Week 6
Work for me begins in
earnest the next day with a visit to a academic secretary to explore the local
university’s library. We have already met with Father Vyankuno Emmanuel twice
and been introduced to 5 researchers working in the political science and
economics department. On our third trip, Father Emmanuel has a secretary
photocopy relevant articles and helps me get a university library subscription.
I check out Franny and Zooey.
We eat lunch with the
priests and I am barely able to hold back tears of pain. I go to the internet
café in the afternoon and realize that I have medication induced esophagitis
from my doxycyline pill. Jean-baptiste advises me to wait until monday. At
night, I have stabbing chest pains every 3 minutes and wake up gasping for
relief as my muscles overwork themselves. I sit in the living from 6 am until
Jean-baptiste walks downstairs to tell him I’d prefer to see a doctor that day.
We go at 9 and they confirm the doxycylcline induced ulcer[1].
Once diagnosed, my anxiety
subsides, but the pain is so severe for the following 4 days that I wish they
would invite other children to the dining table. On the day it finally subsides
completely, we make funnel cakes, a welcome new introduction after pancakes,
latkes, quiche and apple pie.
I have made little progress
against my initial goals in the office my first week by myself, other than
conducting 29 baseline interviews with clients and two meetings with partners.
I still have another training to organize, at least 71 interviews to go, an
export business to start, a program evaluation to complete, and very little
time left on the ground.
[1] By not
swallowing my antimalarial tetracycline (doxycycline) with enough water, the
gel-coated capsule stuck to the soft lining of my esophagus and eventually burst
open, irritating the inside of the esophagus and causing the odynophagia (pain
swallowing) and heartburn I was experiencing
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