The Beauty of Voices

Before I begin I must explain that it will be hard for me to put into words the beauty of what I experienced this afternoon.

The morning got off to a rough start, actually the rough start began with a well intentioned dinner last night. Travis and I needed a little change to our beans, rice, and popcorn diet, so we decided to have a breakfast dinner with eggs, baked beans, and pancakes (the baked beans part is a staple in a proper English breakfast). We have now determined that the eggs were the cause of the trauma that Travis (and I…..secondhand trauma) experienced. It turns out the eggs weren’t as fresh as we thought. I am not sure how my inferior immune system turned out okay when Trav’s crashed down, but it’s Africa, anything can happen. Nothing surprises me anymore. Anyway, fever, chills, aches, and “other” made Travis (and I…..secondhand again) have a restless sleep. Since the fever hadn’t broken in the morning and he was still feeling bad I called our friend to get a ride to the hospital. A few hours and a few blood samples later Travis was negative for malaria (which we thought it might have been), but still remained very sick due to what the doctor deemed as food poisoning. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find a ride (eh hum, comfortable ride) back from the hospital so poor Trav had to ride on a boda (motorcycle) with me on the back to keep him from falling off. He was feeling so poorly that he had to lay his head upon the shoulders of our boda driver (the boda man was a champion). What a site it was. Imagine feeling extremely nauseous and being forced onto an exposed moving vehicle which is moving over horrendous bumps and holes and puddles, all the while listening to the crazy honks and yells from the surrounding hustle and bustle of town. It was not surprising to me that halfway home we had to take an emergency pit stop so that Trav could let out the remains of his stomach (mostly an antibiotic and water).

When we finally arrived home/at the office, the ladies were most concerned for Travis. Trav went straight to bed and all the ladies (11 in all) crowded around him to pray for him. I can’t even explain it. They first started singing this beautiful prayer, mixing all their voices, their hands, and making beautiful, soothing melodies. It was fully African, so genuine, unique, and beautiful. Then came a prayer of just one voice followed by prayers of all the voices lifted up at the same time. I wanted so badly to video record the moment to remember it forever, but it felt too sacred. Just as I was thinking that I heard small shuffles coming down the hallway. Grandma Candy, a little old (grumpy most of the time) lady that shares the same compound, the same lady who “banned laughing” in the compound, who can hardly walk and spends most of her days sitting, was shuffling down the hallway to sit near Trav’s bed. She joined in with the ladies as they said the Lord’s prayer in unison in their native language and stayed afterward just long enough to say, “my son, I will pray for you,” before shuffling away. It was so beautiful.

All of that to say, Travis is feeling a little better and I’m sure will be 100% in a few days. It’s hard to keep him sitting still for long. We are a little sad that this episode will prevent us from going to a Halloween party with the other Muzungus in the area, but maybe we will wear our tree costumes around another day in hopes of getting a few treats from the locals or just because we look real good in them. Trust me.

Pictures: A halfway completed Halloween costume. Imagine if it had been brought to full completion; A car got stuck in our driveway after a rainy day; Trav's epic facial hair. The 'stash is now gone. Thank goodness.