Health Lecture at the MTC

Saturday morning, Dr. Maughan and I went for one final walk around his apartment complex.  I loved how there were trees right across from their complex full of plantains.  I am going to try and find plantains in Boise and begin to cook with them some.

We went back to the MTC on Saturday afternoon, as a new set of missionaries had come in.  We ate lunch with the missionaries, then Dr. Maughan gave another health lecture.  I really enjoyed listening to him.  He emphasized the importance of sleeping under a mosquito net and taking the anti-malarial medication every day.

Malaria can be deadly, especially to those of us who have no built-in immunity for it.  It was interesting - there were only two non-African missionaries in this group.  Dr. Maughan asked who in the group had had malaria before and all but those two missionaries raised their hands.  When an African gets malaria, they might feel sick for a couple of days.  But if someone like me who has never been exposed to malaria were to get it, I would get very sick and, without proper & immediate treatment, I could die.  Needless to say, I was very careful while I was there!  I started taking the medication the day I left for Ghana and have to take it for another three weeks even though I am now home.  I also slept under a mosquito net the entire time I was there!  The mosquitoes that transfer malaria typically only come out at night, so whenever I was outside after dark, I wore long pants, long sleeves, and sprayed bug spray on any exposed skin.

Dr. Maughan also talked in his health lecture about water.  The day I got to Ghana, the Maughans told me not to drink the water.  I was to only drink bottled or filtered water or I could get worms - yuck!  I brushed my teeth with bottled water, all the fruits and vegetables had to be washed in a bleach solution and then rinsed with filtered water, and the dishes had to be washed in this same manner.

After the health lecture, the Maughans administered tetanus and hepatitis vaccines.   I got to help out this time by giving the missionaries their polio vaccines in the form of drops - what a cool experience!

After we left the MTC, we stopped by the "Pit".  I had seen on the Maughan's blog a few months ago that they had had a wood carver named Thomas make each of their children a hand-carved nativity set, and I knew I wanted one!  I had them put in my order right away... I guess Thomas is always back ordered several months.  The Maughans kept visiting and calling Thomas, reminding him that I was coming in hopes that he would complete my nativity set in time.  He finished at 2:00 pm the day I left and I was able to meet him and pick it up.  The nativity is something I will always treasure.  Thomas does all his work by hand with no electrical tools.  And his work is beautiful - I can tell how much care he put into making me a piece of art.