Enough

I grade papers all day. On my boda ride home I pass Kate walking in the opposite direction holding hands with a little girl in a purple dress.

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Walking around the corner to the door of the white house I pass Carol who smiles but does not look happy. I ask her what is the matter. She says she is fine, but with a little more asking, her eyes start to water, “I have been throwing up too much.” She closes her eyes and rests her head on the side of the building.

I was told not to touch any of the kids, but I don’t care and I rub her back and let her know everything is going to work out because she’s on the right medicine and she has the nurses looking after her. Marilyn comes around the corner and I ask her to come talk to Carol. Marilyn puts her arm around Carol to guide her to where the nurses say. She looks over Carol’s shoulder on the way and mouths to me, “Go wash you hands.”

-

It is dark outside. I’m in the living room reading when I hear someone breathing loud and shallow. I get up to see if someone is in trouble. I see the nurses standing outside of the spare room. Festus and Lydia just put Carol on the bed.

She is shivering and breathing really quickly. Her eyes are have closed. She is in pain. Marilyn goes in and wraps her in sheets and blankets and rubs her arms and legs to warm her up. Fran takes her pulse and temperature.

Lydia stands outside. I can see in her face that she is not happy in the least, which is uncommon for her. I stand outside with her and realize there is nothing I can do. Marilyn soothes Carol with calm whispered words.

“Enough! This is too much! These kids have enough to deal with as it is!” I think these things as I go back to the living room and sit with my head in my hands. Festus walks by and tries to sound lighthearted.

When I don’t meet his cheery greeting, he nods his head and says, “You see. This is Africa. We have typhoid…” His sentence is muffled as he goes into his bedroom.

All I can do is pray for Carol. So I go in my room and plead for her health.

-

We are eating dinner. Carol has fallen asleep after throwing up. The nurses gave her some medicine for nausea. They don’t want to give her the Typhoid medicine until they know she is going to keep it down. The nurses say she will be OK. She felt a little better because of the medicine so she went to town last night (at least a mile from the house) and then to school today.

Kate comes home with the little girl I saw her with. Her name is Nabukenya. She is very quiet and sits nicely in Marilyn’s lap as Kate gets her dinner. Nabukenya’s mother is a woman who was tested positive for HIV when they were on the fishing village trip. They tested little Nabukenya as well and she is also positive.

The mother says that the girl is four years old, but she is so small and I would guess she was two. The mother, Sarah, is sick and in the hospital in Ntenjeru. Erin is staying with her all night. They think she might have TB or Malaria.

Lydia fixes Nabukenya some food and sits her on the floor. The more I watch her the cuter she gets. She breaks off a chunk of matoke and dips it in the sauce and puts it in her mouth.

After dinner, Kate takes of Nabukenya’s dress and you can see that her stomach is huge. With her dress on, it just looks like healthy baby stomach, but now I can see it is malnutrition.

I go into the bedroom and get one of the books that were donated. Princess and the Flea, I think it’s about a dog who wants to be princess and a flea helps her somehow. The little girl didn’t know what to do with the book. I showed her how to flip the pages. She acted like she didn’t care, but after I sat back down and started eating, she stated flipping through.

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I visit her later when Kate is trying to get her to sleep. I talk with her for a few seconds and she starts to cry and swats the air for me to leave. I try not to take it personally and go to my room. Ha.