malaria and other small matters

I'm officially awesome. Awesome definitely being a relative term. Because, the way I'm awesome, most other West Africans are awesome, too.

Last Sunday, in the middle of the night, I woke up with a high fever. I started throwing up and my fever kept getting higher. When it hit 103.3 degrees, I decided it was time to go to Sogakope District Hospital. I was admitted at around 4:30AM and given an IV for fluids and a shot to stop the nausea. They took my blood and by mid morning had diagnosed me with malaria. That's why I'm awesome. Then, they gave me three shots in the butt over that day, and released me the next morning. It's a week later and I'm now pretty much fully recovered, but I still get moments where I'm really fatigued. Oh, malaria.

This weekend, thankfully I was well enough to join the group on our trip to Kokrobite, a beach town outside of Accra. There were beautiful, picturesque beaches with sun and sand and sea breezes and palm trees. It was just what I needed. We hung out on the beach for a full afternoon and ate salad and pasta dishes and it was wonderful.

Life in Tefle is still lovely. I was well enough on Friday to join a couple of the girls in teaching a Reproductive Health class at the school. The students are super astute and had lots of great questions- "Can I get gonorrhea from eating sugary things?" and "In America, where do you send the people who have AIDS?" were a couple of my favorites. This week, we will continue to teach at the school (World Cultures, Reproductive Health, Feminine Hygiene, and Community Non-violence) and start the textiles part of our work with NEWIG, the women's organization that we are working with. I've made great friends, taken great photos (that I will share as soon as I can), and seen some amazing cross cultural interactions take place. The next four weeks I plan to continue the take it all in, living in the moment and not taking anything for granted.