One of my favorite girls and I at Camp GLOW.
Onew of the girls presenting our Camp director, Angelina, with flowers on the last day.
Let your light shine!I seem to be rapidly losing any remaining large motor skills I may have arrived with. I can't even walk down the street without hurting myself. Case in point: the other night I was out with some friends. I went to the bathroom ("bathroom") and on my way back to the table, suddenly found myself face down on the floor. Without warning, a stair had popped up and tripped me. I don't remember how I landed, but in the middle of the night I woke with a splitting headache which was so bad I vomitted. It was scary but the pressure alleviated almost entirely when I sat or stood.
The next day I went to see the PCMO. Dr. asked about what had happened, took my vitals, then checked my reflexes. Then he looked at my face for a few seconds and said "I'm treating your case as an emergency. You will be surprised how quickly things will happen now." He then sprinted- SPRINTED- into his office to make phone calls, leaving me sitting alone on the table and feeling highly disconcerted as I heard phrases like "S.O.S. med-evac" and "very serious case" wafting into the room.
"Is everything okay?" I called to the Dr. in between his frantically placed phone calls to neurologists and PC Washington. "Yes, Kara, just hold still. Stay there. This will happen very fast- you'll see." Was this supposed to reassure me? What was he talking about? I know headaches can be serious business, but emergency medical evacuation? I decided to wait and see; after all, he's the doctor.
After making whatever arrangements he thought necessary- I didn't catch all of them because he was speaking french very quickly and was in the next room- Dr. came running back into the room and reassured me that everything would happen very fast and would be fine. He then looked at my face and gingerly touched his fingertips to each side of my jawbone. "Okay. Looking at you, right now..." he hesitated. "...Are you okay? It just seems that... your face..." Dr. used his hands to indicate something askew and eyed me questioningly. It took a few seconds, but I soon realized what he meant and why he had perceived the situation as so incredible grave. As the answer dawned on me, a smile spread across my concussed face.
"Are you talking about my crooked jaw?"
"Your...?"
"Yeah. It's been like that since childhood. See?" I showed him all my pearly whites in a big, cheesy smile. Then it was Dr.'s turn for the epiphany. I watched as he realized what had happened and slowly began to laugh.
"You mean... oh! Hahahaha. Oh! Your jaw has always been like that. Okay! That is good, I feel much much better. Because, you see, I thought you had fallen and broken your face!"
The next day I went to see the PCMO. Dr. asked about what had happened, took my vitals, then checked my reflexes. Then he looked at my face for a few seconds and said "I'm treating your case as an emergency. You will be surprised how quickly things will happen now." He then sprinted- SPRINTED- into his office to make phone calls, leaving me sitting alone on the table and feeling highly disconcerted as I heard phrases like "S.O.S. med-evac" and "very serious case" wafting into the room.
"Is everything okay?" I called to the Dr. in between his frantically placed phone calls to neurologists and PC Washington. "Yes, Kara, just hold still. Stay there. This will happen very fast- you'll see." Was this supposed to reassure me? What was he talking about? I know headaches can be serious business, but emergency medical evacuation? I decided to wait and see; after all, he's the doctor.
After making whatever arrangements he thought necessary- I didn't catch all of them because he was speaking french very quickly and was in the next room- Dr. came running back into the room and reassured me that everything would happen very fast and would be fine. He then looked at my face and gingerly touched his fingertips to each side of my jawbone. "Okay. Looking at you, right now..." he hesitated. "...Are you okay? It just seems that... your face..." Dr. used his hands to indicate something askew and eyed me questioningly. It took a few seconds, but I soon realized what he meant and why he had perceived the situation as so incredible grave. As the answer dawned on me, a smile spread across my concussed face.
"Are you talking about my crooked jaw?"
"Your...?"
"Yeah. It's been like that since childhood. See?" I showed him all my pearly whites in a big, cheesy smile. Then it was Dr.'s turn for the epiphany. I watched as he realized what had happened and slowly began to laugh.
"You mean... oh! Hahahaha. Oh! Your jaw has always been like that. Okay! That is good, I feel much much better. Because, you see, I thought you had fallen and broken your face!"
Later that day, I had a CT scan and- the best part- a BENINESE EEG. Think of every sci-fi movie you've ever seen, then imagine me as the alien. It was like that.
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In other news, we just finished the annual Porto-Novo Camp GLOW- Girls Leading Our World. 49 girls came from around southern Benin and there were about 15 of we PCVs who worked the week. The schedule was rigorous- 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., but probably felt like a break to the girls, who weren't allowed to lift a finger on chores the whole week!! Each day we started with calisthenics, songs or games. All meals were catered and the PCVs took turns with dishes. During they day, we did fieldtrips to a museum and a computer center, held nutrition and reproductive health classes, discussed financial planning and held a career panel with professional women from around southern Benin. We played sports, put on skits and made crafts like bound books and collages. The goal of the camp was to encourage bright young women and girls to stay in school and finish their educations, so at the end of every day we got together in small groups and discussed how the days' lessons pertain to the importance of education. It was really fun and also really good for my french!
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Sarah B. and I didn't get the house I wrote about in the previous blog. We have looked at abouta million of them since and all have fallen through. Hoping to finalize something next week. And that's all I have to report for now!
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In other news, we just finished the annual Porto-Novo Camp GLOW- Girls Leading Our World. 49 girls came from around southern Benin and there were about 15 of we PCVs who worked the week. The schedule was rigorous- 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., but probably felt like a break to the girls, who weren't allowed to lift a finger on chores the whole week!! Each day we started with calisthenics, songs or games. All meals were catered and the PCVs took turns with dishes. During they day, we did fieldtrips to a museum and a computer center, held nutrition and reproductive health classes, discussed financial planning and held a career panel with professional women from around southern Benin. We played sports, put on skits and made crafts like bound books and collages. The goal of the camp was to encourage bright young women and girls to stay in school and finish their educations, so at the end of every day we got together in small groups and discussed how the days' lessons pertain to the importance of education. It was really fun and also really good for my french!
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.
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Sarah B. and I didn't get the house I wrote about in the previous blog. We have looked at abouta million of them since and all have fallen through. Hoping to finalize something next week. And that's all I have to report for now!
Some of the girls singing on the bus on the way to da Silva museum in Porto-Novo
Leading calisthenics with Lindsay one morning
Making collages
Learning about HIV/AIDS prevention
Learning proper toothburshing methods
Charlie and Miranna Darr, looking out on their bright future of junk-museum ownership
A very, very old printing press
The girls at the National Assembly, where we went on a tour
Future members of congress
Outside the national assembly
Dance Party!!! We had a DJ come play all the hottest Beninese tunes
Teaching the girls about nutrition. I had them draw pictures and them come put them into fod groups and practice making complete meals
Woo! Nutrition!!
All of us at Camp GLOW: girls, PCVs, and facilitators who came for the opening. AMong them was the United States Ambassador to Benin and our Country Director, Brownie Lee, as well as a representative of the Mayor of Porto-Novo's office
A friendly visitor to the Camp
