Buzz Kill
Trip Start
Feb 07, 2009
1
4
12
Trip End
Feb 21, 2009
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Covington,
Georgia,
United States
Monday, December 22, 2008
I have been checking things off my list to get done, and also receiving
quite a few surprises along the way. Lindsey and I both got all
of our vaccines. Between the two of us we have had: Hep A &
B, Tetanus, Typhoid, Flu, Polio (adult booster), and a prescription for
Malaria. The polio required a second visit to the health
clinic. On our first trip, we were told that polio was
practically non-existent, it wasn't really necessary for us to be
vaccinated, and within a few years polio would be completely wiped away
from the world. A week or so later, I hear all these horror
stories about how there has been a fresh outbreak of polio within the
past year in...that's right, India. Families are refusing to get
their kids vaccinated because they are being told that they are
overmedicating their children, etc. So, back to the clinic we go,
and one more sharp jab in the arm. But now we're good for
life.
We should be pretty much good to go anywhere without any big bad virus
attacking us. However, I must say that this is the second time
I've been given a Rx for malaria, and I feel a strange twinge of mixed
gratitude and guilt. To think that we can simply get a pill, and
only for about $4, that will keep us from getting malaria, when
thousands of children and families all over the world die every day of
this terrible disease. I'm making it a vow to order a mosquito
bed net to send to a family in Africa every time I get a prescription
for myself. You can join me in fighting off these pesky little
bloodsuckers by donating to Nothing But Nets at
http://www.nothingbutnets.net/. $10 will buy a net, deliver, and
teach the family how to use it. One net will protect a family of
four for up to four years. You can't beat that.
