THE HEAT
People ask about the climate. West Africa has two climates, dry and hot, and, wet and hot. If the place where we stayed had no screens on the windows, the malaria mosquitoes would bite us. If there was no generator to power an air-conditioner or fan, and the electricity would go off, which it would often do, and for a long time, then the room would be like a sauna. It was common for our pillow and sheets to become saturated with perspiration, so I would lay towels beneath to keep from ruining the mattress and pillow. Sometimes, I would sit on the edge of my bed in middle of the night, and listen to the perspiration drop onto the towel. At times, the air would be so heavy with heat and humidity, that Joshua and I would force ourselves to breathe, not knowing really, whether we could take another breath. For about the last month, Joshua was afflicted with fevers, chills, headaches, body aches, weakness, dizziness, lack of appetite. There were times when I would be perspiring, and Joshua would be freezing, wrapped in blankets, including his head, because his body would be racked with chills from his sickness. At such a time we would worship, and pray, and ask each other if we should send Joshua home early. One night, in the middle of the night, the left side of my face became swollen, and numb, from what appeared to be an abscessed tooth. Because of the primitive dental conditions, I began trying to loosen the tooth, and even thought seriously of trying to operate on myself, to relieve the infection, all the while praying and hoping and praising and trusting. Suddenly, as quickly as the swelling came, it left, and did not come back. In the settling of the American Frontier, there were times that tall, strong gunfighter types, would die from infection spread through their bodies, from an abscessed tooth.