So I'm 1 month and 2 days in, I've reached my one month milestone, 26 more months to go, lol. Time really does fly.....
Luckily for me, I've been fairly healthy (*knocks on wood*). I've recently started "The Constipated Crew" with other PC Trainees. There's a small group of us in comparison to the standard "Me Belli De Run" gang, lol. Food, literal "crap", and sickness & infection makes up about 80% of our conversations.
I've been religiously washing my hands and feet while I've been here. I started that regimen when I caught a fungus flare up on my hand in its early stages. I've been applying anti-fungal cream on my hands like its some luxurious hand cream. This is the reality, I touch so many dirty hands everyday with children picking every orifice on their bodies in a country where handwashing isn't enforced. It's not like you can just go up to a sink and turn on a faucet. Geez, I regret not packing the tiny bottles of hand sanitizer my mom was giving me.
I've been extra careful about washing my feet and the mosquito bites all over my ankles. Making sure they are clean and dry. There's already been a good number of skin infections from other PC Trainees from not keeping their wounds clean and scratching with dirty nails. Also, some have foot infections and allergic hive breakouts as well.
You really don't think about tiny nicks you get in America. But TIA ( This Is Africa), you have to take care of everything or it can get infected. I won't even touch my face and no way to the eye-rubbing. Last thing I need is a case of "Apollo" (pink eye)
I've also seen allergic reactions as well, lol. We are physically falling apart here. Our bodies are showing signs of homesickness b/c we're not used to the environment. We are bubble-children being released to the real world and our systems are left defenseless.
I've been to afraid to shave fearing a case of the boils. Boils seems to be popular amongst PCVs. I will probably give shaving a try when I'm at site and in my own place where I can control my water treatment and its containers. Right now, my family gives me questionable water in containers of questionable cleanliness, so I'm a little hesitant to do a little shavie-shave. It doesn't matter anyways, I haven't even seen myself in a mirror since I've been in Africa.
In America, I'm a puddle avoider. It's the rainy season right now and I had to do a 1hr trek in the pouring rain to make it back to my village before sundown. And when it's giant puddles everywhere you're just like "fuck it" there's no other choice. It's either you wade through a murky puddle or get hit by a fast-flying okada (motorbike). I don't even want to know what's in that murky water. All I can do is soap my feet and calves down and get them dry when I get home to prevent whatever could've started growing on my skin.
My family probably thinks I'm a little excessive on the washing of the hands and feet. They always give me a weird look whenever I head over to the buckets outside, sometimes even in the pouring rain, just to cleanup. Followed by, the Neosporin on my open bites and Tinactin on my hands. They don't really understand so what I tell them is that "my skin is sick and I have to put on medicine".
Since I'm on the subject of sickness & infection, one of the Salone teachers said something super hilarious. So I'll end this by a quote from Janjua:
"The germ get no authority over the black man belly!"
LMAO!
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