Illness and departures

As some of you noted, I unfortunately didn’t update this blog last week, my apologies for that. Unfortunately I got quite ill the week before last, I had diarrhoea. They call it “driving” here. On Wednesday it was especially bad, I had to rush to the toilet thirteen times that day. The following days were somewhat better, but the lack of nutrients made me very, very tired. On Monday I went to the government hospital, which was quite an experience. I was lucky to have James to escort me – he works for the local government and knows many people in “high places”. Without that, he said, you could wait all day before getting help. Of course, knowing that some people wouldn’t be helped that day because of me wasn’t a nice thought. But the doctors didn’t want to give me too special a treatment, they feared to be blamed of taking bribes. James also studied at that very hospital for two years, so he knows his way around very well. Of course we had to greet many of the doctors etc. They all seem to know reasonable English, but funnily enough most were too shy to talk with me directly. They didn’t get to practise their pronunciation properly, and feared to make mistakes.

If you don’t want to wait a long time, there’s fortunately an alternative: The private hospitals. Of course I didn’t have any experience with those yet, but I think the government hospital would probably be more interesting anyway. Private hospitals are said to be very expensive, but knowing the prices of the government hospital, I think the latter is just very cheap. For 56 eurocent you could have a malaria check, fortunately using new, clean materials for each patient. Checking stool costs the same, and some medicine against diarrhoea was just 28 cent. Unfortunately I couldn’t have my stool checked that day, they need the day’s first and that one was already down the drain.

But when I came home that Monday I recalled the medicine I took with me from home, namely Imodium, or loperamide. The pills are actually in the typical pill shape, one half was green, the other purple. But as worrying as it looked, I deemed it better to take one anyway. And well, if I was “driving”, the pill was really a handbrake. Or maybe a car accident. I straight went from diarrhoea to constipation, I didn’t have to go until Thursday. So it just made things worse, really. The stomach aches got worse, and because I lost my appetite I remained very tired. My belly got notably bigger too, but then it did hold some seven meals eventually, which was an awkward thought.

But through this the hospitable and caring nature of the people here really showed. People were genuinely concerned, some came and prayed for me, they bought fruit, fruit juice and jam and tidied up my bed. One of the teachers cooked light but very good meals for me (eating ugali or makande at that time would be a very bad idea), even with meat. I don’t like to be a burden at all, but they told me to please not worry about that either. People genuinely want help, not just because they have to. So this impressed me very much, and the memory of it will be at least one good thing that came from these troublesome weeks.

Unfortunately my illness and inability to teach weren’t the only bad things in the past weeks. Two students had to leave the school, too, the week before last. One of them was Revered Ntangale, who we’ll always remember for his very amusing one-liners. He had to because the church he’s a pastor of had its four year conference around this time, and there was no way for him not to be present.

The other person that had to go was Helena. She really was such a lady, always polite and composed, though she could have fun too for sure. Unfortunately her boss called her back to work. Just as Ntangale she really wanted to stay, but there was no way. Fortunately she’s able to visit us after her work and can still gather some new things from the other students. Her English is already excellent though, I’m sure she’s able to reach the goals she has for it.

Though our class is somewhat smaller now, it of course continues... By now I feel very much fit enough to teach again, and the students that remain are doing very well. The course is really nearing it’s end, there’s just some three more weeks to go. The students have been counting the days for quite a while now, after that, they’ll have to make do on their own.