Malaria Fridays

Besides the numerous shots I had to have to come to Africa, I am only on one medication throughout my duration here. My prescription of choice is Mefloquine. It is for malaria. It only requires that you take it once a week. Since my first full day in Rwanda was on a Friday, that’s the schedule I’ve kept for taking the meds. The most common side effects are vivid, violent dreams, paranoia, anxiety, sleeplessness, and general crappy physical feelings. I have luckily not experienced any of these. In fact, I have a theory that Mefloqine actually raises my mood. It’s more of wishful thinking but I’ve been enjoying my lack of side effects. I could still contract malaria even while on medication but the severity of it would be much, much less. I can also still get side effects at some point in time.

I also use a mosquito net. It’s nailed to the ceiling above my bunk bed. Since I’m on the top bunk, I don’t have the claustrophobia of a net on the bottom bunk. As annoying as it may seem, you get used to using a net quickly and then it just becomes commonplace. Whenever I am tucking my net underneath my bed, I imagine I’ve built a little fort for myself. Maybe if more Rwandans built forts as children they wouldn’t be so bothered by using mosquito nets.