The Masai do

Yesterday, I had a chance of attending a health promotion symposium in the northern part of Okinawa. Infact the African participants were the main attraction in that symposium. So we had to prepare some drama skits and Educational Learning materials inorder to share our health education experiences with people in that part of Okinawa. The venue of this symposium was Meio University.

It was a two hour drive to this unversity and on the way we stopped at one of the local beer making companies. Since it was a saturday, free tours of the factory were being carried out. So we got a chance to see how the beer is processed. I guess being a non drinker, I didnt think much of the process. However, what impressed me was how the beer company is making by-products from the bottles and bottle caps. They are making tins, new bottles, paper and many things. Here, nothing is useless...everything is recycled to make something.

Then the whole guided tour around the industry impressed me . After the tour each one of us was entitled to a bottle of beer or lemon tea/ water for the non drinkers.The whole guided tour and free drink I realised were a form of publicity for the organisation because later in the evening, I saw people choosing that beer brand...consciously or sub consciously :)

Now fast forward to the masai do... while at Meio university, e the participants had been divided into 2 groups..East Africans and West/South Africans. Each group was given 2 hours to present their countries' experiences. For the Eastern Africans, we chose to dress as masai and even did a little masai dance.. All went well at the symposium.

The only down hill experience was that we never got to fly out kites. One of the Profs at the university had been so kind. He made each of us a kite. We had painted these kites and were ready to enjoy the fun. unfortunately, the weather decided that we couldnt!

Another American Doctor had come to show us some solar technology equipment. On display it really seemed interesting. Its a pity we never got to see it work. But at least I got to eat a cake baked from solar energy!