Flying Ants, Vegetable Ladies, and Malaria

I made my first trip to see the Vegetable Ladies up the hill today. I am glad to have some green stuff to eat (I've been getting my fiber when I eat with other families, but when I'm on my own, it's been a lot of bread and cheese :) I took 200 shillings with me (less than 4 dollars) and came back with a huge head of cabbage, 6 tomatoes, a kilo of potatoes, a mango, 2 cucumbers, 4 bananas, and 3 small green peppers . . oh, and one tortilla :) Pretty good deal, I'd say. The men with the crafts also spread out their stuff for me to see and some of it was really good; I told them I'd have to come back next week because I was out of money.

Friday night, I went to the Letchfords and helped Sherri with Hannah's birthday party. There were about 10 seventh grade girls running around screaming. It was impressive. It was actually a neat group of girls. Hannah goes to Rift Valley Academy here which is the largest boarding school in Africa. Many missionaries and families in Africa for other reasons, as well as some Kenyans, send their children there; so it is a very international group of kids. It was neat to see a group of girls that was about 1/3 Caucasian, 1/3 African, and 1/3 Asian (not to mention their specific nationalities) playing together.

The highlight of the night (for me) was the Flying Ants. Halfway through the party, I walked into the kitchen to put some stuff away and I note there are about 8 bugs with HUGE wings flitting around the kitchen. I asked Sherri what they were and she explained they were flying ants, before she could get much further, I heard a commotion in the front room. What I observed next let me know that I was really in Africa. On the front porch, attracted by the flourescent light, there was a SWARM of these things -- it was like a column of bugs going from the light down to the picnic table under it -- and running around this swarm were about half of the seventh grade girls. They were dancing around and screaming and grabbing the bugs and throwing them at each other and eating them. Yes, EATING them. Apparently, one can eat the bugs (sans wings) and they taste kindof like peanuts. Most people fry them, but some kids just eat 'em as they are, which is what these girls did. Amazing. It made me realize what a very different life these kids, who grow up in Africa, have -- definitely rich in experience.

I am on call today and tomorrow and, frankly, I am weary. I am actually functioning as the attending, so unless it's an ICU patient, I don't have to do a whole lot. But I still feel responsible for things and it is stressful for me and I am tired. I think I am realizing how overwhelming the week has been. Adjusting to a new system, a new way to practice, a new language (even the English is hard for me to understand sometimes -- and mine is for them), and a new way of life. There are good things, but it is hard, too, and I miss having people around to talk things through with.
I am hoping that next week I will get to explore around the area a little more (this place is big) and that will help me feel not so locked to the hospital. I also realize I need to ask God to help me love these patients well and serve and do the best I can. I can only do it in His strength. There are certainly good things here, beautiful things, and I am glad that I am here, but I am just realizing my fatigue.

I am currently reading up on Malaria in a tropical medicine book. Most of my education on malaria has been quite brief and so I need some more details. It seems that malaria is almost the equivalent to our gallbladder disease or something like that. Very common. It is not endemic here but patients come from all over so there is a lot of it. It's weird to me that some of the major considerations in a patient with central nervous system symptoms is malaria, TB meningitis, and cryptococcus. Those are things that would be exciting cases in Greenville.

Much love to you all,
Nellie