Ever since I got back from my backpack vacation I have not felt like we would say in Swedish “helt hundra” meaning not feeling completely a hundred percent. However I was looking forward to Antoine coming and the days were nearing. The day he arrived I started shivering and getting body pains. Even though he wished it was a reaction to the excitement of his arrival I knew it was something else. I then got a fever and went from feeling OK to feeling like crap. Siri being a nurse and almost have died from malaria herself as a child sensed I had got it. The whole night I was struggling in my sleep, shivering and feeling cold, as well as having terrible joint pains. My temperature was high and I could not move from the bed without feeling I would collapse. Siri kept a watching eye on me and in the morning I had to be taken to the hospital and Antoine accompanied. When I arrived I had 39.4 degree fever and was extremely dehydrated so the nurses gave me drip and injections to put the fever down. After checking my blood and concluding I had malaria in the blood they gave me an anti malaria injection, and heavy anti malaria drugs. I was instructed to take 14 of them a day. At the hospital I had about 5 nurses checking on me every thirty seconds. Three of them in different turns wanted to give me the same injection in my bum. Luckily Antoine stopped them before I got an overdose of anti malaria. It was quite hilarious how attentive they were for the sake of us being “Mzungu”. But hey I do not complain. Later when I got home, the drugs made me lose my appetite, I got a sour throat, felt extreme fatigue but had difficulties sleeping. Despite this the next day I went with Siri to a project in Wakiso, whilst Antoine accompanied Thore on another project. The Wakiso project entailed Human rights education to trainers who then would spread the training to other beneficiaries. The topic of right bearers (Humans) and duty bearers (Government, organizations etc) were addressed. At the same time we were addressing human rights and the importance of upholding laws, terrible riots were going on outside. The government itself and the armed force that are expected to be the duty bearers of our rights were the same people behind the cause of the riots. Besigye who is the opponent of Museveni has been a center of attention in the tumult going on in Uganda. He is a guy who is bitter that he lost the election and claims it was corruption. This might be the case since a lot in Uganda is quite corrupt but nevertheless the majority here seems to believe that Museveni even if he has been in the power too long is the man for the task. Besigye said he would now give up without a fight and also has quite a strong group of supporters behind him. To make a long story short, Besigye, however annoying he might have been, did not deserve the treatment he got. Instead of letting him walk to work the police shot him in the hand, then when he wanted to drive to work the police decided which road he should take. When he did not obey they sprayed four cans of tear gas at him and he was severely injured. As a consequence massive riots broke out all over the country. The roads were blocked and filled with military and police. There were gunshots just outside our home. Robin and Elin were still at home and heard everything. Two were killed and over 100 injured. The situation was considered dangerous. Rumours were going that Besigye might be dead and some suspected that if so a war might break out, but that was just a rumor. He is not dead but receiving treatment in Nairobi. When the riots break out you should not be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It is quite surreal being in the middle of it all when the riots break out which already has happened a few times after the elections, however at the same time I still feel so distant from it. After a while it becomes a part of reality and nothing special. My life here has become my everyday reality. The mob that have their own rules and regulations and do not hesitate to kill if needed. The constant riots break and protests, the corrupt politicians, the poverty and the diseases. It all becomes a part of everyday happenings. One gets used to it all.
I went to the hospital again yesterday and the malaria is cured from my blood but if it is still in my lever can not be shown. The part that sucks is that malaria can be in the body for five years and can come back now and then. The reason for death of malaria is poverty (not being able to afford treatment) and going to the hospital too late since you might think it is a flu (This is lack of knowledge which I also had before I got it). Getting malaria in Africa where they know how to treat it is something I prefer than getting a relapse in Europe where the doctors and hospitals do not know much about it. But pray fully with today’s heavy medication it is completely cleared from my body. After a lot of rest and medicine I am feeling much better again and ready for my travel to Rwanda.
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