Ouch!

I hope everyone had a pleasant weekend and a brilliant Monday! I don’t know why so many people complain about Mondays, they are the start of great things to come for the week!

If you didn't read the post, “Be out in 24 Hours or Else”, you won’t know where I’m coming from, because it’s the continuation of my journey.  Nope, I’m not refreshing anyone’s memory or doing a review, we’re going to move forward cause that’s what time and life does.

Life swung into overdrive again in the midst of the chaos!  I was working at the university full time, directing and managing my organization, looking for a place to live with only a few days remaining on my contact, when lo and behold Miss Black America comes to The Gambia. I’m not talking about the female that holds the title, but the pageant itself! Yep, for some reason or the other the 20^th Edition of the Miss Black USA Beauty Pageant was held in Gambia in 2007 and because I worked at the university in the “International Affairs Office”, it became part of my assignment to assist and work on various committees.   Phew, can a sister get a break!? Wow, cry babies most of them. I've never seen anything like it before. Bourgeois, I prefer to say boogie!

Working with theses sisters and their families was a trip! They’d pout of the bottled water wasn't the right temperature while all I could think about was getting a moment so I could go look at another apartment or house to rent. They were escorted around by the government like queens!  By the time the pageant and it festivities were finished I had moved into my new home. I felt like I could finally breathe, maybe take a day off and catch myself, Ha!

I had noticed that I was having pain in my right hip more frequently than usual.  Every now and then I would get residual pain there since the injury and surgeries from the car accident when I was fifteen, but this was different. It didn't subside with the usual Ibuprofen or Acetaminophen.  I thought that maybe since I had become so sedentary that I could start going for long walks on my lunch break to get some exercise that it would improve, but to no avail. I tried to shake it off, pray it away and ignore it, but it was there, this horrible pain. The teaching hospital here is connected to the university so I had a talk with the registrar and he referred me to an orthopedist. At that time, still could be Cubans were teachers and many contracted at teaching hospital so I was pretty confident they’d be able to detect what was going on.

Boom, right hip joint deteriorating! I was prescribed physical therapy (PT), vitamin B12 injections and Ibuprofen. The PT I didn't mind at all because I needed to move my body, but the massage part, oooooohhh weeeeeee, uh uh no! Listen people, standing directly over someone and leaning, pressing on them with all your weight and might is not a massage! I want to say that again in case it got missed because many people here are giving massages like that! Please, the therapist would do just that after putting some infer red heat to the area. Oh my goodness, needless to say I didn't keep going to PT. It actually got worse after that and I bean to limp badly I was in so much pain, but I kept moving. I had to. I needed to get back to the states. I needed to get back to take care of my business, the business of me taking care of me and I wanted to get back to my Mother. She had been calling me asking me to come see her.

My appointment at the university was for six months and it was time for my renewal. I had no reason not to think my contract would be renewed. My work was good and I was getting great reviews and feedback. It wasn't  no renewal. I asked how did they reach their decision and I was told that complaints had been raised about my position or the position I was sitting in. Policy stated that only a qualified Gambian should hold administrative post. I reminded them that the vice chancellor was from Norway! Whatever, I got my toys and went home! To this day only Gambians work in administration, even the vice chancellor had to go.

What am I going to do now? I was dong my best not to feel sorry for myself, but to be still and listen. I was kind of eerily peaceful. I just knew GOD had m cradled in HIS arms. I didn't want to fight the air! You know that’s just spinning around, going here and there, up and down looking for an answer that’s not any place where you can find it. I was living from paycheck to paycheck so saving was almost out of the question and besides whatever I could save I needed to use for my ticket and rent would be due again soon. I starting having an inkling, that thing that touches you on the inside trying to tell you something you don’t want to hear. All I know is that I began to feel like I was being tried like Job. Not only felt it, but heard it. But when I heard it, it was like a gentle whisper so I wasn't afraid.

I don’t know why I did, but I did keep a couple of canes from the container of goods that INTBN had helped donate, but I was sure glad I did. I couldn't walk without one. It was horrible, the pain. I’d rather give birth than endure that kind of pain and loss of mobility. People count your blessings! It kept coming that inkling, that premonition and then one Thursday night or early Friday Morning I had the most vivid and beautiful dream I've ever had. It wasn't even like a dream; it was like I was standing there in the midst of what was going on, I could touch it!

Hold on, it's getting deep! Back on Wednesday!