Last night we had just gotten the kids off to sleep after a remarkably peaceful and lovely evening together. I had extra time in the afternoon and managed an early dinner; grainy rolls, roasted potatoes and a beef barbecue, just for us. We all ate a happy dinner and got some good reading and snuggling in with the kids before bed. So nice not to be rushing to bed an hour late as we so often do. David and I were looking forward to some quiet talks afterwards with drinks or at least the dishwashing!

Moments later we heard an eruption of student noise and looked out the window to see that power had shut off in the second block, not an infrequent occurrence (working on getting that fixed permanently.) Since the night before we had had serious discipline issues in the s1 and s2 classes and since David suspects that students may have found a way to tamper with the power, he biked over immediately to try to clear things up. I started on the dishes but almost immediately heard a lot of noise begin in the girls compound. A lot of fearful wailing in Lubwisi that sounded a lot like a death.

Leaving my kids home alone I ran next door to the girls compound where I found a crowd surrounding “Dali” who was yelling in Lubwisi that men with machetes were after her, looking around wildly as if she was being followed and beating at her three friends who were holding her down. It was almost comical and I didn’t know for a minute whether to laugh or be worried. I’ve heard lots of stories from those who came before me (JD and Joanna, you know you’ve been there!) and so suspected it might be a mental issue related to anxiety rather than a physical problem. But she did seem to have a fever and cerebral malaria can present with some pretty spectacular mental symptoms.

With Jennifer’s advice I decided to take her to the hospital. Though we all suspected anxiety issues she was surely in no condition to sleep with forty other girls in a small dorm. So off we went to admit her; me, driving and the three friends in the back holding “dali” down.

The health center felt faintly intimidating at night, especially after the only non-patient I could find was a drunk night watchman who breathed waragi fumes profusely while declaring that no one was around to help me. Slowly medical workers appeared from the dark, some more drunk than others, and found us a mattress on the floor of the pediatric ward from which to take a health history for admissions. Health histories are not easy when a patient is mentally disturbed. Fortunately “dali’s” mother is a nurse but I received a dose of culture shock when she walked in and started grabbing her arms, shaking her and yelling at her to stop behaving this way immediately. Culturally appropriate and perhaps even the attention this girl is subconsciously looking for, but appalling to me especially with about fifty pediatric families looking on. The gatekeeper came back in with his stick and waragi breath and waved everyone back with dramatic drunk gestures while another drunk medical worker came in and proceeded with an abusive line of questioning. I remained torn for the next forty minutes between trying to appreciate the cultural norms being expressed and trying to fulfill my responsibilities to my student. I finally left her in the care of her mother who seemed unsure at best.

Debriefing quickly with Jennifer on the phone (”Did I do the right thing to leave her there with those people who say they love her?”), I was reminded that the hospital receives about one woman a night with these symptoms of severe anxiety. This is what women here do when they no long know how to cope with their lives. I don’t know what Dali could have been so upset about. She is confident, athletic and pretty smart and is not facing exams right now. Perhaps she has financial or personal trouble.

For now she’s at home and we’re back at school, slogging through another day of small crises; our kitchen manager is VERY sick and almost got admitted yesterday for severe vomiting, our meat rabbits are escaping in droves from the rabbit pen after a termite infestation or perhaps just the accumulating rain water has caused most of our supporting poles to fall over, the district water supply got cut off again causing a temporary morning disturbance in our water (but hurray for our new storage tanks, bailing us out within the hour!!), and we deal once again with those spunky s1s and s2s once again. It’s another day in the life of CSB.