Getting Sick in Malawi
I got sick in Malawi. I reflect on the grant writing workshop, politics, and the importance of friendship.
— 7 min read
Table of Contents
Sick
For the past few days, I've gotten a cold. It started out with just a scratchy throat, but it then it progressed into intermittent coughs and congestion.
I am so grateful to be traveling with a group of medical experts. We literally have like 10+ nurses not to mention we also have 3 mechanical engineers and 2 computer scientists. We are an absolute powerhouse of medical and engineering expertise.
These past few nights have been annoying. I would cough all throughout the night keeping me awake. Yesterday, I received benadryl from the nurses which help me so much. It knocked me out and I didn't wake up until the morning. I felt like I had a good night's rest.
Grant Writing Workshop
Today, we had a grant writing workshop led by Martin Cenek. He has managed to receive, through his own grants, 10+ million dollars. Even though I was sick, I wanted to participate. I learned a lot about how to write a grant proposal.
I suppose, through his experience, he has managed to get a grant for the summer research project that we are working on. I remember him saying something about a $4500 grant or whatever during the semester. Looking back now, some dots are connecting.
Overall, it was pretty interesting to see how he might have written that summer research grant proposal. I'm excited to work on the project this summer.
After the workshop, which lasted like 7 hours I think albeit with 2 breaks in between, I felt exhausted. My body was feeling sensitive. It was super windy back at our compound and feeling the wind on my skin and my clothes swaying and brushing up against my skin was not pleasant.
Work
Because of my sickness, I haven't had really the time to work much. I would just be so tired and mentally withdrawn that I would just pretty much sleep. I'm hoping that I can get back up to speed soon because I have so much to do.
Journaling
You know, one of my goals was to make sure that I write every single day. I've been doing that so far for the most part, but these past few days I have not been writing. I also want to acknowledge to myself that there are times where I just skip a day or two.
I've been kind of beating myself up for not following through. I really want to be consistent with my journaling because I feel that if I can be consistent with this, I can be consistent with other things in my life.
I suppose missing one day or two isn't that bad. And to be honest, nothing much really happens those days that I miss.
Dinner
For dinner, I got to speak with Keisha. It was pretty nice. She kind of rekindled my passion for politics and sociology. She had asked me a couple of questions about politics which, quite frankly, stumped me. One of the questions she asked is why people are racist towards other people.
It's such a straightforward question but when you think about it, why, as a matter of a fact, are people racist? I remember being able to answer that question very quick and easily, but it took me some time to collect my thoughts and give a good answer.
I've been so far removed from thinking about politics that I've forgotten how much I love it. I love it because it gets me thinking. I absolutely love thinking about stuff like politics, sociology, and rhetoric.
And so, after some time, I gave a mostly coherent answer. I said that fear is the root of racism. People are afraid of what they don't know. They are afraid of what they don't understand.
I'm glad I was able to remember that answer because I could've also just said that people are assholes. But, in my opinion, that answer, although very agreeable, doesn't really address the root of the problem.
Offer & Friendship
I've also been thinking about that offer that was given to me. She said that I don't need to make the decision on the spot, but its been like 2 or 3 days now since that conversation was had. I've been thinking about it every single day. I swear I have not forgotten it. Very few people extend such offers to me and I am whole heartedly grateful for those few people in this world that have enough of a capacity and willingness to make connections.
I think it is so so important to have friends. This has especially been case for me growing up as an orphan. I place great importance on friendship. It's how I've literally survived up until this point.
Speaking to those people in my life who have quite literally helped me to survive and thrive, there are about 8 billion people on Earth and somehow you and I landed together. Now, I can't say for sure if the concept of fate is even a thing, but one thing I know for certain is that finding a friend is an astronomically difficult task.
In order to find a real friend, you must be in the right point in history, at the right geographical location, with the appropriate circumstances, not to mention that the chances of encountering a person who can positively impact your life is depressingly low. There are very few people who will take the initiative to set events in motion.
Most people are either unconcerned or haven't realized the importance of what it means to be enterprising, and even if they did, they probably won't take action for a great many reasons. One being that it's just difficult to navigate the world in a way that leads to success and you can never know if down the line you meet a person who will change your life, or have an opportunity be given to you, or know that college will be your ticket to success. I'm not sure that people even care about stuff like that. You can never know, but that uncertainty can definitely kill your potential.
So how do you prevent it?
Well, you really can't. But, you don't have to face uncertainty alone. which is why I think friends are important. You can be just a little certain knowing that people will be next to you while having your back. If you fall down, they pull you back up.
Fortunately, I've been lucky enough to have successfully built my own support network. Most people, and this is me being envious, already have that the moment they were born. They have a family that will support them no matter what. I hate to say it, but I don't have that.
I'm just grateful for whatever I have and I hope I can be the type of person who would go out of their way to help an orphan like me. This summer, I will be more deliberate and enterprising about being such a person for other people. Especially for those whose circumstances are as shitty as mine.
I constantly struggle with housing, food, and money. But, now that I've managed to keep myself afloat, I will now have more time and energy to find others who are struggling and help them out.
At the end of day, I hope to achieve the same type of character that would choose to help people like myself.