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On Guard Against Giardia |
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by Kelly WesthoffStanding in line, Michelle and I prayed we’d chosen a good pharmacy. The white tiled floors had been freshly mopped, customers were being helped at each service window, and most important, every employee sat behind a computer. It was the computers that had drawn us in, made us choose this pharmacy over others we’d passed. If the workers could use computers, they had to be literate, right? This was our hope at least. Realistically, in Guatemala where the literacy rate was 65 percent, this was something to think about. |
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The wall to my left was covered with posters suggesting various ways to prevent disease. Bold drawings accompanied each tip, anyone literate or illiterate could understand. Most of the tips had to do with washing your hands: after going to the bathroom, after changing a baby’s diaper, after contact with animals, before touching food. Michelle and I were certain we’d kept clean. As a precaution, we’d tucked packets of wet wipes and bottles of hand sanitizer into pockets and bags. Still, we’d gotten sick.
Both
seasoned travelers, Michelle and I had met four years earlier in Peru.
It was June and we were both on summer break from teaching middle school.
She lived in New York, I lived in Minneapolis, but e-mail kept us connected.
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