All Better and Ready to Get Going!

There are two cliché sayings that have become themes in my life since I’ve been here: “Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” and “you don’t realize what you have until it’s gone.” But it is the latter that has most recently slapped me in the face. True, pretty much immediately once I arrived in Ghana, I realized the advantages I have living in the US, and I commented on them in my initial two entries. But my commentary concentrated mostly on modern conveniences and cultural differences-- things that I am quite capable of not having while I’m here, but will be so much more thankful for once I get back to The States: decent internet, dairy products, heated water, and a constant flow of water and power. But there is one thing that I realized that I can actually not live without and all my life I have taken it for granted-- my health.

What a difference having your health makes to, well, your life! I’m not going to be a drama queen/ silly American and say I had this epiphany while lying on my death bed in Africa, but I definitely had this realization in my two weeks of lying in bed haha!

When I last posted, it had been 6 days since I fell ill. It is now day 14 and I am FINALLY able to get out of bed without any hesitation, because I now have the strength. Since we last spoke, or more accurately, I spoke and you read, I have had a rough time dealing with my tropical ailment. Although malaria was never confirmed by my blood sample, the doctors are still convinced that I had malaria, for the symptoms that I had, and that my platelet count was unusually low, an effect of malaria, but not exclusive to the parasite. And, the parasite apparently goes in and out of your blood, so at the time of my sample, the parasite could have been chilling in my liver or something. Great, right?

What do I think? Well, I didn’t ever think that I had malaria until about day 12; therefore, I will refer to my tropical ailment as malaria, because I now believe that is what it was. What swayed me? Let me explain in a nutshell…

I was put on this 6 day 3 times a day pill to treat the malaria, and it made me feel horrible. I mean, I didn’t feel like I was getting any better and the days were coming and going with minimal improvement. I wasn’t eating (loss of appetite was a side effect of the pills), I was nauseous constantly which made eating the last thing I wanted to do (also a wicked side effect of the drug), and when I was able to eat, I was vomiting it up either immediately after, or even up to 7 hours later! (again, another perquisite of the drug). So eating was beyond a chore, I could even say painful. I’m eating about 500 calories a day then subsequently losing close to 200 of them. And it’s been like this for a week at this point, so I’m just trying not to wither away. My energy is low, strength is dwindling each day. It got to the point where showering was a feat of its own. Oh yeah, we also didn’t have water and power for 48 hours, so if normal showering wasn’t hard enough for me, bucket showers were extra enticing and enjoyable!

Ok, but I’m not writing this for the sympathy card, or even to bitch and complain and try to prove “how hard my life was,” but it was unfortunate to say the least haha, and that’s really my point.

So on Wednesday I went back to the hospital because you know what? I was still shitty and it had been 10 days. I still wasn’t convinced this was malaria because the medicine I felt was harming more than helping me. After more lab work from more samples taken from me, and 6 hours of waiting, it was decided that my current ill state, was still due to the malaria meds (which I ended 2 days ago, but apparently are still active in my body and still affecting me). So I was given anti-vomiting meds to help keep down the food, and told that I’ll be better in 3-4 days time. Well, despite my skepticism at the time (which I openly voiced to the doctor, might I add! haha jeez I’m so American), I felt better even 2 days after and hadn’t vomited since I left the hospital (for the third time in 10 days). It is at this point that I began to believe that maybe it was malaria; I was definitely feeling better, I was holding down my food, consequently finally feeling A BIT stronger, and this is what the doctor said would happen once the malaria meds subsided. I did have a reaction to the malaria meds, but after they had done their job, and the (painfully tedious) treatment was over, I was cured!

It is day 14 since I fell ill, and although I have not tested my energy/ strength by doing the 20 minute walk to campus in 85 degree heat, I feel like a person again. I want to eat and I like eating. I mean, I went so long without it, I missed it haha! I haven’t touched Ghanaian food yet though. I’m still sick of that! But I went to the supermarket in the city and bought snack foods I’m familiar with. Honestly, I might not be the healthiest person right now, but I’m eating foods that I WANT to eat, and that will STAY down. This is the priority at this point. Nutrition can come later haha.

This is the view from my shower at Green Turtle at sunset. They have gorgeous outdoor showers!

Today was the first time in 2 weeks that I even attempted going to class, and it was a great success! I feel great. Thus far, my professors have been pretty forgiving about me missing 2 weeks of lecture due to malaria.

