Next will be a piece of memory of Jun Kawaguchi, a JOCV member of Batch FY2004-1 working in physical education, in Domasi who was a mood-maker for the JOCV members.