In sickness and in health...
Poor Geoffry, one of the MACRO (that's the organisation we're volunteering with, it stands for Mukono AIDS Control and Recovery Organisation) counsellors, is really sick with malaria. He started feeling unwell a few days ago now, and got some medication from the clinic, but he's not been taking it regularly. He's been sharing it with his mother and sister, who are also sick. It's the start of the rainy season, and therefore the worst time for malaria. So we've just taken Geoffry to the clinic, and after his blood test (we heard a squeal from behind the curtain) confirmed how bad his infection was, he was hooked up to a drip to pump him with antimalarial drugs. He's got to stay hooked up for 3 hours or so, and come back for the same treatment for the next 2 days. He's been travelling with us today, visiting local schools to set up a school twinning programme so that Ugandan pupils can get penpals from schools in the UK. But he's been feeling rotten. Black people don't go pale or look green, but he's still visibly ill with a fever, headache and nausea. Tash and I kept insisting he take his tablets, but over here they're a bit wary about western medicine, preferring their own local herbal remedies. When Tash got a rash of itchy blisters all over her toes, Geoffry insisted we heat up a bit of plant and drape them over her feet for a while. They did stop itching. Don't think the local remedies really help when it comes to malaria though. Plus, being an "African man" he doesn't like showing weakness and succombing to illness.
The week before last we stayed in a village called Mwanyangiri with Geoffry and another councellor, Lawrence. Or "Rolence" as everyone here calls him. They have issues with their "R"s and their "L"s; railway is "layray". Bless them. Lawrence is 24, Geoffry 21, so we got along really well, it was good fun. Our "work" consisted of sitting around for most of the day, eating and sleeping (we usually managed to fit in a 2 hour siesta), despite our seemingly hectic programme. We were scheduled to start teaching at 9 each morning, but the pupils (mainly adults) tended to their farms in the mornings and, following "African time", didn't show till around 12. We were lucky if the afternoon session, supposedly beginning at 2, started earlier than 4. Again, we taught about AIDS, de- and rehydration, malaria, and helped with a bit of adult literacy, which was no more advanced than chanting the alphabet and reciting the numbers. We did a bit of weeding in the new vegetable patch, in which were carrots and cabbages were being grown. This is a project by MACRO, the idea being to improve nutrition in the village. Travis sincerely believes that the deteriating sight of the elderly people will be miraculously improved by the addition of a few carrots to their diet... The villagers were really friendly. We stayed with the village chairman and the menagerie of people he lived with, from a haggard but cheery old woman to a tiny baby girl. I'm not really sure how they all related to each other, but they were entertaining. The house was solar powered - which meant we didn't have to endure darkness every other evening. Again the food was plentiful and goooooood, we even got "greens"! No pudding though...oh I miss it! (N.B. Mum!) In the evenings, we entertained ourselves by playing cards and poking fun at Lawrence, who stays skinny despite eating for 3. We told him he had worms, hope he's not taken it to heart too much.
So today is Saturday. We're leaving tomorrow for Jinja, where Travis will be showing us a few projects before leaving us at a BackPackers Hostel. We're staying there for a few days to chill out a bit. It's a touristy place, and the source of the Nile by Lake Victoria so should be very pretty. And I'm going white water rafting, woohoo! It's reported to be the best place for it in the world, can't wait! Off to buy some leaving presents for our hosts, and to collect Geoffry from his drip.
The week before last we stayed in a village called Mwanyangiri with Geoffry and another councellor, Lawrence. Or "Rolence" as everyone here calls him. They have issues with their "R"s and their "L"s; railway is "layray". Bless them. Lawrence is 24, Geoffry 21, so we got along really well, it was good fun. Our "work" consisted of sitting around for most of the day, eating and sleeping (we usually managed to fit in a 2 hour siesta), despite our seemingly hectic programme. We were scheduled to start teaching at 9 each morning, but the pupils (mainly adults) tended to their farms in the mornings and, following "African time", didn't show till around 12. We were lucky if the afternoon session, supposedly beginning at 2, started earlier than 4. Again, we taught about AIDS, de- and rehydration, malaria, and helped with a bit of adult literacy, which was no more advanced than chanting the alphabet and reciting the numbers. We did a bit of weeding in the new vegetable patch, in which were carrots and cabbages were being grown. This is a project by MACRO, the idea being to improve nutrition in the village. Travis sincerely believes that the deteriating sight of the elderly people will be miraculously improved by the addition of a few carrots to their diet... The villagers were really friendly. We stayed with the village chairman and the menagerie of people he lived with, from a haggard but cheery old woman to a tiny baby girl. I'm not really sure how they all related to each other, but they were entertaining. The house was solar powered - which meant we didn't have to endure darkness every other evening. Again the food was plentiful and goooooood, we even got "greens"! No pudding though...oh I miss it! (N.B. Mum!) In the evenings, we entertained ourselves by playing cards and poking fun at Lawrence, who stays skinny despite eating for 3. We told him he had worms, hope he's not taken it to heart too much.
So today is Saturday. We're leaving tomorrow for Jinja, where Travis will be showing us a few projects before leaving us at a BackPackers Hostel. We're staying there for a few days to chill out a bit. It's a touristy place, and the source of the Nile by Lake Victoria so should be very pretty. And I'm going white water rafting, woohoo! It's reported to be the best place for it in the world, can't wait! Off to buy some leaving presents for our hosts, and to collect Geoffry from his drip.
posted by Lucy at
2:48 pm