At this point, however, I yearn to be out of my bed (which if you know me well, I would NEVER say back home!) But there is so much to do here, and time is seriously running out! I have 6 weeks left of classes, then finals, and then I’m leaving Ghana to backpack for 6 weeks! I’ve lost two weekends, and there is no time to waste!

But before I go, let me close with this-- For everyone reading, thank you again for the love and support. I’ve received a lot of surprising get well messages and best wishes from people, which really were heart warming (cliché, but true!) while I was in my lowest point. Thank you again, and really, it means so much!

Also, if you have any questions/ things you want me to touch upon in my next blog, email me! Abellesib@berkeley.edu

Oh, and if you would like me to email you every time I update, email me and let me know!

I am better and ready to get going!

Love to you all,

Stay well, and care for your health!

-Annabelle

Flirting with Malaria

Malaria- recurring illness transmitted by mosquitoes: an infectious disease caused by a parasite that is transmitted by the bite of infected mosquitoes. Common in tropical countries

Interesting Fact: In Italian, Mal= bad and Aria= Air, so malaria is “bad air.” Originally Europeans who came to Africa thought the air was infected and that’s what killed them. No, it was just the mosquitoes…

It’s funny how things can turn so suddenly out of nowhere; one minute you’re lying on the beach enjoying the ocean breeze and tiki huts, and the next, you’re glued to your bed because your body doesn’t have the energy to move. Well, this happened to me. I spent a lovely weekend at the estuary where the Volta River meets the Atlantic ocean, and my resort was on the peninsula that separates these two bodies of water. All I had to do was turn right if I wanted to swim in the calming river, or turn left if I was craving the powerful salty waves of the ocean. I went with two others: my roommate Laurel and (the now blog famous) Gareth. We had a great time. Although to be honest it could not compare to Green Turtle (the first beach resort we went to).

Sunday we got home, and wow was I tired! I just assumed it was from a weekend in the sun. But as the evening drew on I started feeling feverish and went to bed at 9. I woke up and I was worse, so I didn’t go to class. I slept on and off, but mostly on for close to 24 hours. At this point though, I barely had the energy to lift water in my mouth, let alone walk to the bathroom. I started to think “Hmm, maybe this isn’t heat stroke or the flu…” and my mind started drifting toward thoughts of the potentiality of malaria. Great. So Stacy convinced me that I should probably go to the hospital ASAP, for when it comes to malaria, the sooner the better…

We get to the hospital and they quickly notice how weak I appear. I’m admitted after some time (even at hospitals there seems to be little sense of expediency here!). They take blood and give me a shot for malaria. I’m hooked to an IV which was, from what I can remember from past painful experiences, the most painful experience. Oh, and it only took them 4 times to actually get it INTO the vein. At this point Laurel and Gareth have also arrived at the hospital for support, and they’re cringing at the pain I’m in. Oh well, it’s over now…

So they start treating me for malaria because I’m showing all the symptoms, although the blood has not confirmed it yet. Malaria was never found in my blood but it is possible that I could be hosting it, but it just hasn’t reached the blood yet. Well, that’s the gist I got from the doctor at least. The beginning was the worst, because it was filled with blood, shots, and needles galore. And I actually got used to the IV, I learned how to walk with it gracefully, I could maneuver it in tight spaces, and I even figured out how to dress myself with a 3 inch needle in my wrist attached to a baggie of glucose! I’m telling you, after 36 hours of eating, sleeping, reading, and writing with this IV attached to you, you learn to be one with it.

So finally Wednesday morning I convince them to remove the IV. Oh happy days! Well I sort of just showed them how swollen my wrist was and they felt bad for me so they took it out, but hey, whatever works right?! I then started getting pushy about being discharged. I mean, I have no IV in anymore, I’ve been here since Monday 10pm, and I am now able to take my medication by mouth. What else can they do for me? Nothing but take my money. So I wanted out.

I’m better now. I have an appetite, and I’m able to carry my weight to the bathroom and around the ward. I don’t really know what it was that affected me. Maybe some serious food poisoning, but I didn’t eat anything unusual and what I did eat I shared with someone else. The point is, I’m better now, and I survived, but I probably won’t be able to donate blood anymore, for the fear that I could have carried malaria.

Hey it’s an experience, right? And things could have been worse. All I can do is laugh about it. And it was a very good first time hospital experience in retrospect; the staff always kept a smile on my face, even when they were injecting me with needles and causing me pain. I think that’s a valuable skill, and I definitely appreciated in my time of agony. Very sweet people, Ghanaians are. And I learn this increasingly everyday.

