Ouch

Well, people keep saying I’ve become a veteran of Senegal. I survived my first bout of malaria. Let me tell you, I hope I never get it again. I have never been in so much pain (and I’ve had the true flu and missed a week of school). I couldn’t move but I couldn’t get relief from just lying around. I couldn’t even watch a movie because it hurt so badly. I don’t mean to whine. I’m just trying to portray what I went through. What’s sad is people go through this all the time around the world. I read on the CDC website that 350-500 MILLION people get malaria every year. Wowzers. I am so thankful the Bush administration dedicated a lot to malaria in Africa because it is a problem here.

CDC website: http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/

I was fortunate because they started me on medication right away. I was in a village on outreach. We were supposed to roof a church, create a soccer field, treat some medical problems, and do evangelistic campaigns. I felt sick within the first 45 minutes of arriving. Malaria takes a while from the bit of the infected mosquito until the symptoms show so it didn’t occur in the village. I felt so bad because I felt so helpless-both to helping others as well as helping myself. Fortunately, I work with AMAZING people who did everything they could to help alleviate the pain.

Well I guess that’s a general description of what is new. I wish I could blog about the outreach, but I spent most of it lying down. I can tell you the kids were great workers. They worked hard in some tough conditions. I am so proud of them.

Well I better tackle some schoolwork. I missed four days this week and my plan book shows it.

I hope to see some of you in less than two weeks. Yahoo!