Dysentery Has It's Perks..

Namely hot showers, baths and air conditioning in the Peace Corps infirmary in Lome--which also means an internet connection fast enough to post pictures! Before I post a few, though, I'll briefly touch on my sickness a bit.

Three days ago I was working in the garden clearing some bamboo and trying to avoid a gnarly colony of ants and decided to take a break before lunch and head to the weekly market in a neighboring town for some cabbage and tofu (luxury ingredients for my village). I stopped back at my house to get my moto helmet and when I did I was stricken with horrible indigestion and decided to rest for a while. Within an hour I was incapacitated and vomiting into plastic bags in my bed. After consulting my health literature (see last entry) to see if this qualified as an emergency I called the after-hours health line of the Peace Corps and was told to rest, take some over the counter medicine that I already had and drink water with rehydration salts. By 11 at night I was in no way better and was told by my medical officer to wake up my homologue who lives next to me and have him run out and buy some antibiotics. It should be noted that in Togolese culture this is perfectly appropriate as sick people (especially guests) are looked after quite well, but this also meant that within 20 minutes the entire village would know I was sick and would want to send me well wishes. Luckily it was late enough that I didn't have any visitors coming to check on my health until the next morning...when I was already on my way to finding a car to Lome. After a horrendous taxi trip (worst than the typically horrid taxi trips that I've grown accustomed to), I stumbled into the med unit severely dehydrated, and looking admittedly pretty rough. Yet, it is amazing how your spirits are lifted once you step into air conditioning and taste cold water for the first time in months and I soon perked up. Now I'm just taking some extra tests to make sure that all I have is bacterial dysentery and not parasites or amoebas. All in all, nothing to out of the ordinary here, I should be back at post real soon!

Anyway, here are a few pics from the last couple months:

Me during training teaching junior high aged kids about reforestation

My host mom and I cooking on my last night of training

My village from above the Teak plantation, on the way to the top of the plateau

I took this at a fete that took place in my village at 8:00 in the morning after the government named the town as a new "canton": something like a township in the States. Basically my village will be the government seat or center for the surrounding area: which means more prestige and federal money coming in. The white powder on the lady is baby powder, which is thrown on you by party-goers (myself included). I was awaken by fireworks at sunrise on the day of the fete and when I made my way to where everyone was gathered there was already loads of Palm wine being ceremoniously spilled (and later drank) for the ancestors by one of the local fetish priests (we would call him a witch doctor).

So that is all I can put up for right now, but I'll be back in Lome (healthy hopefully) in a month or two and will post more then! Hope all is well with everyone back home!

J