The next day, Thursday-- I wake up completely horrible AGAIN: in a word, shitty. I was sick all day, but I had to force myself to eat because it is crucial that you take the malaria medicine with food. It was an utmost painful day. And what happened? I felt about 90% at the hospital: full of energy, eating again, and ready to go home (campus that is, not The States haha), but here I was as sick as before! What was happening to me?! What was plaguing my body so? WHYY?!

Dinner comes round and I force myself to eat. It has never been so hard for me to eat rice before in my life. I kept telling myself, “Keep eating, you need a big meal, it’ll be good for you, just do it.” Well it proved more difficult than I thought it would and I subsequently just threw it all up. My mind and my body I guess really did not want food. This was the breaking point for me-- I guess it was time to go BACK to the hospital. Wow, how depressing. How I despised the thoughts of being strapped to an IV, sleeping in the hospital, and having my day planned around THEIR schedule for me…

I was weakened and defeated. I went to the Emergency care in the hospital and the same doctor who checked me in the first night was there again tonight. How wonderful! Because she was familiar with my condition going in on Monday and now this would just be an update for her. I told her how shitty my day went and she understood everything. She told me that everything I was feeling-- nausea, cramps while consuming food, and loss of appetite-- were all side effects of the anti-malaria meds I was taking. What a relief! I thought I was getting sick all over again, but no, it was just side effects. I convinced her that I was well hydrated and there was no need to keep me overnight. She believed me and commented that I looked A LOT better than I did Monday. I guess that’s not saying much as on Monday I was brought in a wheelchair because I didn’t have the energy to walk/ barely talk, but now I was able to walk and actually have a conversation. She prescribed me anti-biotic, which I will be on for a week, and anti-cramping meds for when I eat.

I’m still low energy, and have been in bed since Sunday night. It is now Saturday. It’s still hard for me to eat but I am getting better each day, a little at a time. I just want to be better. I want to not be in bed. I want to travel. I want to like eating again. I want to be able to walk 20 mins to class without needing to rest.

Ghana has not disillusioned me yet!

I’m ready to keep going on this African Adventure! Health come back to me!

Lots of love,

Annabelle

Over the Culture Shock-- Let the Adventures Begin!

I’m in a tropical paradise and no one even knows it. Ghana is like this hidden jewel, with weather and scenes comparable to Mexico and Hawaii. This weekend I took a 5 hour trip to the western coast and it was amazing. Imagine an all inclusive resort, eco friendly, and famous for the Green Turtles that lay their eggs every year on their shores. The dry sand feels like caster sugar beneath your feet and as you approach the water the sand becomes more like compacted brown sugar, sticking to your feet with each step. The water is clear, you look to your left and you see nothing but the coastline, no buildings, no skyscrapers; you look to your right and all you can see in the distance are cliffs and a small seaside village about a 20 minute walk away. Tropical paradise. The Green Turtle Lodge where we stayed is owned by a British couple, so it was nice to have some familiar and greatly missed foods over the weekend (French Toast, salad, and curry). This lodge has one road leading to it, which from the closest small city still takes about 30-40 minutes, depending on how your taxi can handle the unpaved and hilly road. We were a group of 7 people and we slept in tents on the beach. Despite the sand that was inevitably and perpetually in our tents, I slept well and had no complaints. It cost $4 a night per person for the tent, (you could get an adorable bungalow for $20 a night, but we’re broke and don’t mind the sand!) and food cost a total of about $15 a day. So basically, I felt like I was at a luxury resort in Mexico for a total of $25 a night. Honestly this would probably be close to $100 a day in Mexico! It was amazing and we all want to go back. It is really expensive for Ghana standards, but we’re American, so it’s a relatively great deal for us. It was interesting though that there were no Ghanaians staying here. It was very much an Obruni spot, with most people there under 30 years of age. After this weekend I want to travel so much more. I want to see all that Ghana has to offer!

So now that I’m over the culture shock, I can move on to tell you what I’m up to and how life is here for me. Everything is wonderful and I’m loving the life I’m creating for myself. First off, I am legal here so I have the freedom to go wherever I please because I’m no longer restricted by age. Unfortunately, the harsh reality will hit once I get back to the states, for I will still be 19, but for now I’m enjoying it while I can! All this really means for me is that when there is nothing really going on, my friends and I can just go to the marketplace, hang out under the stars with bats flying overhead and get a domestically brewed beer. There are no late night spots here like frozen yogurt, coffee, or even restaurants for that matter, except for bars and clubs; therefore, it is nice that even if we have nothing to do, at least we can get a change of scenery accompanied by a cheap drink.

