Hell is Spelled B.A.T.S.

After finding a dead bat hanging on the underside of my cot (which I swore I felt something perch below my neck the week before and convinced myself it was nothing...), I began to wonder if a had a problem. Then, after hearing bats flying through my house each night as I lay in bed, nestled securely under my mosquito net, flashlight at hand, I began to suspect that yes, yes it is quite possible that I have a problem. And finally, after my neighbors pointed out the tree in front of my house that's home to a swarm of giant bats, which make the loud, beeping noise each night I assumed to be some sort of electronic device (silly me...), I knew for sure this was a problem. Every night this week, once the sun sets, I become weary, uncomfortable, and completely paranoid. I hold 2-3 flashlights at a time, examining the walls of every room before I enter.

Now a lot of the physical challenges here I am proud to say I have adjusted to rather well: I don't mind taking bucket baths, squatting over latrines (which I have managed to adjust my "schedule" to avoid the cockroaches that infiltrate my latrine at night), sleeping on a cot, boiling and filtering all my water, biking and walking to most places...lack of air conditioning and electricity--its all been reasonably painless. But bats. Bats are different. Bats have wings. And disease. And they make creepy noises and defecate in my house. I'm not the only one with a bat problem here, a friend of mine has a problem far worse than mine. Not only was she bringing a stick in to her bathing area with her to fend off the bats as she bathed, but she also tried to convince herself that the 10 bats flying around her as she ate dinner was a sort of "natural ceiling fan."

I hope it doesn't seem like I'm complaining. Yes, it sucks. And it really sucked when Buddah started acting strange and I flipped out thinking he had rabies and would die (turns out he has worms, and that has been promptly resolved!) But I didn't want to write about how sucky it is--I simply wanted to tell you of a recent bump in the road I've encountered--a necessity in life. What makes it difficult is that, as a volunteer, my community and the board that manages the money for the health clinic (the Coges) are responsible for my living situations. So any problems I have that I need resolved comes out of the budget for the health clinic and sometimes out of the villagers pockets. That certainly makes it very difficult to demand repairs when one of the major problems in my community is lack of resources for medicine. And when my "necessities" like a bat free home are much higher than the necessities of the villageois.

In other, more exciting news, I have my first two presentations in French! Sure, my Coges members may have been 2 hours late to the meeting, and they may have demanded to leave when the clock read 12:08 (repo begins at 12:00 and lasts until 3:00), but I think they got the message, understand the participatory needs assessment activities I'd like to conduct with my village to get a broad, diverse idea of what the villagers think are some of the big health problems in the village, and I think (I hope!) they're excited to get started. This month should be busy--not with fending off bats (hopefully)--but with meeting with all different kinds of groups in my village to assess the problems in the community and potential, sustainable solutions to remedy these problems. I'd also really like to meet with groups that are interested in doing income generating activities and set up some groups of my own, start working with the school, etc. So unless a freakishly large, fearless, mutated breed of bat moves into my house, I doubt this month could go badly...It is beginning to get a bit toasty here (its 104 today and at night it only gets down to the 90s...) so sleeping will be difficult, with or without bats. So please feel grateful wearing your heavy coats and long underwear in your 0 degree weather!