The Truth About Larium...

I wrote this post on my personal blog, but the more I think about it, the more I think it belongs here.  If you are looking for an anti-malarial, make sure you know what you are getting yourself into.

Almost a year ago, I went into a doctor to be put on an anti-malarial medication before going to Ghana.  He insisted that I go on a drug called Larium (Mefloquine).  Having heard various horror stories associated with the drug, I questioned him and proposed the various less risky drugs (Doxycycline, etc).  Again he claimed that Larium was the better option.  I was not too convinced, but I went with it.

The side effects were almost immediate.  From the ridiculously long list of possible problems, I was subject to extremely vivid dreams, mood swings, thoughts about death, "bizarre behavior," and once, a hallucination.  Considering the rest of them, I lucked out.  

What I did not know?  That the drug is going to stick with me.  Sure I cannot give blood for 10 years, but will I have nightmares for the same amount of time?  Why didn't I know about this?

Confused by why I am still not sleeping without riding dinosaurs, hashing out failed relationships, fighting the Hindu goddess Kali, or escaping genocide, I decided to look up some reviews.  Here is a less than comforting list of some of the comments:

Do not take this drug. It is poison.

Read more at http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=19591&name=LARIAM&ktrack=kcplink

I took it in 1998 for a trip to South America. Started having sleepless nights, memory loss and getting terrifying hallucinations but didn't even consider it to be conneceted because I wasn't warned about any side effects by the doctor. Then developed depression and spent hours lying in a dark room feeling like killing myself. Was prescribed Prozac, but the doctor still didn't mention any connection to Larium. It wasn't until I mentioned to a friend who told me about Larium that I checked on the web and started ticking off the side effects that I realised what had happened. Larium nearly destroyed my marriage. If I owned a gun I would be dead by now. The serious side effects lasted at leats six or seven years but I still get the odd hallucination and my short term memory is still affected. DON'T TAKE IT. USE SOMETHING ELSE

Read more at http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=19591&name=LARIAM&ktrack=kcplink

No question it can help prevent malaria but it may also destroy your life. Roche Pharmacueticles updated the drug literature 4 times since I took this drug. Little too late.....

Inquiry Conference!

Hey Everyone!

I am presenting my project in Ghana at the BYU Inquiry Conference this Friday at 10 AM.  I am also participating in a panel discussion a bit later.  It would be great if you could come, especially to listen to our great key note speakers this year!

I also have two photographs in the art show.  There is a people's choice award that you should help me get by going and voting!  This is one of the pictures I submitted.  Hope to see many of you there!

Rachel

Kennedy Center Photo Contest

After my experience in Ghana, Africa this summer, knowing what I know now about the nature of photography and the problems it poses for authenticity I have mentioned earlier, sitting at the awards ceremony for the annual Kennedy Center Photo Contest for international study programs was an interesting experience.

These two pictures here earned me two honorable mentions. I was the only one who received two awards, which is fun.  However, looking through my thousands of other pictures, I can't help but wonder why these? I had probably 50 "really good pictures" to submit.  Looking at the other winners, I wonder again at how subjective their submissions were, and I never before questioned what it must be like to be a judge for one of these things. I am not sure I could do it.  There is so much more that goes into a photograph than what we see in our two dimensional image. 

My Group as a Mediator

I think I have come to terms with one thing. This blog, and this making sense of my experience in Ghana process, will NEVER END!!!!!

I forgot a serious part of my experience in my conclusions on the authenticity of travel documentation. My group. My six obruni brothers and sisters. Without them, my experience would have been incredibly different. We all act and behave differently when we around around different people, and so much of my analysis of the day to day events were because I talked them over with Chase, or vented my frustrations with Maggie. Things also tend to be a lot more funny when someone is there to witness it. Pretty much everything you currently see on my blog would all be different if I would have set out for Ghana solo.

It helps that we all love each other. I still see them all on a weekly basis. No doubt they have been a positive influence on my field study, but I can't help but wonder how much more I would have immersed in the culture had I been alone. Maybe picked up more Twi? Made more friends? Won't know now, but it would have made for a different experience altogether.

So What?

And we come back to that question of authenticity....

