(i had malaria and typhoid, but now im healthy)
sooo yeah... just got out of 5 days at the hospital. i woke up on thursday morning feeling awful and found out a few hours later at the clinic that i had both typhoid and malaria. JUST when i was thinking i might sneak out of mali without a scratch!
this is what my experience was like (from my journal)...
five days i spent in one bed. five days horizontal. there were some good things about that room, though, like the one way window serving as a mirror to outsiders (and providing me with some light entertainment). the air conditioning became my good pal and its remote too. i got to know the inside of my head a lot better and the lengths of my imagination in desperate measures. i got better at shadow puppets and shallow dreaming. one of the nurses named moussa had a shirt accidently embroidered with the word mousso. that was really funny it made me laugh outloud alone in my empty space. bob dylan sustained me. i had a cleansing oil detox and a clearer head because of it. as moms daughter, i made lists. i practiced bambara sentences in my head. i looked up words in my french dictionary. i read l'amant. i got a plant from lobo and i put it outside so it could taste the rain. it rained. i watched the wind and rain from my one way window. my room smelled of bananas. i slept a lot. and wrote.
now im out! FREE FREE FREE! i have so much life to live! no but really, after being in one space for so long, its strange to leave and exciting. i felt like i was seeing africa again the way i did when i first got here... noticing all the bright colors and the smells and the sounds. its a lot. i have lots of things i want to do that ive been ittttching to do all week. i cant wait to get back to the cooperative. i love it there. the women are so amazing. did i mention that last tuesday when i went they gave me a whole bag full of freshly picked bissap flowers (below) and mint and citronella. bissap juice is one of the best things ever in mali and especially when its frozen. that night i went home and made my own bissap juice with mint and citronella. yum!
anyway, some of you parental types are probably still stuck on the whole malaria typhoid thing but donnnt worry im AOK. and im taking it easy for the next few days anyway because im a smart one... no african dancing while carrying water on my head in the 100+ degree weather (at least for a week or so).
peace and glucose solutions
BINTOU
No comments:
Post a Comment