Safe under my mosquito net

Here I am in Jijiga, camping out in the evening under my mosquito net, trying to update my diary. I have still to see a mosquito anywhere, but better safe than sorry. My malaria pill are giving me nausea and I'm tempted not to take them, but it's only day two and who knows.

The only winged creature here (birds excluded) seems to be flies, they're everywhere in our workshop facility. The local women, be they muslim or other faiths, are covered from top to toe almost in colourful dresses with long pieces of cloth wrapping over their head and covering the rest of their body like a shawl. Hands are almost never visible unless we're eating, greeting or swatting flies, and even the latter seems best accomplished with the material draping over their hands. It seems a useful way to keeping the sun and flies off your body.

But back to mosquitos, I suppose I should wait to see the mosquito situation in Dire Dawa before I make any decision regarding the malaria pills. The literature says that mosquitos are mostly active at night, so perhaps it's enough to just sleep under a mosquito net and avoid the nausea and photosensitivity.

I'll finally be going home to Dire Dawa at the end of this week. If we finish up our meetings early (with at least 3.5 hours of sunshine left in the day) I'll drive back Friday afternoon and get settled in. Otherwise, we'll have to wait until Saturday morning to drive. I suppose an extra night in Jijiga doesn't make a big difference, but I'm also looking forward to making my "home" in Dire Dawa, unpacking my bags and hanging a few photos.

Now, hopefully blogger will cooperate and let me post this...