The difficulties of living in Africa

It has been about of a month now at my post and I have been overwhelmingly frustrated throughout most of it. The reason for my frustration is an ongoing illness that seems to baffle both the Peace Corps Medical Staff and myself. I have been chronically fatigued day in and day out with spontaneous sometimes week long bouts of diarrhea. Stomach issues are something that is to expected especially living in Africa but, whatever is causing this sense of fatigue and weakness should have been expelled by my immune system weeks ago. On days where my condition worsens I have been confined to my bed drinking Oral rehydration syrup with liter upon liter of water to stay hydrated. It is during this time when I feel utterly useless. Not being able to go out and integrate myself into the culture is severely hindering my Peace Corps experience up to this point. Because there are not many sustainable NGOs in my community, it is up to me to make connections and network with other local health agents or citizens living in close proximity to me. Having this myriad of symptoms plaguing my body has made this task impossible. Being sick also leads to other problems such as: spending more money on prepackaged foods at local boutiques, having other people cook for me, being too weak and tired to clean, increase in the electric bill because the fans are constantly running, etc. With time I can only hope that I will grow accustomed to my environment here in Africa and I must keep in mind that there is a reason why the Peace Corps lists "flexibility" as the most important attribute a volunteer should have.

Okay my whining and complaining is done for now. In other news, the holy month of Ramadan has finally ended and the Muslims (who represent 80% of my community) are not obliged to fast any longer. I have been very interested in the role that religion plays in the peoples lives here in Togo. Prior to me coming to my post I did not feel like the Islam of Africa was anything remotely close to that of Middle Eastern countries. But, I have been impressed with devotion that my friends have to their religion (studying Arabic in their free time, abstaining from alcohol, keeping a strict prayer schedule, etc) and my knowledge of Islam has definitely come in handy when trying to have a general conversation with people of the community.

My next month is definitely an important time for me here in Togo. AIDS ride which is a Peace Corps sponsored event where about 15 of us volunteers in the northern most region will cycle 40km each day from village to village doing HIV/AIDS lectures and theatre style skits. It will be a good time to gather information and discuss possible collaborations with other volunteers. It will also serve as a good time to improve my French and get to see the eastern side of the country which I have yet to see.