Another day in Es'saba Village.

At around 11:30am this morning, I was sitting in Welliminah's front yard, reading Three Cups of Tea, when I heard some loud, excited noise coming from a few compounds over. It was the sound of women's voices, and I couldn't tell if the sound was one of joy or one of distress - the sound of laughing and celebration is not too different than the sound of crying and sorrow.

After about a minute of intrigued confusion, I saw Moraa, the third grader who lives with us, sprint from behind the house to the front of the compound, pause for a minute as she determined where the sound was coming from, and then continue running towards it. I was still uncertain what her reaction to the sound revealed. Perhaps she was going to join the celebration or perhaps she was going to answer the distress.

About another minute later, another woman who works in the back of the house cleaning clothes and dishes, also sprinted to the front yard and out of the compound towards the sound coming from nearby. As she ran, she also exclaimed something out loud, which I figured was a prayer. At this point, it became clear to me that something bad was happening.

I continued to sit in my chair reading, and heard the sound eventually reside. Minutes later, I looked up from my book and saw Moraa and the woman walking silently back to the rear of the house.

After some time passed, I asked what the commotion was, and I was told that a young girl had passed away after falling ill with malaria. She was in second grade at Es'saba Primary, the same school Moraa attends, and a school that Kijana assists. Sadly, when Moraa and her classmates return to school on Monday morning, there will be one less student among them.

I don't really have any commentary on this story, but I felt that it should be shared here for its contribution to a larger portrait of Kenyan village life that I hope this blog is offering.

However, if you are so moved, I would suggest that one way you could help is by learning more about this preventable and treatable disease, and investigating ways you can contribute to solving this public health crisis.

From the World Health Organization: "In 2008, there were 247 million cases of malaria and nearly one million deaths – mostly among children living in Africa. In Africa a child dies every 45 seconds of Malaria, and the disease accounts for 20% of all childhood deaths."