A fine mess of contradictions

Mosquitos Don't Need A Visa to Enter Ghana

This is an actual headline from a newspaper here in Ghana. Well they finally got me. That's right, I have malaria. I thought I might get away without any serious illness here, but a part of me knew I wouldn't escape without something. "It's your welcome gift to Ghana," said the doctor at the hospital. I've been here for almost two months, I wanted to yell! But yes, malaria was actually quite worse than I thought so I guess I just didn't catch it early on. I felt weird for a while, but I mean everyone feels weird with the heat and the sun and how can you tell if you have a temperature if you're constantly sweating?

So last Thursday I started to get a really massive headache. I thought I was just tired because we had been out for Femke's goodbye party and a bunch of the volunteers had some drinks (though I only had a little) and so I just figured that I was tired. The headache didn't go away all day no matter how much I drank and that night was lights out so I just went to bed early hoping it would go away. I was supposed to meet my Dad in Accra on Sunday and go to Kokrobite a beach near Accra on Friday night for the night to say goodbye to some of the volunteers that were in Swedro. But, I woke up Friday morning and I was in really bad shape. I think I can honestly say that I had to go to the bathroom every 5 minutes for about 4 hours. I know, I'm so graphic but it was a serious problem. My host sister was also home from school because she was sick, so Agnes my host mother decided to take us both to the hospital. I was in no shape to be in public but she wanted to get us both there. I told her that I really couldn't walk the twenty minutes to the hospital, so she flagged down the neighbours and told them to hurry us to the hospital because her daughters were sick and that I had only 5 minutes before I would need a bathroom again. It was so funny because both of the men in the front just looked at me and everyone started laughing and Agnes managed to make my horrible illness into something hilarious.

At the hospital Agnes just marches to the front of the line and announces that her daughters are sick- this woman is so great I can't even describe how much I love her. I'm just trying not to throw up in public and I manage to get in to see a doctor fairly quickly because I work at this clinic and know the doctors. He says of course, you have malaria, but I insisted on a blood test in case it was something else. They give malaria drugs for everything so you really have to make sure you don't have typhoid or some other random disease. So I get a blood test and wait in the sun for about an hour and just deteriorate to the point where I'm this sweaty mess and I can't stand and Agnes offers to carry me, but I just collapse on a bench and lie there trying not to be ill for another hour waiting for the guy who does the lab results to come back from lunch. Agnes was amazing- she was running around trying to get me a bed- I really just needed to lie down anywhere. People were walking past the half conscious obruni and just staring at me. I put my face down on this dirty hospital bench and couldn't have cared less. I couldn't even climb the stairs to get to the staff bathrooms. I was dizzy and tingly and I couldn't drink water because it hurt so badly when it went down. I ended up waiting at the hospital for about 3 hours which is not a fun place to be when the world is spinning but frankly I didn't really care. Anyways, so the results came back with parasites present - clearly- and the doctor gave me 13 pills. I wanted to die from all the pills- still not even sure what I was taking but after 3 days in bed barely moving I felt a lot better! I read 4 books, so it was nice that I got to finish everything so I could give it away before I left.

Agnes brought me food in bed that I couldn't eat and kept checking on me- she kept saying she didn't want her daughter to be sick. She is the best Ghanaian mother I could have ever asked for. Some of the other volunteers came to visit, and I was surprised at how long it took me to feel better. Derek the other Canadian got malaria on the same day so he didn't make it to the beach either- I guess that's the way it goes in Ghana. You can't leave without getting it, says everyone I talked to. But I feel a bit better now. I still feel really weird and have had a headache for the past few days so I'm kind of worried that I still have it. Buttt I'm leaving Ghana tonight so hopefully I don't get sick again in Italy or I will have to brave Italian hospitals and potentially a much greater lack of knowledge on malaria! (I'm just praying I dont get it again before I leave or I'll get sick in Canada). I was actually surprised at how sick it made me because Gill seemed to be okay for most of it. (You're one lucky duck Gill!Oh and James came in and shook my head around praying for Jesus to take the poison out of me so I can imagine how you felt when he said it was God's will that you were throwing up in a bucket. Hahah oh my preacher host father.)

So the past week has been fun and tiring because I still feel like crap. My dad came in on Sunday and made it to Kumasi on his own (he hired a car for the week because otherwise with the bus system here we might never see anything) and he stayed with my family. It kind of sucked for him because there was no running water and the power was out and I was sick, but by Monday I felt well enough to show him around. I took him to the AIDS clinic and then we went to the Kente village and got lost trying to find the Bobiri butterfly sanctuary in the rain. Then Tuesday I took him to see the kids at Feyiase for my final day and we had an exhausting and fun day with all the girls. We went to the lake in the afternoon for some relaxation and Saskia came along. Wednesday we headed out to Ellis Hideout this amazing isolated beach area. We stayed in these huts along the water and my dad couldn't believe how beautiful it was- he kept saying it was like "The Beach" the movie. It was really gorgeous- maybe a little nicer than Green Turtle- and we relaxed there for a day and a bit. He took a canoe ride in the village but I wasn't feeling well enough. Also, I met all of the Swedes there! The friends I had made in Cape Coast were the only other guests at the "resort" and so we all hung out and I got to spend some time with them before I left. It was so random that they were all there! From there me and my dad headed to Cape Coast and went to Elmina Castle. It was similar to Cape Coast but really beautiful in a strange way that a place is when it was used to capture thousands of people and send them to their deaths in the Atlantic. It was a good tour though and I'm glad my dad got to see some of the history of Ghana. We also went to Kakum National Park and got to do the canopy walk and hike around in the rainforest which he really liked. I felt horrible yesterday but we made it to see all of the Africana Dance Team perform in Accra. They are the most amazing dancers ever so I really wanted to show my dad some real dancing here. We went out for drinks with some of the guys last night to say bye. I made my dad stay at the Volunteer Abroad house to make sure I could see everyone before I left and luckily a lot of the volunteers came down for the weekend so it was nice to get the chance to say bye. I have forced my dad to stay in places with no water and no power the whole time so he definitely got the real Ghanaian experience. (Yup, the house here has no water and of course the power was out all yesterday)

Wow, I summarized a lot really quickly sorry it's so jumbled, I feel like I haven't been online in a while. So from here I am spending 4 days in Italy before I head back to Canada for Easter. I am meeting my mom in Milan and then we are going to Lake Como for a few days. It is going to be the weirdest culture shock of life and I only have African clothes and camping outfits here so I'm going to be the weirdest looking person there. I just can't imagine what it will be like to go to the fashion capital of the world after being here in West Africa. I love it here so much. I thought maybe if I got really sick it would make me ready to leave. But it hasn't. I still love it, I love the people, I love my friends, and I just love what I'm doing here. I really want to work in the HIV/AIDS area in Canada and hopefully I can still contribute to AHFOG when I go home. I did get my dad to bring a digital camer a for Agnes (so don't worry about trying to mail one Gill) and a jump drive and a donation for the organization because it just does so many amazing things. I will definitely come back here to visit and I'm not ready for my journey to end. But, I can't wait to see everyone at home and just to warn all of you I'm going to be culture shocking all over the place. I hope everyone is doing well at home and I'll see you soon.

posted by Kate @ 3:56 AM