I feel like there is always something to do though, whether it’s going to the local salsa club, listening to reggae at a nearby beach, or just hanging out in someone’s room after a long exhausting day of walking in the heat. Fortunately I like, or maybe more accurately, I’m not annoyed by/ can stand the company of most people in my program, so it’s really easy to hang out with people. (wow that was harsh, ok I ENJOY most of the company, and of those that I don’t, I’m not necessarily bothered by them haha)

How are classes? I really love my classes. I decided when I got here that there is no point in taking classes that I won’t enjoy because I want to have the most positive experience I can here (although I am in a US history class here and it is probably the worst class I’ve taken, but more on that will follow!) So the classes that I’m taking are Xylophone for Foreigners, Philosophy of Human Nature, Textile Design (we get to dye our own fabric!), Colonialism and the African Response, and History of the US and Russia 1860-1939. All my classes are enjoyable for different reasons, but what makes my US class and Philosophy class especially different is that in classes of about 70 and 300 respectively, I’m the only Obruni. So I stand out. Big time. Oh well, at least I get noticed, right?! Haha

This is what I can tell about the education system here in Ghana, and it’s quite disappointing. I wouldn’t say that Ghanaian schools encourage memorization, (ie. No analyzation of facts given, just regurgitation), but that is how lectures are set up here. A prime example would be from my depressingly remedial, and on the verge of plain insulting, US/ Russia History class. My first lecture started off like this-- Prof: “Students write this down.” I’m thinking he wants us to write down a quote or something to look up. He says a couple sentences. Then a couple more and I’m thinking, why am I writing all this stuff down?! It wasn’t until like 20 mins of copying VERBATIM what he was saying that I realized “OH NO! THIS is how he lectures!!!” So basically he has typed up a few pages, which compares to a section written in a history book (dry, basic facts recounting the event), in which he reads sentence by sentence, while every single student is supposed to write every word he says. Oh the best part-- he let’s us know when it’s a full stop or comma. Thanks professor, I really feel like I’m learning so much.

My other history class however, is in the normal lecture style that I think most of us are familiar with: he lectures according to a fairly clear outline and we write what we deem important. However, our grade in the class is based on 4 open book tests and our final. This is the first time I haven’t had to write a paper in a history class and it astounds me! When are we supposed to interpret the facts ourselves and share our theories with the professor? Apparently that just isn’t a concept here. Maybe our tests will call for some analytical skills, I thought. Wrong. I took my first open book test and it was straight regurgitation of the readings. How boring.

Although I love the information that my professors give me, for it is quite interesting (minus US History), it’s unfortunate that students here are expected to take what is given to them without question and they are not expressly encouraged to “connect dots” or deduce from the information given. So are Ghanaians smart? Well yes, they know a lot. But it also depends on what your parameters are for measuring intelligence…

I’ve discussed this issue of teaching/ learning style with the other UC students, and we all agree and notice it. We don’t mean to seem elitist, but we didn’t really realize how great the UC education system was until we came here. But like I said before, I love my classes, I’m just noticing different teaching styles and expectations that are different…

I don’t do much in the day here except go to class and do errands, but for some reason I’m basically never home and I like that. Errands here take forever because campus is so SO large and with the heat it takes extra long to walk. Let’s just say, you know your campus is large when there are busses, tro-tros, and taxis driving around campus to take you point A to B. And surprisingly a lot of Ghanaians are more willing to take a cab from one dorm to another than us Americans. Also my dorm is far from central campus, being about 20 mins walk away, so most of us hang around central campus all day until our classes are done and we all run into each other throughout the day, so it is always easy to find someone to kill time with you!

Still loving it here! And two friends and I are taking a trip two hours east to where the River Volta and Atlantic Ocean meet. We’re staying at the “Estuary Resort” in Tiki huts and sanded floors on the beach! It’s another relatively expensive weekend, (it’s $7 a night!) but it should be completely worth it! The only way to get there is by a 30 min boat ride downriver from the closest town! Secluded beaches, here we come!

All my best,

And thanks for reading!

-Annabelle

P.S. Wanna check out my xylophone professor and see the type of xylophone I'm learning to play?!
Check it out-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sWoYc9C0AU

ok, I couldn't actually load the video so I don't know if it's any good, BUT that's my professor and you can search similar videos if interested!