best week ever

Africa
October 31st 2008

Published: October 31st 2008

so talking on the phone with my mom on her birthday. were about to end the convo and i remember 'oh yeah and maybe could you send me some face wash/face mask, the villagers keep pointing out my pimples and its getting annoying."

the very next day a cold sore ish type thing starts to emerge in the corner of my mouth. and in the couple days that follow i soon have 5 dime sized yellow pus oozing sores on my face. aka impetigo. charming. i have never thought myself vain, but i did NOT want to leave the house. my face was disgusting. but as its my job right now to socialize and get to know the village of course i left the house.

saturday i walked with my neighbor, miriam (she's 13) to gulioni to the big market. that was fun. the villagers didnt think i could do it. it was 12 kilometers away. but it was fun. and we even walked more than half way back before we got picked up by one of the buses home. where my brother told me that there were thugs abound and i should not walk back without a man or else they might attack me. good.

anyways the next day i woke up with a terrible sore throat and a fever of 102. and i had a weird rash between my thighs. the villagers blamed it on me walking to gulioni. but really i knew i had strep throat. fantastic. my face is oozing and i cannot swallow water. so it was decided that i would go to town the following day with my mama (mama taabu).

so we get to town and go to the medical facility recommended by peace corps. were early so i walk right in and see the doctor. and he has no idea what my face is and asks me if ive had fever and what have you and im trying to tell him that my throat hurts. but instead im sent to the lab. and given a match box with the top cut off and a toothpick to give a stool sample. fantastic. so im in the bathroom and wondering what im going to do because i dont have to go. and im pissed off because my throat hurts, nothing to do with my poop. so in my anger/frustration i just stick my finger up my butt and hope theres something there. and its enough. and good thing i tested my stool because apparently i had hook worm as well. (dont worry i rinsed my finger well and had purell on me).

so i got medicine for hook worm. and creme for my face. but nothing for my throat. i decide to wait it out. but by wednesday with a fever of 103.8 i decide to go to the dispensary in the village after talking with peace corps and deciding its probably strep. i pick up some amoxicillin. and all is well. my slight anemia aka a throbbing headache every time i stood up is gone now. my face has returned back to normal almost. at least theres no more pus. and im hoping the worms are gone.

blah. that was a bad week. but now things are better. in town. its halloween. but my dress maker hasnt finished my costume. maybe by tomorrow. cool. oh well.

i taught my first health club at the secondary school on monday. it went as well as could be expected? i dont know. i went with my VEO. and i prepared in english against my better judgement and got a lot of blank stares. but after i did an intro to HIV/AIDS they had a debate on 'female circumcision should be abolished' and they did it in english so that was good. ive prepared a jeopardy like game for next week. i think that will go over better.

speaking of female circumcision. i was with mama asha, mama rega, and asiya and we were talking about how my lesson went. and then about the debate. and they all had been circumcised which surprised me. and they talked about it freely. and i was like 'well do they sterilize the equipment?' but i guess they just buy a new razor each time. and just cut the clitoris right off. and theres a lot of blood. and it hurts for about a week but its fine. and it is done when you are a baby or maybe about 10. and you can die. but its tradition. but apparently now its against the law so people do it in secret. you can go to jail if youre caught.

also on wednesday i was cruising around and got invited to this wedding the following day by this girl amina. it was her sister's wedding. so i was like sure why not. and so come thursday i actually get ready and look safi (clean is the translation) and go to this wedding and i dont even know amina, much less her sister. so im sitting in the back of the church (i think its a pentacostal wedding) and watching the dancing. then i see them move another chair up to the front of the room and soon im being ushered to sit in the front of the room with the parents of the bride and groom.

after awhile the bride and groom enter. and theres more singing and dancing. theyve made a song especially for them. and then they do their vows. then the parents make a speech. then its 'changa sema maneno machache' changa say a few words. so i stand up in front of the packed church and say a few words in kiswahili wishing the bride and groom a happy future.

then we head to the house. and im ushered to sit again with the bride and groom. pictures are taken. then gift giving. which is fun. theres a table in front of the bride and groom with a plate and a napkin over the plate and people dance (theres music) up and present their gift or put the money under the napkin then shake everyone's hand. so i shook a bunch of hands. then it was chakula time. food time. and i get to eat inside with the bride and groom and we get rice and meat. and im urged to take more meat. and everyone else outside is eating makande which is a tasty mixture of corn and beans (but a lot cheaper than meat).

then i go home. well first i stop off at mama's house. and they gawk at my shoes. im wearing my wedges for the first time in the village. then at night time i go to the center of the village where there is a send off party for another bride. so there is a disco. they have the generator going, music is playing, they have a mic. my brother is in charge and happily points me out in the crowd. then the gift giving happens. some dancing. then i get escorted back home by yusufu and his friend. its 1100. thats the latest ive been out in the village. fun day.

speaking of yusufu. my besti in the village. im slightly annoyed with him. he asks to use my cell phone and has it for days at a time. and last week (this was really inevitable but annoying nonetheless) he asked me for money. and after saying no two times. he was still sitting in my living room i asked him what he needed it for. and he said to get his drivers license so he could work and i asked how much that was and he said he didnt know maybe 50000 shillings. which is ridiculous. like the average tanzanian makes 2x that in an entire year. and he kept saying i was like a sister to him. blah blah blah. so i was like i cant give you that much money. heres 5000. and dont ever ask me again. and im annoyed at myself for giving him that much because its not going to be good for anything really. blah. blah. is how i feel about that.

i hate money. its annoying. every single day without fail someone asks for some money. even miriam when we went to gulioni asked me to buy her family onions and tomatos. which i did (its like 50 cents) but blah. or even my VEO. i gave him 5000. and hes promised to pay me back today because its the end of the month and its when he gets paid. so we'll see if that happens.

and mama asha is gung-ho on finding me an mpenzi in the village (lover/boyfriend). her and mama nassoro discussed it with me yesterday. and so we have started looking. and we are going to take our time. because we dont want any mjinga (clowns). this is really ridiculous. i said i didnt need one. that i came here to work. and they said 2 years is a long time. and then they asked me if i wanted someone like me (aka white). and thats a touchy issue and so i succumbed. and so after we find my mpenzi we are going to check our health together. aka test for HIV/AIDS. i mean at least were being safe right? god. but really i love the mamas in the village.

i went to the red cross office last friday with my veo. there was a scale. and i weighed myself for the first time in awhile. ive gained a couple kilos. 3 to be exact. which is fantastic. well so the village thinks. they love it. they love calling me fat. im not the biggest fan. and im going to try to start running again regularly. we'll see how that goes.

anyways i guess thats all for now. happy halloween everyone 😊

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