The long and winding road home

Clearly its been a long time since I've been able to find the words to explain the happenings in my life, but I think its been long enough now.  On Thursday, August 9th I spent the better part of 30 hours on a plane back to Seattle, WA.  A lot can happen in a matter of weeks, but I never thought that this would be my Peace Corps fate, and that I would be back in Seattle after 5 1/2 months abroad.

 

Madagascar is geographically part of sub-saharan Africa, a region that is highly affected by the presence of malaria.  Malaria is a deadly parasite that is carried from one infected individual to another by mosquitos and lives in our red blood cells.  It causes extreme fevers, nausea, weakness, and sometimes death.  Billions of people have been infected with malaria resulting in millions of deaths, its nothing to mess around with.  All Peace Corps volunteers are required to take a medication during their entire service that helps prevent infection, but it doesn't work 100% of the time. 

 Check out this website to learn more about malaria in sub-saharan Africa, and to see what actions Peace Corps is taking 

Unfortunately, as anyone who knows me in an outdoor setting can vouch, mosquitoes love me!  And this didn't change one bit in Madagascar.  Within the first 2 weeks at my site I developed severe malaria symptoms and was treated accordingly.  When the symptoms came back only a few weeks later it became clear to me that malaria was going to be a deadly shadow that would stay with me throughout my service.  Given the remote location of my site and the danger that frequent bouts with malaria posed, I chose to end my Peace Corps service early. 

This was an emotional and difficult decision to make!  And hopefully (since I've been in the U.S. for a month now) you have already heard about it from me personally.  If not, I hope that this answers any questions, and please know that I am salama tsara (healthy) now and there's no need to be worried.  Obviously I am disappointed, but I will be forever grateful for having the experience.  I don't regret a minute of it!  I made incredible friends and memories,  conversed in a new and beautiful language, and lived in my own personal hut by the sea.  I am a lucky girl.

So what now?!  That is the question that fills my days lately, and as soon as I have an answer (and pictures to go with it) I will let any faithful and remaining blog followers know :)  Rest assured that I'm looking for something just as adventurous as the Peace Corps, but in malaria free areas.  Stay tuned to find out where I end up next!