Day by Day

Thank you for your responses to the last post, I have received several good ideas which we will pursue.

Life continues with its difficulties. Last week Clement and I both came down with malaria. It was the first time for me and an interesting experience that I do not hope to repeat. In the morning I felt tired by noon my body was mildly aching and by five I had a splitting headache, chills, and a fever of 102. I started taking anti-malarials right away (we always carry a couple doses with us) and by morning I was feeling 80% better. I went out and bought a treated mosquito bednet and hung it the next day. Clement’s symptoms started a day after mine and hung on a little longer but we are now both fully recovered and are enjoying mosquito free nights under the net. Then for the cherry on top, my computer crashed. My dad says that several friends have left his company feeling better about their day-to-day problems after inquiring about us and hearing some of ours. I suppose even knowing that is reassuring, at least some good is coming out of all of this.

The high of the week was seeing a little girl about two years old in the market with a calculator pressed against her ear wobbling in circles in the midst of the market chaos yelling “Hello? Hello? Hello?”

I also met with Abigail Kyei. She is the Ghanaian midwife I originally met in Malawi. She was working and living there for three years but just recently returned to Ghana and is actually opening a nursing college next door to our hostel. She is one of those people who lifts your spirits just by sitting with you and looking in your eyes. She listened with compassion to my worries, offered some assistance, and reminded me - once again - that she and her husband know what it is like to live in a foreign country and that they will always do what they can for us. A burden lifted. We are not alone.