We've had some good ones and some bad ones. For the sake of having a good ending, I'll start with the bad one.
On Saturday, Brianna and Alyssa got really, really sick. We've seen a fair amount of vomiting in this group, so at first no one, including them, thought it was anything more than the usual contentious food. Eight hours later, things were looking different. It was 2 in the morning, and they were both throwing up water. They hadn't been able to keep any fluids down for hours, and whenever Brianna drank water she was running to the bathroom ten minutes later. I share a room with her, which is why I was awake at 2am suggesting pepto and cipro (a strong antibiotic), neither of which she was able to keep down. They were growing more and more dehydrated, with no sign of improvement, which is when Brianna decided that they needed to go to the hospital. Whenever anyone in our group goes to the hospital we're supposed to call someone from SIT to meet us there to assist with translation etc.. We've done that before, no big deal, but never at 2 in the morning. I took one for the team can called Apollo. I thought he sounded oddly awake considering the late hour, and I learned later that he had in fact not been asleep but had just gotten back from the bar. I'm glad I decided to call him then, because I would've felt bad about waking anyone up that late. Apollo's car was in the shop, so we still had to deal with the issue of how to get them to the hospital. I had the number for a cab driver, but, predictably, he didn't answer. There's very little nightlife in Kigali, so there are very few cabs operating so late at night. During the day they're just driving around town, so Michael and I got dressed, grabbed our umbrellas, and went out into the rain to see if we could find one. No luck. After about 20 minutes of walking I called Apollo back and asked if it would be possible for him to come pick them up. I have no idea how he found a cab that late, but soon enough I was standing outside our gate to wave him down. We got the girls into the cab and Apollo went with them to the hospital. They came back late the next morning after being given four IV bags each and multiple packets of oral rehydration solution, with order to drink two bottles of it everyday. Alyssa is mostly fine now, but Brianna is definitely still working on the rehydration part. Despite drinking multiple bottles of water and rehydration solution, she just came into the living room and proudly announced that she just peed for the first time in days. My worst fear was that they had a virus that would rapidly spread through the house, but apparently it was an intestinal infection, but we have no idea how they got it. It's odd, because they hadn't had anything to eat or drink that someone else in the house hadn't consumed. Anyway, they are going to be fine, and, needless to say, Sunday was a very lazy day.
Here's a considerably more amusing story. Last week, I was sitting in the dining room working on my research when I heard Alyssa shout,"Our kitchen is flooding! Our kitchen is flooding!"
It was raining cats and dogs, really big cats and dogs. We had to yell a little to be heard in the house. I ran into the kitchen, and there was water flooding in from under the back door. Luckily for us, a squeegee is a staple feature of every Rwandan house, and I knew where ours was. I grabbed it from the porch and proceeded to push all the water back out the door, and we shoved a towel under the door for good measure. We also discovered a few roof leaks that day, one of which is over my bed. Not anymore though, my bed is now at an awkward angle and we can't open the door as far we used to.
So, there are our adventures. More to come soon!
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