Malaria and Katra
Sorry for the delay in posts. I have wanted to write about this for a long time!
Malaria is a scary word. Before I came here, when I heard about it, I associated it with tens of thousands of deaths a year. But when I arrived, it was weird that people would talk about it in passing as though it was like it common cold or sickness in Canada. And essentially, that is what it is (if treated early and properly). Don’t get me wrong, when I got malaria, it sucked. I was out of commission for a day or two (and pretty scared I have to admit!) but I took the $3-4 dollar medicine and I eventually got better.
So why is malaria a huge global killer?
From speaking with people, here a couple of the main reasons:
1) Many of the deaths are from babies, children under 5, and pregnant mothers who get hit with malaria and don’t have the immune system to fight it
2) Simply, people can’t buy the $3-4 medicine needed to stave off malaria. I was lucky – I live near in a town with a health centre and was able to diagnose my symptoms ($3 for a lab test) and get medicine the day I was affected. Others in more remote areas are not as lucky. They may be forced to wait too long before they get tested (malaria becomes severe and dangerous as time passes), not have access to drugs or $3-4 is often more than people can spend so they take their chances and fight it.
I guess the reason why I wanted to write this post was to say that malaria is not AIDS. It is most often curable (I can’t say 100%). But by a Canadian’s standards, it can be most often cured easily if diagnosed and treated early. So what are some possible things we could do to stop malaria from killing so many:
1) Get bed nets (approximately $5) to as many people as possible and have them using it! Mosquitoes (who carry malaria) come out strongest at night so sleeping under a bed net is a huge help in preventing one from getting bitten by mosquitos and getting malaria. Bed nets would be particularly important and helpful for babies and pregnant mothers.
2) Get medicine to as many people as possible. I know this sounds obvious and unrealistic but there must be a way to mass-produce these drugs so they are readily available to those who need it and can’t access them because of costs or distance from health centre.
These are just a couple of thoughts on possible solutions. The situation is definitely harder and more complex than what I made it out to be (and I definitely don’t have extensive knowledge), I just wanted to share a realization I made here that malaria, which is one of the top three killers in the world, is not a death sentence if early, simple, and low-cost treatment is done. I would love to hear your comments, thoughts, feedback, on what you think.
Part 2: Katra
A few people asked why I named the blog “Katra in Ghana”. And the reason originates from an amazing Seinfeld episode (I am trying to think of any that aren’t amazing!). It is the one where Kramer is doing karate and tells the story where he was initially scared but found his “katra”, the “I can” feeling inside of him to face the face fear and tough circumstances (the summary of the rest of the episode is below **). Basically, the reason why I named the blog this way is that “I can” feeling is so prevalent here. It is incredible to see the courage of men, women, mothers, fathers, children to keep going, try and fight every day facing hunger, sickness, poverty, corruption, etc. One shining example is in the morning is to ask someone how they are doing. No matter what has happened or how tough the night was, they will say smile and say “Thank God”…thank God for being alive. Life can be incredibly unfair for many here but very seldom will you ever hear a complaint. I hope one day to carry one tiny portion of their wisdom, resolve and bravery.
Love and best wishes from Ghana,
Shamir
P.S – thank you all for the great feedback. I will do my best to write well about what you would like to know (and will include some pictures / stories from life down here next time). Definitely keep the comments/suggestions/feedback coming. And thank you all so greatly as well for your amazing support. I can’t thank you enough or say it enough so I will be writing (as many times as possible) about how much your support means to me, and how much it boosts me up when times are low. You all are inspirations.
** Continuation of episode: So with this “katra”, Kramer becomes the best in his dojo and is “dominating the class”. It is only later that it is found that he is fighting little kids in his class and he got the “katra” talk from Star Trek: Search for Spock. Haha.
Please tell me they are still showing Seinfeld like 5 times a day on TV!
Oh and a last quote (props to a special friend for this one…)
“Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.” – Mother Teresa
