As someone who is interested in how diet, behavior, and environmental factors contribute to weight and weight gain, I often find myself looking at people (of all size, shapes, and ages) and wondering "I wonder what they ate for breakfast?" or "I wonder what they consider exercise?" I find myself doing this FAR less often here, with one exception.
Every Wednesday, Eleanor and I attend playgroup at the International School in Arusha. The woman that runs the preschool (for toddlers aged 3-5) opens her doors every week from 2:30-4:00: the padded mats and foam shapes are set out on the lawn under the guava trees, the swings are taken down, easels, smocks and paints set up, playdough and water stations prepared, toys spread through the (two-tiered) sandbox, and coffee and tea are set out for the adults. I love this playgroup. Love it.
It is probably not surprising that the vast majority of children that I see on a daily basis are thin or normal weight --the vast majority of the children come from families making close to pennies per day. There are exceptions to this rule, however, and three of them attend playgroup. These children, whose mothers are white Europeans and fathers are Black Tanzanian (I think that both of these women, with their husbands, run safari or travel companies), are fat. They are overweight, or technically "at risk of overweight" according to US national guidelines.
To me this is a blatant statement to the rest of the Tanzanian population of Arusha: "We are not like you. We have money. We can afford the finer things in life...like food, lots of food." Now, to be fair it's not just these two women whose children are fat. Many of the kids I see exiting cars with blue (meaning the car belongs to someone who works for the Tribunal prosecuting the Rwandan genocide) or green (meaning the car belongs to a diplomat) license plates are also more likely to be overweight- or at least more rotund than the children of our village. I don't mean to suggest causation or even association; these are merely observations.
Although, I think my advisor would not be surprised at all-- I am merely observing the nutrition transition.
- kjd
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I'm guessing this will be one of the things you'll notice in a BIG way upon return to the states. Yet another motivation to stay attuned to the nutritional work you've been engaged in, Kiyah. Our nation has a long way to go to find reasonable balance in this arena!
ReplyDeleteAnd how about the "content quotient" on both sides of the equation? Often seems that "have" leads to "want" and that it's hard to leave behind once you've "had." Maybe that's "stuff transition?"
TMD