Is it Ebola?

During the malaria outbreak sometime back in Jamaica, I recall the popular question posed after every sneeze was, "Is it Malaria?" As I come to the end of my 8th week here, I realize that I am realizing that we talk about malaria far more in the Western World than we do here. Likewise, this thing of Ebola...No I don't have it... I first came to hear about it through a concerned relative in Jamaica. (I won't loud yu up).

I know, I haven't posted in a while! It's been very busy and even sometimes stressful here! Stressful summer is not what I expected, but in a nutshell, here are the highlights of the past few weeks:

1. Jamaica mash up the track in the 100m final -- yes I may not be in London but the effects of technology and globalization has been able to allow me to keep up with #teamJamaica 
2. The British West Indies celebrated 178 years of Emancipation - this kick off some of the key events in the Jamaica50 celebration (again see note above) - tomorrow, August 6, join me in wearing your black, green and gold and/or your pin of pride to celebrate the golden Jubilee of my country's independence!
3. I made A LOT of red ribbons - not sure how many!
4. We had two training sessions managing in Jinja (hence the stress)
5. I learnt that one man's trash can really be another's treasure - one of our training sessions was making straw hand crafts. As in from used plastic drinking straws - collected, washed, soaked overnight in detergent, rinsed, then pressed flat to make these craft items and be good to the environment!
6. I started my final paper, then realized that if I write one page per day, I'd be finished by the time I board the plane out of where. Then I got sad that I have to leave already...
7. So I went shopping again cuz no matter where you are in the world, retail therapy is always good! This time I picked up a couple things from my second tailor and 2 jars of locally produced jam - one is Mango and the other is Passion fruit. I'm keeping on the lookout for the pineapple, had it the other day and it was amazing :)
8. Then I saw an add that American Airlines is having a sale - so like any good Grinnellian I started looking up plane tickets -- my fellow Grinnellians, you may have more difficulty finding me in Grinnell than you already do! Rest of the world, look out - I may be coming to an airport near you!

So let me just reconfirm - I neither have Ebola nor Malaria, matter of fact, I have exhibited symptoms of neither.

Until next time,

Stay safe!

Watch the Olympics

Wear your [Jamaican] Colours on August 6 - even if you're not Jamaican please understand that this is BIG

and of course....Walk Good!