8.22.2005
In Sickness and in Health in Tanzania
Originally sent November 28, 2004. This is the second of 8 mass emails I sent while I was in Tanzania.
Dear Subscribers of the Emily Digest,
Hello again from my current corner of the world. Here in Arusha we had been having wickedly hot days where it felt like the sun had moved to within 900 feet of the earth's surface, but fortunately, the rain came again. Unfortunately, this change in weather has resulted in a cockroach infestation in the house where I'm staying. As far as I can tell there are four minor differences between Tanzanian cockroaches and those I have encountered in America:
1) Tanzanian roaches are large enough to leave mouse poo-sized droppings
2) They are faster
3) They climb walls
4) They are not afraid of light or humans
Even though they don't bite or spit or anything like that, I find these UberRoaches terrifying and my host family finds my terror amusing, which is fine with me as long as they kill the buggers whenthey rear their disturbingly large heads.
Other than the roaches, there have been three central events in my life since I last wrote. The first was that my boss went away to a 2week long seminar on project management, leaving me in charge of the whole shebang. While she was away, her cellphone broke, so I was really on my own. But while I was much less productive than I am usually and spent a lot of time making lists of things to tell her, the school didn't burn down and none of our children died, so I count that as a success.
While she was gone, one of our volunteers, my friend Dee, got seriously sick and this was the second major event. Her illness started on a Sunday afternoon, taking the form of a headache and a fever. But she came out with us that night to a goodbye dinner foranother volunteer, Nick, who was leaving the next day. Five of us were at an Indian restaurant having sodas and waiting for our food when Dee started fainting. When I realized what was going on I felt a surge of cold, unadulterated panic. Anything could be wrong with her and there was no ambulance to call, no doctor in the house, and I had no idea where there might be an emergency room open at 8 pm on a Sunday night.
I was hugely relieved when the restaurant owner pointed out a hospital just down the street. I went to check if they were open and a sleepy nurse informed me that they were and that there was a doctor. We drag-carried Dee to an examination room and a doctor in a white coat walked in and sat down matter-of-factly. But he didn't DO anything and the minutes went by and he was taking an evidently irrelevant medical history and when he delivered his diagnosis, leaning over a semi-conscious and shivering Dee, he said that she had an upset stomach and a case of nerves and that he was going to prescribe diarrhea medicine and a vitamin complex.
I told the others to call a cab and we went to a different hospital and they had a doctor who was at least capable of seeing that something was really wrong. And she got a bed to stay in and an IV drip and late the next day, a diagnosis of malaria. I slept at the hospital for two nights with her and watched her feverish sleeping and pestered the nurses to take care of her and made sure, with other people, that she had food to eat when she felt like it. Although itwas never as stressful as in those first hours when we didn't know what was going on, the whole ordeal was emotionally and physically draining for me and at the least it made me really conscientious about taking my malaria tablets.
The third major event happened last Monday, during the staff meeting,when one of our workers accused another worker of stealing. The item under discussion was small, but the accusation unleashed a flood of pent-up bad sentiment as well as new insults and injuries. All of these were shots in a war being waged between the cook and the guards on one side and the other three women workers on the other side. It also revealed that my oversight of the food supplies was not as tightn as it should have been and taught me an important lesson about that. As of right now, not knowing what else to do, my boss and I are waiting for them to work it out amongst themselves and it almost seems to be working.
There have been other noteworthy incidents like meeting the mayor ofArusha, meeting a girl who was a lead in a play with my brother in Iowa, going on a mission to buy bows and arrows in a Masai village, and catching five of our children in a serious lie and giving them a Stern Lecture in my Office. But I'll spare you, and I'd like to have at least a few interesting anecdotes to relay in 2005 when I'm back. For those of you who are wondering, I celebrated Thanksgiving by calling my family and pining for turkey and cranberries and that was it.
Anyway, thanks for reading, and until next time, I'm
Emily
Dear Subscribers of the Emily Digest,
Hello again from my current corner of the world. Here in Arusha we had been having wickedly hot days where it felt like the sun had moved to within 900 feet of the earth's surface, but fortunately, the rain came again. Unfortunately, this change in weather has resulted in a cockroach infestation in the house where I'm staying. As far as I can tell there are four minor differences between Tanzanian cockroaches and those I have encountered in America:
1) Tanzanian roaches are large enough to leave mouse poo-sized droppings
2) They are faster
3) They climb walls
4) They are not afraid of light or humans
Even though they don't bite or spit or anything like that, I find these UberRoaches terrifying and my host family finds my terror amusing, which is fine with me as long as they kill the buggers whenthey rear their disturbingly large heads.
Other than the roaches, there have been three central events in my life since I last wrote. The first was that my boss went away to a 2week long seminar on project management, leaving me in charge of the whole shebang. While she was away, her cellphone broke, so I was really on my own. But while I was much less productive than I am usually and spent a lot of time making lists of things to tell her, the school didn't burn down and none of our children died, so I count that as a success.
While she was gone, one of our volunteers, my friend Dee, got seriously sick and this was the second major event. Her illness started on a Sunday afternoon, taking the form of a headache and a fever. But she came out with us that night to a goodbye dinner foranother volunteer, Nick, who was leaving the next day. Five of us were at an Indian restaurant having sodas and waiting for our food when Dee started fainting. When I realized what was going on I felt a surge of cold, unadulterated panic. Anything could be wrong with her and there was no ambulance to call, no doctor in the house, and I had no idea where there might be an emergency room open at 8 pm on a Sunday night.
I was hugely relieved when the restaurant owner pointed out a hospital just down the street. I went to check if they were open and a sleepy nurse informed me that they were and that there was a doctor. We drag-carried Dee to an examination room and a doctor in a white coat walked in and sat down matter-of-factly. But he didn't DO anything and the minutes went by and he was taking an evidently irrelevant medical history and when he delivered his diagnosis, leaning over a semi-conscious and shivering Dee, he said that she had an upset stomach and a case of nerves and that he was going to prescribe diarrhea medicine and a vitamin complex.
I told the others to call a cab and we went to a different hospital and they had a doctor who was at least capable of seeing that something was really wrong. And she got a bed to stay in and an IV drip and late the next day, a diagnosis of malaria. I slept at the hospital for two nights with her and watched her feverish sleeping and pestered the nurses to take care of her and made sure, with other people, that she had food to eat when she felt like it. Although itwas never as stressful as in those first hours when we didn't know what was going on, the whole ordeal was emotionally and physically draining for me and at the least it made me really conscientious about taking my malaria tablets.
The third major event happened last Monday, during the staff meeting,when one of our workers accused another worker of stealing. The item under discussion was small, but the accusation unleashed a flood of pent-up bad sentiment as well as new insults and injuries. All of these were shots in a war being waged between the cook and the guards on one side and the other three women workers on the other side. It also revealed that my oversight of the food supplies was not as tightn as it should have been and taught me an important lesson about that. As of right now, not knowing what else to do, my boss and I are waiting for them to work it out amongst themselves and it almost seems to be working.
There have been other noteworthy incidents like meeting the mayor ofArusha, meeting a girl who was a lead in a play with my brother in Iowa, going on a mission to buy bows and arrows in a Masai village, and catching five of our children in a serious lie and giving them a Stern Lecture in my Office. But I'll spare you, and I'd like to have at least a few interesting anecdotes to relay in 2005 when I'm back. For those of you who are wondering, I celebrated Thanksgiving by calling my family and pining for turkey and cranberries and that was it.
Anyway, thanks for reading, and until next time, I'm
Emily
Hit Counter
