Four months into my service and I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer.
Even more than my formal Swearing-In ceremony two months ago, the events of the past two weeks solidify, to me, my membership in the Peace Corps Community. Volunteers past and present share more than a willingness to serve their country and abandon everything familiar in hopes of a more peaceful world. What really marks a member of the PCV community is an almost gleeful willingness to share poop stories, true first-hand knowledge that integration is often a painful experience, and an appreciation of good food that approaches fanaticism.
My transition starts, of course, with a rather intense stomach illness, the likes of which almost all volunteers are familiar with. After almost four months without any problems despite drinking unfiltered water from my town's well, I foolishly thought that I was above getting sick, that I had somehow acquired a stronger stomach than everyone else. Not so, it turns out. After returning from a wonderful weekend in Kedougou for the 4th of July, my stomach decided to turn on me. I'll keep the description of this brief, so suffice it to say that I learned how to contain simultaneous diarrhea and vomiting into one toilet basin and that pooping blood is just as painful as it sounds. Luckily, a round of ciprofloxacin cured me quickly enough that I was back to my village in just a few days…
…Where I started to fast for Ramadan. In retrospect, fasting after just being ill wasn't the smartest decision. I blame my choices on the fact that I am an eager Peace Corps Volunteer passionately trying to be accepted by my village and also a competitive person. When villagers shook their heads and told me I couldn't do it- alaa, a wawa hoorde Aissata- and when they were pleased that I was indeed fasting, it drove me to keep going. For two days I fasted without food or water, breaking fast with a meal of dates, juice and bread at sundown, followed by a meal of rice and fish between 9:30 and 11:00 pm. Many families observing Ramadan also have a morning meal before the 5 am prayer, but my family chose not to eat in the morning, whether because of preference or lack of finances I don't know. After two days of doing the true fast, I started to drink water, greatly easing the pain of Ramadan and allowing me to be a functional, though still hungry, person.
Before Ramadan began, I had severely underestimated it. I knew that it would be painful to not eat all day, and I was right, but the pain was not unfamiliar or too overwhelming. After a couple days you almost get used to the feeling. What I underestimated was the joy that a meal can bring. On my first night of breaking fast, I had never tasted anything so wonderful as that date or anything as refreshing as the bucket of water I chugged. It goes beyond how the food tasted though. The weakness you feel in your body from fasting, especially after several days of it, is something that penetrates your muscles and your bones. It makes you lose your balance and puts you to sleep. It confuses you and magnifies your problems. To feel the weakness be replaced by a rush of sugar is like a heady drug circulating your system, and if I ever find a drug that makes you feel that way I will highly recommend it. The pure elation I felt as I ate and looked out at the brilliant pink and orange sunset lighting up the desert sky with a cool breeze on my face was more intense than my writing can express. The aftershocks of it felt like freshness was filling me to the fingertips and at the same time easing me into a comfortable, sleepy happiness. During the day, I hate Ramadan and I have never had hours pass so painfully slowly. In the evening though, it is magical. If you ever find yourself in a Muslim African village during Ramadan I really recommend you try it.
After my sickness and 11 days of eating less than 1,000 calories, I could tell that I was losing weight. The title to my post may or may not be an exaggeration as I didn't have a way to weigh myself before or now, but I can see my ribs and breastbone much clearer now than before. The feeling of weakness and the vivid persistence of my food dreams were starting to wear on me, so I came into the city today to break my fast and indulge in Spencer's surprise birthday celebration. I don't recommend living in a bush village as a form of weight loss, but I certainly recommend it for the experience.
(To my parents and all my parents friends who are worriers, I'm really okay, I swear. I'm only getting just what I signed up for.)
so just wondering- was ther adoctor or hospital near you??did you have enough fluids and why did you get so sick??
ReplyDeletelaurie
Hi Laurie, Thanks for your concern.
ReplyDeleteThere are indeed doctors and hospitals in the area. The closest hospital to me with a licensed doctor is about 30 km away and it takes me about 2 hours to get there via public transportation, though if there were a real emergency I could get there in under an hour with a car from my village. There is also a clinic 3 km away from me staffed with trained volunteers and headed by a nurse. However, Peace Corps has its own health care system for volunteers separate from the local systems and they take very good care of us. We are trained in our own health management with a special focus on things that are specific to our host country, such as giardia or scorpion bites. We are sent to our sites with a medical kit stocked with supplies and have emergency plans in place. There are wonderful and very competent doctors on call for us 24/7 and a medical office in Dakar that oversees the health of all volunteers. For example, if the ciproflaxin had not worked for me, I would have traveled to Dakar to stay in the medical building and the doctors would have been able to monitor and treat me in person. If the situation requires, volunteers can be sent to the United States or possibly South Africa to receive proper medical treatment. Thankfully, my illness (as gory as it may sound) was relatively routine and required nothing more than some medicine, fluids and rest.
As far as fluids, yes I did have enough and I supplemented my water intake with oral rehydration salts (ORS).
Why I got sick is a bit of a mystery. None of the other people who ate the same food as me that day got sick, so I can't pinpoint it to something I ate, but it could come from a number of sources that are equally difficult to pinpoint exactly. Volunteers take precautions here with their food and water, filtering and adding bleach to water, soaking vegetables in water with a few drops of bleach before eating, and not eating questionable street food, for example. However, being sick with various stomach illnesses is, as I said, part of being a Peace Corps volunteer. It happens to just about everyone and we are prepared to deal with it.
While I (and my family members back home) feel secure in my health and security because of the support of Peace Corps, the people that I live with have far fewer resources. Illnesses like mine are common and not enough people know how to properly treat and avoid them. As a health volunteer, I am working with the local health system to improve awareness about potential dangers, teaching and motivating people to adopt preventative strategies, and educating laypeople and health care providers about simple treatments (ORS after a bout of diarrhea, for example). Keep reading for more discussion of my health work in the next few months!
-Emily