There is a proverb in Ghana that says, “one should not believe all stories narrated by a solitary traveler.”  Considering biased, inaccurate travel memoirs such as Henry Morton Stanley’s Through The Dark Continent and many others who have contributed to poor representations of the “cultural other,” I could not agree more.  However, I do think that the one traveler in our proverb has the capacity to narrate several different stories, and I think my experience is an example of how that could be possible.


Clifford Geertz is well known for his idea of “thick description,” the concept that having several layered meanings and interpretation is what gives ethnography a dimensional richness.  There is a concept in film that Professor Benjamin Unguren spoke on at the 2010 BYU Inquiry Conference called the “iterative film.”  By showing a film, and then filming the reactions of the subjects watching a film about themselves, you are essentially able to give your representation more dimension.  Can we not do this in writing by integrating other mediums and viewpoints?  Maybe I am harsh on Stanley, given that his one medium and viewpoint was much more limited than what we currently have access to, but is it not time that we take advantage of these new opportunities to enhance our own experiences and refine our limited portrayals of it?

While we must understand how fragile the nature of experience is (which is evident based on how different my experience could be depending on the avatar and medium I chose), recognizing that we can get a more accurate representation when we combine a few different viewpoints and mediums could be beneficial as we continue to undergo the process of writing creative nonfiction, and travel writing in particular.  Of course we can never have a completely authentic telling of an experience, but by adding more dimension to our representations this approach might get us one step closer.

Conclusion on Mediums

Not only was the avatar, or perspective I chose to see my experience in, important to my project on the authenticity of experience in Ghana, but the mediums I chose to record it in.  The avatar and the medium were equally responsible for the representation I came up with.  After my experience, I think that there are certain avatars that work better with certain mediums.  If you are someone who relates to one more than another, then considering those recommended mediums could be beneficial.

First, for all students or travelers interested in going out into the field I recommend a jotting notebook and a diary.  A jotting notebook because our memories are just too fragile, and you can lose important information as well as a viable medium, and a diary because there will always be something you want to express that isn't field note appropriate.  

Ava- The Romantic Anthropologist- This avatar was the student avatar.  Having an academic approach with course contracts, books, etc for this experience was great for me, but I realize that might not be for everyone.  I felt like I got more out of it having had that mindset.  To me, it did not feel forced, and it helped me stay positive when dealing with culture shock and some of the other things that come with integrating into a new community.  If you are someone who relates to her, I found that typed field notes were better than handwritten field notes.  I had a lot more notes when I was using a computer. 

My Physical Body as a Medium

Another important medium that I did not consider as it relates to my experience in Ghana was physically.  What is the difference between going to Ghana and getting Malaria or just traveling to Ghana through books or Google?  Edward Casey in his book Getting Back Into Place makes a really good argument for the importance of the body and it's relationship to place, and where the mind fits into that whole deal.  Others such as Michel Foucault have also made comments on the subject, and for this reason I think it is a viable medium to comment on. 

Hygiene- Bucket showers were frequent, and sometimes if the well was broken or the power was off, having enough water to wash the dishes seemed more important than that shower or laundry.  We could not drink the water unless we were cooking and boiled it first.  All of our water for brushing our teeth and drinking came from little 2 cup sachets.  It was a real pain when we ran out of them.  We would have to walk clear up the hill and carry the bag back on our heads, which I never quite mastered.  The locals who could not afford sachets so readily went to the well frequently.

Hair-  And just for fun, getting your hair done in Ghana is a huge deal.  Sometimes I would really confuse me because women could change their hair so drastically and I would have trouble recognizing people.  Of course I had to see what this was all about.  I got my hair braided twice while I was there.  It took about three hours with four ladies helping me.  It hurt like crazy getting it in, and the picture I included in this post shows them melting the nylon hair together to seal it all up.

Sickness- Getting sick in Ghana tends to be an experience to remember.  Luckily for me I escaped anything serious, but of course there are the occasional days where you could swear you have a parasite.  Changing your diet so drastically and getting used to a new environment takes a tole on your body.  I also had to take antimalarial medicine called Larium that gave me the most crazy, lucid dreams imaginable, not to mention a serious hormone imbalance.