Macaulay in Ghana

Today we began putting up the mosquito nets around the village by the school.  Seeing how the previous day went – complete with heat, humidity, and sun – we had no way to gauge the level of difficulty of our task at hand, but can only hope it was not as strenuous as our approximately 7 mile parade through the town.

One visit in one of the houses struck me the most.

Previously today, I asked one of our hosts, Bismark, if Malaria was like the Chicken Pox, that if a child contracted it he could not get it again.  He said no, and that one child can contract the disease as much as 10 times a year.  Bismark then said that the house we were about to enter was the home of one of the students, a young boy who is home today because he had Malaria.

The entrance to his room where we would set up the net was the first room from the back door.  The boy, who looked about 10 years old, was laying on a couch, his face dripping in sweat from a fever.  As our hosts entered the room, they asked the boy how he was feeling; he replied he was fine, and then asked us how we were.  I nervously slapped my arms and neck every few seconds to shoo away mosquitoes and neatly wrapped the rope we used to hang the nets from hooks around my left hand while Lena installed the net.  It was one of those awkward moments, like when we trudged through the village on the previous hot day, where I felt like a helpless American so naive to these sights and not knowing how to cope or react.

The day was relieved when we met up with other CUNY students from BMCC later this evening.  They’re here studying at the University of Ghana for about three weeks or so.  I discovered we already share similar experiences in Ghana during this week we’ve been here.

Tomorrow I’m ready to set up more nets now that I know what to expect.

Goodnight!