Lice, Lice, Baby

Has it really been over a month since my last blog post?! Yikes. As you can probably tell by the title of this post, I had the good fortune of contracting head lice here in Ecuador...winning! Before this nightmare began, I was blissfully unaware that head lice is actually quite common here. It all started during Girls Program when the mom of one of my girls came in during shower hour and began combing through her daughter's hair with a fine-toothed comb. When I asked her what was going on, the other girls began yelling "Piojos! Piojos!" I grabbed my phone and typed the word "Piojo" into Google Translate and sure enough...Lice. 

No one but me seemed remotely phased by the situation. In America, when someone gets lice, that student is banned from school for a week and every parent in their class gets an alarming letter sent home warning them to CHECK YOUR CHILDREN! Here, honestly no one cares. We continued on with our day and I made a mental note to keep a safe distance from this particular student. Fast forward two days later, we had some time to kill before library so I let a few of the girls braid my hair. Real smart, Kel. About halfway through the second braid I realized my horrible mistake. I turned to look who was playing with my hair and sure enough, ol' lice head was tying her rubber band around my braid and using her lice-filled brush to comb through my hair. NOOOOOOOOOO!

I immediately jumped up and sent a prayer to the hair gods that I would dodge a major lice-filled bullet but about 12 hours later my head started itching and I knew without a doubt that I now had lice. I walked into the doctor's office and tried not to cry as the nurse examined my scalp. As soon as she found one, she wrote down the name of a special shampoo and sent me on my way to the pharmacy. I was grateful the other volunteers were willing to cover my classes, probably because they didn't want to be anywhere near me, and I rode the bus 45 minutes to the mall where I bought myself some new combs and a special new shampoo.  

Just to prove how different we treat lice in the United States than they do here, the other volunteers wouldn't come near me and I was "jokingly" forced to sit at a separate table for dinner LIKE A LEPER! Thanks, a$$holes. I begrudgingly understood that no one else wanted to share in my misery so I didn't mind taking some extra precautions. The following day I asked Maria, one of our cooks, to please look through my hair and HELP MEEEE! She was so sweet and patient as she combed through my hair. I think she could tell that I was not-so-subtly freaking out because she kept telling me not to worry and reassuring me that lice were not a big deal. Easy for you to say, YOU DON'T HAVE BUGS IN YOUR HAIR! Madre Cindy walked by and let me know that it was safe/encouraged to keep going to class because "half the kids here have lice anyway so you don't have to worry about giving it to them." As sad as this is, it makes sense because most of these families don't have running water and their living conditions are less than ideal. 

After Maria finished combing through my hair, she washed all of my sheets and clothes in extra hot water and I deep-cleaned my room for the next two hours. The following week I diligently showered twice a day, changed my sheets every morning, and begged numerous people to please check my diseased head. Caitlin, a former volunteer, suggested I ask my Girls Program girls to check my scalp because they do it for each other and their tiny fingers are great at finding lice. She was right. Four days in I sat on the floor of the art room as three of my girls eagerly looked through my hair, seemingly elated that I was just like them. The sisterhood of the traveling lice. Caitlin reassured me that getting lice "is actually a compliment because that means the kids hug you and love on you enough to transfer it. Sucks to be popular ya know." Caitlin, my angel. 

I have been lice free for a few weeks now and I have definitely learned my lesson. Now that I've had it, I can recognize a child with lice from a mile away. It's like when you're in the market for a new apartment and suddenly, "for rent" signs become the only thing you see. I see kids casually itching their heads every day here but that doesn't mean I'm going to wear a bag over my head and refuse to give them hugs. I treat all of the kids the same, lice and all, and as with everything else here in Ecuador...lice.goes.on.