When the sun was scorching, the heat was nearly 40 degrees Celsius, and I was wrapped tightly in a blanket, still shivering with cold.
Malaria is an inescapable disease in Africa. Heat, humidity and garbage provide a breeding ground for mosquitoes, which are the main source of malaria transmission.
In Africa, as long as mosquitoes bite a few times, coupled with the restrictions of high temperature and living conditions, the outbreak of malaria is a common thing, similar to our usual cold.
When I first came to Ghana, I have stayed in many places, hotels, hostels, villas, tents and local houses, and even spent the night in the school classroom in the village, so the local big black mosquitoes have visited my body many times, and I have contributed a lot of fresh blood to them.
I was tired on weekdays, didn't have a good rest, and with the hot sun, (mainly let the mosquitoes bite) I went to Ghana for about 20 days, and finally got malaria.
Before I went to Ghana, I consulted with doctors and epidemic prevention personnel about malaria, brought some drugs for treatment such as chlorquine, and learned about the main routes of transmission and the symptoms at the time of attack.
After spending some time in Ghana, although I paid great attention to protective measures on weekdays, I was still unable to prevent it, and it was time to come.
After breakfast that day, I felt sick, dizzy, a little feverish, and I realized I had malaria. I took a few tablets of medicine brought with me from Home and lay down in my dormitory in the mining area to rest.
I kept drinking water, and the medicine I took did not work, and I began to slowly get cold and sweat.
That's what I said at the beginning.
In the daytime, the heat outside the house was nearly 40 degrees Celsius, but my body began to tremble when I wrapped the blanket tightly, dizzy, dizzy, and my eyes were unable to open.
I lay helplessly, and the feeling of being loveless was really very sad.
Insisted until noon, old M came back, seeing that I was not lightly ill, he was also anxious.
He hurriedly helped me to the car and sped toward Kumasi.
I lay in the back seat, still wrapped in a blanket, half dazed, confused and confused, when old M took me to a large local hospital.
When I got to the hospital, I was completely dumbfounded, the whole room was full of patient numbers, most of them were elderly women with large and small children, black pressure was pressed; there was no air conditioning in the house, several ceiling fans turned weakly, I took a breath, if you wait in line normally, a day or two is not necessarily; there are too many people, plus the special aroma of local black people, I really can't stand the smell, and I almost vomited several times.
What shocked me was that their self-discipline was consciously queuing, and old M asked, and some of them had started queuing up a day earlier.
Looking at it like this, waiting for treatment here is not OK, I can't last tomorrow.
Old M called and asked his friend and suggested that we go to the clinic opened in Chinese In Kumasi.
We went to the Great Wall Clinic, so tall on the name. This is a private clinic opened Chinese. (Actually, I didn't know at the time that this clinic had become a shelter for my health in Ghana for five years.)
The owner of the clinic is a Chinese couple in their 50s, a few relatives who helped, and a cake shop that employs a lot of local workers, including nurses, drivers, janitors, cleaners, etc.
Maybe it was a long bump, or maybe I had a high fever that didn't go away, and after arriving at the Great Wall Clinic, I fell asleep on my bed without infusion.
I don't know how long later, when I woke up, the hanging bottle had been finished. The little quilt I covered has collapsed into sweat, and I am much more relaxed, and the feeling of comfort that I have been missing for a long time is so enjoyable.
The heat has faded, with a little medicine to eat, but it takes 4-5 days of continuous infusion.
In this way, we went to the restaurant opened Chinese and stayed there, eating and living there, safe and secure.
Later, I slowly learned that there was still a difference between the physical fitness of Chinese and the local black people, they had malaria and took some large white pills from India, and if they insisted on it for a few days, they would be fine; Chinese they had malaria, they needed to go to the hospital for infusion, and there was no other way.
That night, my fever subsided a lot, and I happily ate a bowl of dumplings (dumplings and soup are served in a soup bowl).
In those days, in addition to the injection, I went back to the hotel to rest, and spent a rare short rest time.
For that malaria, it cost nearly 1,000 yuan just to take medicine. I can't afford to get sick.
I didn't expect that from then on, I would have malaria almost every month. (Some of our workers only have a seizure once every three or four months or even more than half a year, perhaps related to their opening of the excavator, which has air conditioning, is not too tired, and has a guarantee of rest.) ）
In the years that followed, after learning more about malaria and local medical facilities, we went to many local black clinics in addition to the Great Wall Clinic in China.
…
This is my first attack of malaria since I came to Ghana, that feeling, really want to cry without tears, now that I think about it, I still have a chill in my heart, because if malaria is not treated in time, once the malaria parasite enters the key organs, there is nothing that can be done, Chinese there are such case deaths in Ghana, terrible.
Next, document a few new things you encountered in Ghana, enough to subvert your perception!
Children pumping water from a pressurized well
Small children playing in the trees in the yard
Local black kitchen and kitchenware