The events of this past week have been interesting, to say the least. We are still praying hard for my teammate Trevor who has been flown to London for further medical treatment. The Ukrainian hospitals are poorly equipped to deal with Malaria as this is not a common disease found here. The center of disease control has learned of Trev’s Malaria and are now concerned about the rest of our team and the possible diseases we brought into their country from Africa. We were told at the beginning of last week that until we were given a clean bill of health we would need to enter quarantine. This could take anywhere from 3 hours to 3 days, they said. So, we packed for a couple days and were brought to a tiny community of green mobile homes located five minutes down the road from where we have been staying. Quarantine. We were then brought to the health clinic where we sat for 30-54 minutes with thermometer’s under our arms while we took turns filing into the doctor’s office where he examined our tongues, and took our blood using a sharp razor blade. At one point, one of our thermometer’s broke and a team of staff rushed in demanding that we immediately evacuate the room as the fragments on the floor were dangerous to touch or breathe in. So funny. Our examinations continued on and off for two days and they called on the third day saying our results were inconclusive and that we would need to be brought back in. At this point, our contact Dennis put his foot down. No more doctor’s visits for us. The most random part of these two days is the fact that we only spent about 15 minutes in actual “quarantine.” We ate and slept at the resort where we are staying for the month and spent the rest of our time at the health clinic or in town. The random events that occur in other countries never cease to surprise me or make me laugh. Who would have thought I would ever have a story of being quarantined in Ukraine?!
