Med Evac Blues

4 am is the standard time for me to get what I have come to call “med evac blues”, basically this is when I’ve run out of things to distract me and I begin to dwell on my situation. I’ve been trying to find active support groups or at least blogs by med evac RPCVs but interestingly the internet seems to be drawing a blank. The only really groups I have found are about trying to get your medical stuff dealt with (which seems to be a huge issue for most PCV’s returned to the states).

A friend of mine from PC Zambia Jessica is one of the only sources of real info on the subject, she was sent home from Zambia after contracting HIV and her blog is an on-going look into what she is doing after. http://nogoingback-thereisonlyforward.blogspot.com/ I sincerely suggest looking at it.

Though every med evac is different I feel like there is a common sense of “well now what?” and bit of hanging on by your finger tips. We experience all the feelings and trouble adjusting that a regular RPCV has but we didn’t get to mentally prep at all.

For me my biggest struggle is the lack of mobility and independence. Just now 2 months after my accident I can carry a plate of food myself and navigate a store without getting winded. I’m still on crutches, can’t drive and can’t start working yet. Also that I’m 24 years old with a college degree, and have been living on my own in another country for a year and suddenly I’m transported to feeling like I’m in high school again. Living with my mom, no money, no car and unsure of what I’m doing in life.

I guess the point of this entry to make a formal calling out to other med evacs, how are you guys doing? What did you do to not make yourself crazy?

Guess Who is Getting Medically Separated?

Alright so I have bad news; my Peace Corps Service is being cut short. On my vacation to Tanzania (which I’ll post pictures of later) I had a silly accident playing volleyball. I went to make a shot (I won btw) and my body went one way and my foot didn’t. I ended up fracturing my ankle in 3 different ways and dislocating the foot.

This injury really illustrated the difference between African medical care and American health care. I was on Zanzibar so it took 8 hours for me to get an ambulance and to get to a hospital. They took X-rays but because of the machine quality only could see the dislocation; the doctor there relocated the foot and wrapped it up and said I’d be fine in 2 weeks (which was very wrong). Thankfully the PCMO for Tanzania came the next day and flew me to Dar Salam to get real X-rays. Where they saw 2 of the fractures and decided I needed surgery. So then I was flown to South Africa. I ended spending a week in the hospital; during surgery number 1 they found a 3rd fracture which required a second surgery. 2 weeks since the break, I now have an ankle made of screws and plates, and am at the Rose Guest House in South Africa waiting until I am well enough for a trans-Atlantic flight.

The estimated healing time is sounding like 6 months until I walk normally and longer before I can rejoin Peace Corps. I’ve been hearing longer and longer times from other people with similar injuries. Peace Corps has decided to send me back to America for good. I’m bummed that my service is ending because of a volleyball game. I didn’t get to say goodbye to anyone, finish my projects, or even pack my stuff. I don’t really know what I’m going to do from this point on.

Traveling in Zambia

Transportation in Zambia one word… adventure! Now adventure is defined as…

Noun:	An unusual and exciting, typically hazardous, experience or activity.

I think that covers it.

There are a few main ways of travel in Peace Corps. As volunteers your money is not infinite. You tend to swap comfort for a cheap ride. So here I will present my travel guide.

Big Buses:

These babies are Zambia’s version of the greyhound system. They are made more for the bwana (rich) and tourists. They run on large pre-set routes across the country, and are pretty fast, plus you get awesome Nigerian movies to watch! A nice aspect is that they leave semi-on time and just go straight to your destination. Unfortunately this is pretty expensive on a PC budget.

Mini Buses:

You have not traveled in Africa until you’ve been on a mini bus. You see them everywhere, painted blue, with fun names on the front and back like “God is good” “Jesus is hot” or “Life Beyond” (I honestly have no idea who comes up with the names). Riding in one is an experience not for the claustrophobic, they are a bit like clown cars I have yet to see a mini bus deny a person. Be prepared to have at least a chicken or a baby on your lap, possibly a full grown person. You also might need to barter a good price; sometimes the conductor might just change it on you. Mini buses are not recommended for major trips, they stop constantly to pick up more people. I have taken one 30km and it has taken hours. They also will not leave until totally full so you can end up waiting hours to go. They are however cheap and great for traveling in Lusaka.

