Monday June 8, 2009—Day: An apple a day keeps the doctor away, but there aren’t any apples in Mwanza…
Today my stomach feels a bit funky…but nothing like my roommate, Pamie’s, stomach feels. She drank a glass of tape water on Saturday because she was very thirsty and there was nowhere to buy water and now she is suffering from much more than thirst. She went to the hospital to get tested for malaria and bacteria and apparently she drank contaminated water with some parasites in it. The fact that the water was the color of weak coffee might have given her a clue when she drank it. Hopefully it isn’t anything too serious and it will be out of her system soon. Unfortunately, she can’t venture further than a few seconds from the bathroom so she can’t go to work all week.
Our neighbor across the hall, Ashley (a student from Canada), is also sick and went to the hospital to get checked out too. She has one ring of malaria (this is the weakest) and it doesn’t seem there is anything the doctors can do for one ring, other than rest and prophylactics, which she is already taking as a preventative. On top of that, Kelly, another intern at Kivulini who is a law student in Canada was feeling very under the weather today. Maimuna (Director of Kivulini) suggested that she go get tested for malaria since it is very cheap (between $2-$5) and fast and easy at a clinic she suggested. Since Kelly is very afraid of needles and it is no fun to go “exploring” when you are sick, I went with her. The doctor enthusiastically greeted us outside of his clinic and brought us inside. It was a simple prick on the finger to get some blood, he did some stuff, and put some dye on the blood. Since he didn’t see any malaria under the microscope Kelly got a negative diagnosis. Halfway through the process, we also found out that he is a veterinary doctor, which was a little disconcerting…but, it seems that malaria is easy to locate and he seemed knowledgeable and very friendly.
Malaria seems to be everywhere here. The locals talk about it like it is as common as allergies in the US. In some ways it is treated nonchalantly because people often have it and come to work ill with malaria. On the other hand they acknowledge that it can become dangerous quickly if it is not caught early, and this is especially true for Westerners since we haven’t built any natural immunity.
Today was also my first time walking alone. This may sound like a simple and easy feat, but between the shouts of Mzungo, pleadings for money, and jeering laughter, it is both intimidating and can be scary. After I picked up some groceries at the Mzungo grocery store (where Nutella is $12!) Ingjerd (Norwegian student of anthropology) walked me to an ATM so that I could get out some money, but then she had to leave and walk a different direction. The ATM is about a half an hour walk from my apartment and I am sill very uncomfortable with the chaotic layout of the city. As I was waiting in line for the ATM (there is always a line for the ATM) I felt very vulnerable. It seemed like everyone around was looking at me and it was on a very busy street. I also realized that it was later in the day than I thought and the sun was going to go down in about a half an hour to 45 minutes. Feeling like Cinderella, rushing to get home before dark, I realized that perhaps visibly taking out lots of money from the ATM in front of a crowd of people, by myself, as an Mzungo, and unsure of how to get home, probably wasn’t the smartest idea. I left the ATM line and quickly walked away making sure I wasn’t being followed. I walked home New York style, literally passing everyone on the sidewalk. Here, people walk vvveeerrryyy slowly because it is hot and no one ever seems to be in a rush. At one point a kid was asking me if I wanted to buy some lighters and literally had to use a small jog to keep up with me. It turns out my walk home was fine, and I even received some police “mambos,” which is the slang version of hello (what’s up). I probably wouldn’t have had any problems taking out money, but for my first time by myself it was a little too much to handle. I guess I will have to go to the ATM tomorrow, hopefully with some Mzungo moral support.
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