Day 11 – Tuesday 21st August - hideous day

Today was not a good day – but since this is a true-to-life blog, I’m not going to dress it up – this is traveling in a third world country afterall…. So don’t read on if you’re eating!

I woke at 6am in the pitch black, having shit myself, so had to clean myself up, wash my clothes and try to fight back the tears – It didn’t work – what I needed was a bath, hot soapy water and home comforts, instead I was sat on a concrete floor surrounded by own stench, my guts in agony, feeling like a prisoner.. .so the tears fell – albeit in silence.

I eventually pulled myself together, and with the help of a kettle got everything washed and rinsed and hung out to dry as dawn broke, telling myself it would soon pass and all would be well. I took yet more paracetamol and was thankful my fever had broken at last. I struggled out of the room with Caroline about 830am and James and Maud suggested they take me to the hospital. Knowing that there were rumours of an Ebola case at the hospital I opted for the clinic in town instead. Caroline filled her rucksack with sterilized supplies, needles and saline and such, and after a final dash to the loo we were on our way.

We were ushered in to see Doctor Denis immediately at his clinic in Ntungamo and had some blood taken for testing. We waited for the results over the road outside a hotel, where of course I needed to use the toilet again. The proprietor kindly showed me through the restaurant and out the back to the toilet, the state of which thankfully shocked my arse into changing its’ mind, so I took this picture and left – there was not even a sink or tap outside to wash your hands! After an hour, we returned to the clinic where thankfully the Malaria and Typhoid tests both came back negative. I was given some tablets (not sure what they are, or their purpose as they are not labeled and came in an envelope home-made out of official examination board paper!). I was then made to drink a lukewarm browny/white mixture for acute diarrhea in front of the dispensing lady and sent on my way, paying 35,000 UGS for the privilege. With any luck I will feel better soon.

After paying James another 20,000 UGS for the ride and help, we got back to the lodge and I crawled into bed to rest before lunch. The tablets had to be taken with food, so I had a few mouthfuls of rice and loads of water and lay down again. So far my body was behaving itself, but I was drained.

In the afternoon, I spent an hour or so sorting through photos in the computer room before I spun out again – but thankfully it passed after 5 or 10 minutes, allowing me to upload some blog and get some air outside.

Tea came and went and I just couldn’t risk it, sticking with the Docs orders of “drink 3 litres of water TODAY”.

630pm and the second dose of hot brown liquid was downed, not pleasant at all, followed by a stroll round the school with the camera to shoot Caroline attempting to milk the cow - hilarious! Now I’m definitely not drinking anymore tea – the cow is milked at the same time the calf is suckling and so to our horror, we saw that the bucket contains calf saliva aswell!

By the time dinner time came I was feeling heaps better and ate enough to take the next set of tablets. We went to bed pretty soon afterwards, feeling much better, but with my stomach still gurgling, I don’t think I’ve ever been more nervous to fart in all my life!