double whammy

GIRLS CAMP
I can now say I successfully survived Girls Camp (barely)! The Podor Department held a large Girls Camp 6 days, 29 girls. Each volunteer brought 4 girls from their village or a nearby village, in addition to the 4 girls Jonno also brought 6 older girls who had all won the Michele Sylvester Scholarship last year. The Michele Sylvester Scholarship is a scholarship program we can do for girls in college who don’t have the means for school supplies, but also have the grades to place them in the top of the class. The scholarship grants girls money to purchase school supplies, as well as being a positive affirmation for their hard work in school. The 6 scholarship girls were much older than the other participants and had a role during the girls camp, Junior Camp Counselors. These 6 girls really saved our girls camp, they were great role models for the younger participants, courageous, intelligent, kind, and incredibly helpful. I’m really going to miss those girls, I don’t know how our girls camp would have worked without their help.
A great part of our girls camp was the interactions the girls were having with various girls from other villages/towns, they were making friends in other areas hopefully really opening their eyes from the small lenses they hold because they never get to see outside of their villages. It was great all these girls got to see Ndioum, and experience Ndioum a little bit. We didn’t get them leave the premise much for fear of what may happen to them. All the volunteers were very strict mothers/fathers; we were just protective.
Our girls camp consisted of topics such as: Environment, Life Skills, Culture, Hygiene, Health, Art, Guest Speakers. Activities included: tree nursery, nutrition, environmental changes, role models, short term/long term goals, self esteem building, dance, food, sports, hand washing, brushing teeth, neem crème, hair conditioner, HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted viruses, tye dye, pottery. Guest speakers included, a middle school teacher who discussed people’s human right to an education, the president of a woman’s group that covers over 40+ villages/towns, female midwife. These girls got a look into so many activities they would never be able to take part of without an outside influence, and they loved every moment of it. It was really a great experience for them and for us, equally enjoyed. The guest speakers were a great touch, having a local talk to these girls to reinforce the message we’re trying to drill home had a much stronger impact than any volunteer would have on the girls.
Each day was well packed with sessions, but after dinner we got to watch movies. The girls loved Bend it Like Beckham, that film was such a great hit! They loved the soccer aspect, the girl being able to play better than the guys, and there was a lot they could relate to. We also watched Planet Earth, I don’t know if the girls understood that Planet Earth was real, but they were glued to the screen from the beautiful imagery.
Sometimes there was bullying, fighting, hitting, insults, just as expected, but honestly the girls really got a long. They had a taste of freedom and went a little wild—but they were such great girls I really miss them all, even during their wild times.
 



MALARIA
The last day for our girls camp was Saturday, we had a large party, parents came and the girls presented what they did during girls camp and had a few pieces of work that they had to present to the parents. It was a grand time, great food, boissons, show and tell, etc. Well, the day before the party (Friday) I developed a fever and it wasn’t getting any better. Saturday I didn’t move from my position all day, I just laid on a mattress with a fever and feeling ill. I couldn’t even present my girls with their certificates.
Team Podor decided to all hang out at the regional house to rest up and relax from Girls Camp, we all hung out together watching movies, people were making meals together, there was so much love in the air, which is surprising seeing as we all just spent 6 days together doing a large chaotic project. Thank god all of Team Podor was at the regional house, because it was going to take a team of volunteers to assist in my recovery--
My fever continued until Sunday – getting up to about 105 degrees Fahrenheit. I contacted medical staff telling them my ears were hurting and I couldn’t hear again thinking my ears were clogged, then I also dropped hint that I had a fever- they assumed maybe it was an ear infection, but I knew it didn’t feel like one- it wasn’t painful I just couldn’t hear. SO somehow I started telling them about all my symptoms based around the fever, and it was decided I needed to take a malaria test. I took one but we were going to need to send the slides to Dakar for them to send to a lab. Later on that night Team Podor gave me a rapid malaria test, they didn’t tell me the results or maybe they did, I fell asleep right after they pricked my fingers for blood. They woke me up later to give me medication, then briefly told me I had malaria, but remember I still couldn’t hear, and was in and out of sleep so to me all I heard was the words you malaria – thinking it was negative because who gets malaria right?! The next morning I got into our volunteer support’s peace corps issued vehicle and he drove me to Dakar, I texted Sarah asking her why I was going to Dakar and that’s when I found out for sure I had malaria. Medical staff was waiting for me. I walked in and they tried to draw some blood – didn’t work, they attempted over 10 times to draw blood until deciding they were going to call a specialist my veins were not rising and any glimpse of a vein turned to be false. A staff member from the lab arrived and they pulled me out of bed, he was able to draw blood and take the blood directly to the lab. Later that day I got my test results, they were shocking to me – and honestly, they were probably much worse but thankfully I had already started taking the medication. I’ve been in Dakar since Monday July 18th, and will be here until about Friday July 29th, works pretty well because I have a SeneGAD meeting on Saturday In Thies. I’m feeling much better, but I have no stamina, they say that because I didn’t start treatment until a few days after the malaria hit I’ll take a while longer to completely heal. The malaria is out of my system, and my red blood cells have doubled making them slightly below average, but better than before.

Let’s just say Team Podor, thanks for saving me.




Malaria sux.