Blood
In the first five
months on the World Race, I managed to avoid injury. In Kenya, a motorcycle barreling down the
road had a large cargo on the back, and clipped me. The only thing resulting from that was a
bruise on my arm. It didn’t run me to
the ground, and the blow didn’t manage to break my skin. Tanzania on the other hand, has
garnered more blood from me than any other country thus far. Our first morning of house to house, I sliced
my big toe open on a rusty iron something sticking up from the ground (don’t
worry, had my tetanus shot in July). It
was a fairly deep cut, and I was leaving drops of blood behind me as we walked
to the next home. Since I’m not in the
habit of carting my First Aid kit around, I had nothing with which to staunch
the flow of blood. Laura came to my
rescue, tearing her handkerchief and wrapping my toe up until we got home. That was the first incident.
months on the World Race, I managed to avoid injury. In Kenya, a motorcycle barreling down the
road had a large cargo on the back, and clipped me. The only thing resulting from that was a
bruise on my arm. It didn’t run me to
the ground, and the blow didn’t manage to break my skin. Tanzania on the other hand, has
garnered more blood from me than any other country thus far. Our first morning of house to house, I sliced
my big toe open on a rusty iron something sticking up from the ground (don’t
worry, had my tetanus shot in July). It
was a fairly deep cut, and I was leaving drops of blood behind me as we walked
to the next home. Since I’m not in the
habit of carting my First Aid kit around, I had nothing with which to staunch
the flow of blood. Laura came to my
rescue, tearing her handkerchief and wrapping my toe up until we got home. That was the first incident.
The second happened on the way home
from a crazy Crusade that Pastor Celsius took Sharon and I to. It was twilight, an important time because around here, the danger
level, especially for mzungos, escalates after dusk. We were hurriedly climbing into the
Dalah-dalah (like a Matatu… big van, lots of people), and as I stepped into the
last row of seats, I scraped my leg on something (again, sharp metal). It hurt, but I didn’t really think much of
it, until I felt something warm and sticky running down my leg. I managed to forget about it until we reached
Mama Joyce’s house, and I glanced down at my leg and saw the blood. This cut was a little deeper and a lot longer,
so this time, there was more of the burgundy liquid oozing from my paper white
skin. The stark contrast gave me pause
for just a moment as I grabbed my First Aid kit to clean myself up before
Pastor Celsius noticed (which I accomplished). I do have pictures of said blood, but in an attempt to keep this blog PG, I’m not posting them.
from a crazy Crusade that Pastor Celsius took Sharon and I to. It was twilight, an important time because around here, the danger
level, especially for mzungos, escalates after dusk. We were hurriedly climbing into the
Dalah-dalah (like a Matatu… big van, lots of people), and as I stepped into the
last row of seats, I scraped my leg on something (again, sharp metal). It hurt, but I didn’t really think much of
it, until I felt something warm and sticky running down my leg. I managed to forget about it until we reached
Mama Joyce’s house, and I glanced down at my leg and saw the blood. This cut was a little deeper and a lot longer,
so this time, there was more of the burgundy liquid oozing from my paper white
skin. The stark contrast gave me pause
for just a moment as I grabbed my First Aid kit to clean myself up before
Pastor Celsius noticed (which I accomplished). I do have pictures of said blood, but in an attempt to keep this blog PG, I’m not posting them.
This country is amazing, and as my
blood is draining into the land here,
blood is draining into the land here,
so this place is seeping into me.
