1999-08-09 - 2:27 p.m.

While I was in Kaedi during the last center days I was able to finally get out my camcorder. I was so excited to finally be able to capture on film the people, places and events that occupy my daily life in Mauritania. But where would I start? That was the question. After thorough thought and consideration I decided to opt for humor and record people recounting their various being sick in the RIM stories. I first sought out the most obvious targets, those people whose sick stories have become renowned in our group. As center days progressed I added on the tales of those people who were or had just been sick. You can all imagine the hilariousness that was contained within said stories.

That night we had our town meeting. This is a talent show of sorts we have each time we get together the night before we go to site. Before our initial trip out I was in two skits. On in which I sang a song with Jared and Sarah, the other in which I performed 2 interpretive dances (very funny). The last center days I told my famous “I had a dream about you” story which was well received. After many of us visited outside the boys dorm. I want to bed that night felling healthy and refreshed, ready to return to M’Beidia the next day.

The next morning I awoke at 4 a.m. I need to use the bathroom and there was a strange feeling in my stomach…nausea? I at first thought it was a mistake. I hadn’t even shown an inking of being sick the first two weeks in M’beidia. I couldn’t be sick now, in Kaedi. I thought if I went back to sleep it would go away so I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself. It was then that my bowels began to speak up, “if you want to go to sleep that’s fine, but you are going to wake up with a nasty surprise. Standing up both my stomach and lower intestine surged. I was almost at a run for the restroom. I definitely had diarrhea and after I stood over he hole in the ground they call a toilet here, trying to make myself vomit. The best I could manage was a few globs of intestinal fluid that came up in the same manner as food will when one has eaten too large a meal.

Walking out of the stall I was faced with a dilemma. Was I really sick, and if so did it merit going to the infirmary? You see the infirmary in Kaedi has 4 beds and several mats in an air-conditioned room. My decision was to go and protect the rest of the group from possible contamination. On the walk I began to worry; Would Molly and Jeff have to return to M’Beidia without me? I would fall behind on language and would have to work as hard as I could to catch up. I would also miss out on the tree planting and garden work. My worries were relieved as soon as I opened the door to the sick room. There lying in the first bed was my site mate Jeff. At least I wouldn’t be the only one staying behind. Two other beds were also filled. One with Tarn, who had gotten sick outside the dorms the night before, and Madeline. This left one empty bed for me.

I layed in the bed for most of the morning, only leaving the infirmary to fill up my nalgene. Around 8:30 massive vomiting began. I tried to keep my body well hydrated, but every half hour until 11 I was puking up anything that was going down. Caroline, our EE facilitator came in around 9. She had already heard Jeff and I were sick. In addition she informed us we would soon be joined by a good friend. That’s right Molly was sick too!! How wonderful, a small reunion in the infirmary before returning to M’Beidia. We would all be puking and crapping in perfect harmony.

Caroline got a hold of the PC nurse in Nouakchott. She said that I had to start taking oral rehydration salts and also take a pill to stop the vomiting. I think you can see the problem here, puking every half hour, but I have to take meds. Well you see folks the human body has a front and a back door. The front door is the most conventional and accepted entrance. The back is almost exclusively used for exit. However, in emergency situations entrance can be attempted from the back. It is located in a dark and ceedy neighborhood that reeks of rotten sewage. Thankfully enough I have become accustomed to venturing my hands back there in the last month due to the absence of toilet paper in this country. It wasn’t pleasant in anyway, but I gave myself a suppository 3 times during my stay in Kaedi.

Well I had better rap up this entry and get to the point. The day progressed slowly. We slept a lot. I was the record puking champion for our group with a total of 16 times in one day. Around 1 I started to feel better so I ate lunch. Said lunch was lost soon after in the hallway, the bathroom floor and some in the actual toilet. In the evening I ate again and actually held it down. I tossed and turned a lot during the night, but I did sleep. To my surprise the next day we had all recovered considerably and returned to site.

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