11/13/09

Yesterday, the health department stopped by to speak to all of our students and to give them permission slips to have signed and brought back the next day for a vaccine that they were going to be giving. The vaccine was for elephantiasis and for worms which can be transmitted via mosquitoes. I knew that mosquitoes can transmit malaria, but wasn't aware that elephantiasis was transmitted this way.

I was in the office when they were at the school. The vaccine was given orally so no needles. I wonder how that would have gone over with the little kids! I was told that we could get the vaccine too and since I am not fond of getting elephantiasis or any other worm related parasite from mosquitoes, I went right over and told them my age (trante en) and was given a cup with a big pill and a few little ones. I am guessing the little ones are in addition to the larger one based on age. Of course, they could very well have been another vaccine in the event that they had two separate ones, but in any case, I slammed them down with some water and went back to the office.

I was in the office for a little while until I needed to go back to the school to teach Algebra I. It was an easy day for me in Algebra because I was simply giving a test. After that class, I am done teaching and get my planning break before lunch. I normally go back to the office and get a few things done that I wasn't able to do while in there for my scheduled time. Today, I figured I'd go back there and take it easy because I was a little tired. I was up a little late the night before and figured that I was tired from that. When I got back to the office, it wasn't but five minutes and I had fallen asleep in Roger's chair in the back room. It turns out that everyone was tired from the vaccine. It was Friday so many of the elementary teachers show a movie. Mr. Thom said that at least three of his students fell asleep and he was feeling wiped out too. All of the teachers were tired and a few felt nauseous. A few students got sick, so I wonder if they didn't have any food in their stomach. I had made a huge glass of milk (yes, made...powdered milk) and drank that before I went to the office so I didn't take the pills on an empty stomach. I felt fine other than being a little tired.

It was interesting to see the health department at the school. It's nice to see because I have to imagine that these vaccines aren't cheap, even if they are on the side of lesser expensive medicines. I am guessing that it was a donation from some organization who was behind this and am grateful that it was made available to all students. I don't know if it was a country wide program or if it was just something here in Port-de-Paix, but either way, it's good to know that our students will be less vulnerable to certain parasites.