the african boil...

does having a nasty infected boil on your leg qualify you as a true african?! because if so, i may as well be a local! this thing started on my leg as a nasty sore, and has grown into a huge infection, which is even debilitating my walking abilities!! the few times i have thought it was a good a idea to play doctor on myself i bite my lip and through tears i lance the boil, squeeze out the puss, and clean the area. only to my great dismay to wake up in the morning with an even nastier infection and more pain than i should be in post-surgery. i think it may be time to visit a real doctor in south africa....
so, speaking of...we leave to south africa tonight!! after our 1 month of work in the gambia our time has come to an end and we had a very tearful goodbye this morning and flew to dakar to await our connection to cape town. it was very difficult to say goodbye as i almost began to think of our compound as home and some of the children and adults we worked with similar to family. it's definitely a hard goodbye when you have become so close to people and shared in the conditions we have over the past month. i am always surprised and awed by how close i become to people when i travel. maybe it's because in conditions of third world countries you are forced to trust and depend on people in a way we would never expect in the independent lives we lead in america. when stripped of the amenities we take for granted and forced to face difficult things such as death, illness, loss and suffering on a daily basis, i find myself becoming more dependent on other human beings and depending on them for my well being, security, and happiness. Thus goodbyes in these circumstances, knowing that there is a good chance we will never see each other again, are very difficult.
This morning we had a meeting to say goodbye with all the staff and everyone said something about our time with them. It was extremely moving, the impact that they implied we have had on their lives (and they on mine) is more than i could ever have asked for. I found myself close to tears as i gave my goodbye speech about the equality of human beings and having the heart and the hope to change the world, a rare quality that i have witnessed in so many of my fellow workers in the gambia.
yesterday we had a day of partying, which was a great send off! all day we had the children's graduation from school, which involved numerous speeches, award ceremonies (which jess and i we assigned to), more speeches, and then a massive meal of rice and fish. after the meal there was dancing and music and finally the sports! the kids had all kinds of fun events such as 'lime on spoon', musical chairs, fill-bottle-with-water-and-then-run-with-it, pop a balloon with your stomach, and many more...we were the blue team and had a great time cheering for our little guys (even though we mostly lost!!). then the staff races...for some reason, even though it was 103.3 degrees outside, i felt that it was a good idea to get dragged onto the field and agree to race for the blue team against 10 african ladies!!! in my skirt, barefoot, in the sand!! my tubob butt had no chance!! but....wait for it...i got second place!!! how awesome is that?!?! i was pretty proud of myself if i may say so! =)
our last week in the clinic was quite busy. we saw a woman with abdominal pains, who upon questioning, we thought there may be a possibility of pregnancy (she's only about 18). We sent her to get the test and when she came back it was positive. correct diagnosis!! we were quite proud of ourselves, seeing as 1/2 the history is lost in translation and it was extremely hard to figure out what was going on. we also saw another pregnant women on wed, who had pain. i kept asking her questions and finally found out she had 'discharge'. so, being as they don't really understand colours, i got out my construction paper and had her point to the color that it was. she pointed to red. bad sign. and then said there was a puddle. another bad sign. i sent her straight away in the ambulance to the hospital. i was very worried. poor girl. she's 38 weeks along, and only 17 years old. i'm sure she's very scared. another interesting patient was an older lady who had a white-ish patch all over her body and alot of pain. her feet were also swelling. after consulting our trusty guide "where there is no doctor", we thought that possibly she has leprosy. we refered her ot the hospital as well. very interesting to see. would be nice to see if it was indeed leprosy.
so...that's all for now. off to cape town at 3am, and we are extremely excited for our travels and adventures there. the time spent in madina was amazing and i will never forget the impact the people have made on me, my life, and my career. much love.