There are few things in life that are certain. Everyone will eventually die, people can get sick, nothing ever stays the same, and that the unexpected should can always happen.Yesterday our driver was not well so thank my lucky stars I got to stay at Salama Shield. I stayed in with Jenna and we typed the names of those Salama Shield had distributed schoolbooks to over the past two months. Benen had been gone for a long time and when he came back he explained that he had not been feeling well. Jenna arrived from another building shortly after she came in a coat. Fair enough the building we worked in is cold. We then typed in the names of the children who had gotten goats to look after and earn some money off of. At the end of the day we discussed more specifics for our video project. When we emerged from the building Eliza and Courtney commented on how ill both Jenna and I looked. I was not supprised. Earlier that day I finally came to accept the fact that bananas make me sick. After a three yearlong debate with myself I have come to realize it is not just in my head. At lunch I had eaten too many bananas, and my stomach instantly rebelled. I sat with my knees to my chest and my hand on my stomach in an attempt to calm the storm inside my gut. Jenna had been sick earlier in the week, but she looked pasty white even for a mzungu. Apparently I looked a bit paler as well, and when Eliza felt our foreheads we both had a fever.
I managed to feel ok throught most of the rest of today and night, still just a slight fever. Jenna, on the other hand, did not show up to work in the morning. Claire explained that she would try to come later. When my group retruned from our community event we saw Jenna’s computer at the center and figured she must feel better. How wrong we were. The Micro-finance team showed up in a rush to collect Jenna’s thing to take her to the hospital. She had a raging fever (102), and sweated bullets. Eliza worried about meningitis, but it’s not. The doctors tested her for malaria, and though the test came up negative they gave her malaria medication anyway. Jenna then went home.
Later that evening after tea cleaning the dishes I went to my room to lie down, still feeling a bit peckish myself. If I did have the same thing as Jenna I did not want to exacerbate it. As I went to grab my computer out from my bag to call my mother and father to say hi my phone flew out. It said I had two missed calls. From the other line I heard a frantic Sandra ask if Eliza and I were on our way. I asked what was wrong, and if I should be. She explained that Jenna had developed a slight rash, and felt… then the phone cut off. I scrambled to find my code for more minuets. I sat on my floor frantically scratching the protective top off the access code when Eliza burst in the door. I needed to go with her, and I needed to grab my insurance card, passport, and American phone. She didn’t think we would have to leave, but just in case. If she had been an autumn leaf wind would have blown her off the tree with ease. I managed to get a hold of Sandara again and brought my computer so we could call Jenna’s insurance company from my computer. We grabbed our stuff, and with the platter Mama Agnes had pack for us mounted a Boda Boda to Jenna’s. On the boda I joked around a bit, and calmed Eliza, and myself, down a bit. The next few hours consisted of calling the insurance company, eating dinner with Benen (who came to see if she needed/ wanted to be driven to Masaka), talking about poligomy, Obama, and playing with each others hair. I called the insurance company Sandra listening in on the other ear bud and relaying information to me. We got her all set up, and her claim number. We learned that my father was not the only host father with two wives, and that they all thought Michelle Obama was white. Our hosts, Benen, and us also had an interesting conversation about why white girls have different hair. Finally around ten Jenna decided she was more calm, and didn’t need to go to the hospital, well not at that moment anyway. Benen drove us home, and now I’m waiting anxiously to hear if Jenna gets better or worse.
I think my fever has finally broken though.
