August 25, 2014

For the first time in three days I slept through the night without waking up with an upset stomach. Identifying gluten as the culprit was half the battle, now I just have to avoid it which will be the more difficult obstacle to overcome.

I grabbed an apple to go and some ginger drink to bring to my friends. Every drop was gone by the end of the day and the recipe was requested several times. I’ve had plenty to drink and am still standing, so the ginger must have counteracted the bacteria from the bugs floating around the bucket. I was sure to warn anyone drinking the liquid of the bugs, but being in Africa has changed people’s opinions on the definition of “clean” and no one seemed phased by the bugs.

This morning I sat through a two and a half hour session on how to monitor, evaluate, and report our work in the field. I believe creating reports is something you must learn by doing. We could have spent all day theorizing and discussing how to report, but until we are presented with the challenge it is difficult to expect or anticipate what to do. It was a meaningful and helpful session, but any presentation over an hour and a half is difficult to concentrate through, so at two and a half hours my brain was melting in my skull.

Lunch was a welcomed break and we finished the day by introducing the concept of global health. Attempting to define health produces interesting responses. Many people look at health as the absence of disease or illness; however, I would consider this a negative interpretation. Health should instead focus on the positive wellbeing of the person whether this is mentally, socially, physically, and/or spiritually. “Healthy” is a subjective term that should be defined by the individual assessing themselves. I look forward to diving deeper into global health over the next couple of days.

The last agenda item was our daily introduction where one person presents information on themselves each day, a process meant to get to know each other better. And lastly, the totem of appreciation is given out. The totem is a stuffed animal meant to represent our animal group. Our group is dinare, a water buffalo. The other two groups are elephant and zebra, easy animals to find in stuffed animal form. Our totem is a stuffed animal rhinoceros that someone said looked like a dinosaurs. Today we named it Dino, the rhino (that’s supposed to be a buffalo). The stuffed animal is passed along each day while expressing your appreciation for another person. Today, Cheri, my roommate in Philadelphia, gave me the totem and read a heartfelt, genuine note of why she appreciated me. It read:

Elise,

I want to present you with the dinare totem because you inspire me. You have shown great compassion and kindness to other PCTs, especially individuals who were not feeling well. I appreciate your perceptive and thoughtful questions that have deepened my understanding of the training sessions. Thank you for sharing your creativity and insights with all of us.

Warm regards, Cheri

I was incredibly honored and humbled to receive the totem. In the few short weeks we are in Serowe, and with the many wonderful people in our class, I never expected to get the totem, especially the second week it was being handed out. It feels like months ago that I was sharing my last night in the United States with Cheri and I’m incredibly thankful for her friendship.

Not only did I get the totem of appreciation, but I also received three letters in the mail, two from my best friends and one from a dear family friend. I nearly cried while opening the letters, feeling showered in love and appreciation. Between the totem, getting letters, and talking to Sam briefly before leaving school, my head was in the clouds and I was beyond happy.

I spent the next few hours laying in bed and responding to my letters. When I finally emerged from my room I was behind on my homework and quickly sat down with the family to visit and study. Mme offered to draw a picture of a person with each body part clearly labeled that I could study from. Giggles and scribbles later Mme presented the drawing. It was a box-like body with mosquito bite nipples, scrawny legs, the neck of a giraffe, and a bubble butt. No one could contain their laughter and the room erupted with noise. It was wonderful to bond over unspoken words and simple laughter.