Lessons learned

Lessons I have learned this week:

1.       1. Dysentery is never fun, but is a quick way to lose weight. The equivalent of not eating or drinking for three days while bedridden and in pain. I don’t recommend it to anyone. 

2.      2.  No matter what the condition, doctors always diagnose malaria; nine times out of ten, that’s the right answer. The odd chance that you might have something else like a parasitic or bacterial infection in the intestine, they won’t actually tell you what you have; they won’t tell you what the medications they have prescribed for you are supposed to do; they may inject you with a couple needles that you aren’t sure what they’re for; any questions to clarify will be met with more cryptic and unclear answers...

3.        

3.   3. It’s good to have friends; Friends who spoon-feed you when you feel too weak to even hold up your own head; friends who clean your house and do your job while you’re at the hospital getting tests; friends who travel 30k to pick you up from the hospital and bring you home; friends who cook for you then insist on doing the dishes afterwards; friends who make sure you take all your medicine and you don’t spit it out; friends who bring you movies like Rambo (translated in French with Russian subtitles) to watch while you’re sick in bed; friends who bring you soup and Gatorade and check in to make sure you’re okay; friends who hold your hand when you need comfort...

4.       4. It is possible for someone to use an entire roll of conference paper in two days if they are unsupervised. Those same people may also try to walk off with your markers, pens, scotch tape and any other materials you provided at the end of the workshop.  They will eat every scrap of food provided even if they are not hungry. Still you may feel that you have enough in the budget to reward them for their time and give them each a small sum, then they will say that it is not enough. They will do you favours without being asked and then asked to be compensated for those favours...Give them an inch and they take a mile...