When the Homily is about Immunology

Tropical Diseases and Watching the Weather

It is good to be home. I was surprised at how quickly I adjusted to driving on the right side of the road, I guess the whole left side thing in Uganda never really stuck with me...though one could argue that driving on the left side is more of a suggestion in Kampala.

You know about Wednesday: I spent the afternoon wandering about the farm in a zombie-like daze marveling at how things have grown, until Sue finally ushered me off to bed. Thursday I spent the day splitting rounds - desperate to catch up for winter. I chopped until I was exhausted and my hands were blistered. It was wonderful.

That night, I felt a sore throat coming on while I slept. By morning I was miserable. Today is the first day I have felt better since then...I thought I was doing better on Saturday, but took a turn for the worse that night. In my sickness I happened to come across a show on the Science Channel about tropical diseases...not exactly what one should watch given the context of my physical state. No worms have breached my skin yet and since I feel better I suspect I just overdid things (lack of sleep, time change, and working so hard on Thursday) and it just led to a temporary retreat of my immune system.

Rain has been inundating us the last couple of days, making it feel even more like I have missed summer here. It's particularly bad news because we might lose our tomato crop for it. But there is a little bit of a silver lining because I feel less like I am wasting quality work days because of my illness. They tell us the rain should switch to more normal August weather starting tomorrow - but I trust my eyes to see when I wake up more than their models.

Everyday Uganda seems to get further and further away. I generally am trying not to be one to wander about with Uganda on my brain and it being the center of my every conversation, I expect people would quickly grow weary of hearing about it. There is little doubt that it has affected me profoundly, but I can see how my time spent there was also a time spent away from the reality of my everyday life which must now go forward. Nothing has changed outside of myself, I still face the same issues and problems albeit with a different perspective. Is is enough to change how I deal with them? That remains to be seen. I have certainly seen how I can fall right back into the same old ruts. You know, as a dog returns to his vomit. (Proverbs 26:11)