Taxi:

Taxi’s supposed to be selected cars with coloring and such but often turn out to just be some dude with a car. They are really good for getting to somewhere specific at a specific time. Unlike most transport in Africa they leave as soon as you ask them, and will take you where ever. Unfortunately you often have no idea what is a fair price until you have been ripped off once or twice. So just get ready to spend your money, especially if your driver wants to set a “booking fee” which is a “off road fee”.

Hitching:

They number 1 way to travel. Hitch hiking in Africa is a pretty set system, very few people have cars so they ones that do like to make some extra cash picking people up. It’s a pretty straight forward process, stand on the side of the road in the direction you want to go, wave your arm when you see a car coming, and if they stop set a price before hand chowpwa. Hitching is pure luck, sometimes you get a ride right away sometimes your stranded for days, it’s all part of the adventure. The reason it’s so preferred is that it’s the cheapest way to move about; you also get to go as soon as you get a ride instead of waiting for hours to move. You just have got to have an open mind and be prepared for a little surprise along the way. Sometimes your drivers are awesome I have met some of the coolest people on hitches, and sometimes they are creepers… fake husbands are super useful in that scenario. You also never know what kind of ride you are going to get, my most memorable so far have been… and ox cart, a shake-shake truck, in a pick-up with couches, and on top of a pile of maize. Welcome to Africa.

First step to going... trying meat again

So I took my first step to moving to Africa I tried meat for time in 10 years of being a Vegetarian - with 2-3 of them being Vegan. Before Vegetarians friends strangle me - hear me out, I don't know what my options are going to be at my site for the next 2 years. My placement officer flat out told me I should strongly consider reintroducing meat into my diet for my assignment and there will most likely be an instance where I will be offered meat as a sign of welcoming. And because I'm a huge nerd I feel like I wont be able to acclimate fully to a culture if I don't experience food culture. So I want my body to be able to handle meat if I HAVE to eat it and I'd rather get used to it here in the US then get sick in the middle of Zambia 100miles away from a doctor.

So what was is like eating meat again? Surprisingly anticlimactic. All meat tastes the same as I remember it which I found weird. Fish is still the best thing ever, chicken is chicken and I still don't love beef that much. As for my getting sick my stomach hates me but I have been taking meds so it more feels like a huge rock in my gut. I'm more morally having issues - I really don't want to eat meat again it feel horribly wrong, I'm trying not to think about it to much and I'm reminding myself its only for 2 years and I may not have to eat it all the time.

My other veggies how are you handling it? Are you planning on staying vegetarian the whole time or are you gonna try to stomach it down?

INVITE! INVITE! INVITE!

So today went from horrible to amazing. Invite will be in the mail tomorrow!

I was grumpy at my job, had no sleep, and was annoyed at the Peace Corps application process. Out of retaliation at the universe, I decided to call my official placement officer at 6:30pm so I could leave a voice mail - he picked up. I was so shocked I kinda just stuttered for a bit. Then I brought up my questions about if it looked like I was gonna get my nomination date, we ended up talking for like 20-30 mins he basically gave me my placement final interview - asked about if I was still interested, if i was worried about leaving my family, about my tattoos, about being vegetarian, and what I had added to my resume, if I was comfortable riding a bike everyday.

Because I have been working as an assistant teacher he asked if I would be interested in having a more education based (but still community development) assignment leaving January 31st or if I wanted to do an HIV assignment in February. The education assignment is basically working as an education assistant, sometimes teaching classes, helping to make creative education programs (clubs and such), and working with young girls. So its basically EVERYTHING I need experience in for my career, so of course I said yes!

I'm being invited to a 'Rural Education Development' program leaving Jan 31st, its either Zambia or Mali! I'm leaning more towards Zambia because come on Victoria Falls!

So invite is going the mail tomorrow, he said it should be here by Saturday-ish - here is my updated toolkit!


I'm so excited I can't wait to actually have it in my hand so I can accept!



*Notes for applicants who are for community development in Jan/Feb and on...
- The deadline is still technically 6 weeks they are CHANGING it to 8 weeks as of next year, so they are saying 8 weeks on everything now
- They had to cancel 2 programs this month so they are trying to place the displaced people ASAP so its a bit crazy in their office
- They also were moving all last week so are also out of it
- My invite was going to be be handled next week with a bulk of January/Feb departs
- I had a mental health medical accommodation and it only affected one possible program so if you are worried about it don't!