One food I didn't know was super popular in Benin is Tofu. It isn't called tofu, it's called soy cheese, and they fry it up so it's hard and crispy. It tastes pretty good!
Every few days a kid comes to my house with a box on his head with fresh tofu. I didn't have a small change to pay for it. Each piece is 25 CFA (very cheap). So i just bought 25 pieces of tofu. I dont love it that much. I just took two pieces and the neighbor kids passed around the big plate to eat. It was fun to see everyone run over. Now I do this once a week. It's a good way to make sure my neighbors get some nutrition and we have fun.
Now to the nitty gritty serious. I have probably spent half of my days so far in 2024 sick. Sure not all was a big deal, but some things are so frustrating and I cry wishing I had my family here to help me. Let me get Into it because, no my time is not all rainbows and butterflies, it's also throwing up and COVID scares. Don't read if you hate medical sick stuff (:
Sickness #1 through winter break and up until mid-January I was having UTI problems. No pills seemed to work, and I had to go back and forth to the capital to pick up pills because my symptoms were not bad enough but just a bit annoying. After taking many antibiotics (not good) I finally felt okay again. Then about a month or two later the smallest symptom (urge to pee all the time) came back. The doctors investigated this for 5 days giving me ultrasounds and tests and checks. But alas there is no diagnosis just me having the symptoms of my long-gone UTI and no results to prove it. This is a minor inconvenience, not a big deal but who knows?
#2 During training for two weeks all of us volunteers were together! On the third to last day, my throat started to hurt and I was overall extremely fatigued. I chalked it up to being wiped out from the training. But when I went to sleep that night I was in so much pain to swallow I knew something worse was wrong. I was whisked to the doctors with my friend Charlie who I unfortunately infected also. Doctors said it was strep or something. My tonsils were covered in white and touching. It hurt so bad I couldn't even swallow my spit. For 3 days I spit in a trashcan drank less than one liter of water and ate one bowl of soup. Anything else hurt me so much that I just let myself suffer. Luckily after the 4th day, the swelling reduced and I was able to bear swallowing again. This had to be the most painful sore throat in my entire life. I have never had to not eat food for 3 consecutive days because of my throat. After 5 days at the med unit, I was allowed home finally in March.
#3 Now two weeks after I was home from my previous sickness, I had the usual upset stomach. During the morning at 5 am, I woke up running to the toilet. This repeated every 30 minutes until I took my magical diarrhea-stopping pill. I told the school I would skip my morning class to recuperate and try to make it to my evening class at 4 pm. I had all day to feel better. I slept, and I drank water. I decided to go to school at 4 pm since it was close to the evaluation times but I should have just listened to my body. As soon as I walked to school my stomach started rumbling. Maybe because I didn't eat anything but no. I was resting a bit before we walked in the classroom. AS SOON as I walk inside and greet the students I tell my counterpart that I think I am going to throw up. I took my stuff and ran to the school gates and proceeded to throw up 4 times with a 1/2 entire classroom facing me. I start to walk home and the secretary and surveillant walk me back to make sure I am ok. I felt better but so embarrassed and grossed out. I never throw up, it's a less than once-a-year thing and now I do it in front of students and teachers. Everyone came to check on me which was nice but I refused to eat anything until I felt better.
Now I knew my stomach was weak. in Korea, I had issues as well, especially with peppers. Even in America, I have stomach issues a lot. But here I feel like my body is at war with me constantly. I cook all my food myself, usually things like pasta, eggs, stir-fried veggies, and bread. I AVOID peppers at all costs but due to my location sometimes it's hard to keep my food good and fresh. I think my biggest stressor is that I feel really stressed that I am a failure since I keep getting sick. I came here to do a job and I have been pulled away from that job almost once a month because of these problems above. Every single month I have had one or more issues that make me feel miserable or take me to the medical office. I'm sure my community didn't want such a sick volunteer like myself but I'm who they got. These thoughts also I know may contribute to some stress and be detrimental to my health as well but it's really hard not to feel this way.
Nevertheless, I will continue working and try to find a way to stay healthy for a few weeks longer each month and eventually make it a few months without needing to go to the medical unit!
À toute a l'heure
