Flood!

This morning we woke up at about 3:00am to the sound of rain pounding against the windows.  It had rained a significant amount the day before, so the ground was already quite drenched.  We were not surprised to find that the electricity was out when we got up in the morning.  Andrew left early for work (not much to do at home without hot water or Internet) in hopes that the generator might be working at the office.  I stayed home, since I'm still sick and supposed to be resting.  We hoped that the rain would stop soon because we were expecting guests on the afternoon plane, and because Musoma has a dirt runway, the plane skips landing here if it is very wet.

The rain only got harder and I started to become concerned about the drips coming from the ceiling - the roof was obviously leaking quite badly.  But before I could get too worried about the small streams pouring down from the ceiling, I became very worried when I glanced out the front window and saw a mighty brown river rushing through our front gate!  Our front door is level with the ground - there are no steps up into our house, and the door does not seal tight against the concrete floor.  Suddenly, water started streaming in under the door and flooding through the dining room and living room and pouring down the two stairs into the bedroom!

I ran to the door leading to the back porch and was relieved to see the water go that direction, where I knew it wouldn't cause too much damage.  I grabbed electronics and Christmas cards off the floor, snatched towels out of the closet and tried to stop the water from coming in under the door and prevent it from going into the bedroom.  I called Andrew in a panic and asked him to come home and help.  I called our landlord and let him know we had a flood situation.  And then I went a little crazy and couldn't figure out what to do for a bit, but finally figured out I needed to move the couch and then start bailing out the bedroom to try to save the bed from sure disaster if the water level rose too high down there.

Andrew managed to get home (we live down a very long dirt road with several small, broken-down bridges barely holding parts of it together, so this was a dangerous challenge) and Holly, our dear friend and neighbor, came over to help.  We mopped, scooped, and used towels to get all the water and mud out.  It never did stop raining until 3:30 in the afternoon!  I can't believe how much water got in the house and how much work it took to get it all back out again!

Much to our surprise, the electricity returned in the evening and nothing in our house seems to be permanently damaged.  A few towels are much worse for the wear and a pillow might have to be discarded, but nothing major was ruined.  We are very thankful for God protecting us and our house and for keeping the damage minimal.  The yard will take a while to recover, but no trees fell and if it's sunny for a few days, everything will dry out okay.

Malaria

Some people bring back keychains, coasters, and postcards as their vacation souvenirs.  I decided to do things on a bigger scale and brought back malaria with me.  When I started shivering at work yesterday evening and developed a horrible headache, I got a bit suspicious that something wasn't quite right.  One is not supposed to shiver in Tanzania and I'm not prone to headaches.  Sure enough, I then got muscle and bone aches and my fever continued all night.  This morning I went to a clinic in town and had them check my blood, which confirmed that I do indeed have malaria.  It takes 7-14 days after being bitten by an infected mosquito before developing symptoms, so I most definitely got it while on vacation, since I was away that entire time period.

I find that there are a few misconceptions about malaria.  The last time I had malaria, I think some friends in the States thought I was near death, because we always hear statistics about how many Africans die of malaria every year.  Yes, malaria CAN be deadly, but that's only if you don't get treated.  So while I don't want to discount that many people, especially children, die of malaria every year around here, only a small percentage of the people who get it die from it.

Also, it's not every mosquito that carries malaria.  One the females of one species of mosquito are even able to carry it, and they have to bite an infected person first.  Despite using bug spray every evening on our trip, I still got a lot of bites, so I can't say I'm too shocked to have gotten sick.  Mosquitoes just really like me!  It seems like I get a lot more bites than other people do.  I'm just so sweet, they can't resist me...

Malaria is actually very easy to diagnose and treat.  It's nice in a way that the medicine is just a three-day series of pills and that one starts feeling better pretty soon after taking them.  Some diseases take you out for a long time and the recovery is slow, but with malaria you can go from feeling absolutely horrible - fever, aches all over your body, exhausted, and a killer headache - to feeling quite normal in just a couple days if you get the correct pills.  There are lots of different malaria medications, but some are more effective than others.  I went for the top of the line best drugs when I bought them this morning and they cost me just under $2.00.  The test cost about the same amount, so at least while malaria hurts my body a lot, it's not hurting my wallet too much!

So I feel pretty crummy right now, but I'm pretty sure that I'll be doing a lot better by tomorrow and I think I'll be able to go to work on Monday.  Malaria is nasty, but short-lived.