Monday May 5th to Saturday May 10th 2008: The right of passage

Ok so you are going to think I am getting lazy with this blog and skipping days as I just combined a whole week into 1 post.
But the truth is I slept a lot this week and feel like it was a blur. Before I explain why, I just want to say this is not as bad as it sounds, and I know I said that already with the post about the bus crash. But it’s true.
When I first arrived in Tanzania, I was so careful about mosquito bites to avoid getting Malaria. All the other volunteers said you can be as careful as you want, you will most likely get it as everyone does here. So I remained cautious but knew it would happen eventually. Luckily, mosquitoes don’t even like me, but seriously, EVERYONE has malaria. They don’t tell you at the Center for disease control. What they also don’t tell you is that there are different grades. 1 or 2 parasites is ok, doesn’t even sometimes need medicine, 3 or 4 starts to get bad, 5 or 6 you get delirious.
I don’t mean to underestimate the seriousness of Malaria as I know how many adults and children die from it, but at Amani, it’s like they take turns. How are you today? Oh I have malaria. And the next day it’s another one. And so on and so forth. And they just go on with their lives having very low-grade malaria every so often.
Anyway, I finally was diagnosed with Malaria this week. I guess the snotting and sore throat wasn’t from the cooking in the smoky hut after all. The night sweats and headaches too. I got tested and have 2 parasites.
Let me tell you, Malaria is a strange disease unlike anything I have ever experienced because I have done so much sleeping this week and feel so lethargic, it’s ridiculous.
Needless to say I didn’t get very much done and on top of it all, Mama Bakhita’s computer crashed and I cannot connect to the internet from her laptop. We have still managed to get some things out but I feel bad and hope all our/ her files are not lost.
So yes, this is the reason why this week is a blur. The one thing that is clear is that I feel like I am officially in Africa. I know it sounds strange but it was like a right of passage to get Malaria. To put things into perspective for you, it’s like getting the flu. As long as you get tested every 2 weeks, you have very low chances of getting high grade Malaria as it takes that amount of time to really develop.