In which Natalie gets sick, is chased by a camel and gets a 2nd degree burn.

Well, it’s certainly been an interesting few days…I think that I’ve pretty much experienced anything bad that could happen to me in Uganda, barring being robbed (fingers crossed that won’t ever happen…!).  I went to the hospital on Wednesday a very, very sick girl, and am better now—but it was scary.

I had gone to a local place called The Gardens to have lunch and get some work done, and started feeling pretty awful right after my food arrived.  I managed about two bites before I nearly passed out, and thankfully was able to call Jonathan to pick me up and take me to the hospital.  It was so strange, and we haven’t been able to figure out what happened—I was seeing black spots and was dizzy, my fingers, toes, and face were numb, I was sick to my stomach, and I was absolutely freezing and couldn’t stop shaking.  Jonathan said my lips were blue…  Anyway, I hobbled my way into the hospital, convulsing most of the way, and it turns out I had a fever, thus an early diagnosis of malaria.  Thankfully it wasn’t so and my blood tested negative for parasites, so they just hooked me up to an IV and gave me a few shots and let me rest.  (Shots in the buttcheek are no fun…apparently it’s standard for Ugandan hospitals, but OW)

Thank God for Jonathan!  He sat with me through the whole ordeal and took me home once they discharged me.  Doreen and Nino came to visit me, too, which was very sweet, although 3 year-old Nino was rather worried about the whole hospital/IV thing.  So, I got home several hours later and, apart from being a bit weak and exhausted for the next 24 hours, recovered splendidly.  Any informal medical diagnoses?  I was plenty hydrated…  We’re rather mystified.

Thursday I travelled out to a small village outside of Kasese with Jonathan, where he conducted two interviews with community elders who had fought through the various conflicts in the country from 1954 until the early 1990s.  The interviews were pretty fascinating—one of the men said, “Some of the things I could tell you would make you shed tears”—Uganda’s had a pretty tumultuous history, to say the least.  It’s amazing how resilient people can be.

I also peed in a pit latrine (not the first time), but it was truly the most foul-smelling thing that I have ever encountered in my life.  Thank God for American toilets and Clorox.

Friday: went to Kyuninga Lodge with Felix for a swim and some watermelon, as it was Martyr’s Day here and everyone had off of work.  Burned my leg on the tailpipe of a boda boda, and it's pretty nasty-looking; Kate declared it a second-degree burn, but says that I'll survive.  Phew.  Then yesterday went to a sort of lodge/country club/pool/farm combo with Jonathan and Kate and Maurice and co., where I got chased by a camel.  Yep.  There was a field with horses, cows, and a camel, so we went in and I began petting the camel (of course).  She was very sweet and kept nuzzling me and laying her head on my shoulder, so we went back to get my camera and returned to find the camel lying down on a dirt patch.  I sat down and started lovin’ up on it (there are pictures), and then got up to go say hello to the horses.  Camel got up—started nibbling at me—I backed away—camel kept coming with bared teeth—Kate and I started running—camel started running.  After us.  I’m sure we gave the staff quite the laugh…

And tonight: made a BOMB pizza, from scratch!  Mom, you’d be so proud.  Lots of garlic, fresh tomatoes and onions, basil from the garden, gouda cheese…mmmm.

That’s all for now—hope everyone is well.  OH, and I won’t be posting any more pictures until I get to Entebbe, as doing so eats up a lot of my internet data transfer subscription thing.  (The noob doesn’t know the technical name.  Omid, I’m looking at you.)

Love you guys!

N