Photo Challenge Day 14

Hello again! This photo was taken four years ago when I helped out at a Christian-run kids camp in Ukraine. The camp was essentially part camp and part English language school. It was an amazing time, for the most part, but some things happened to make it a little bit more interesting than I was expecting! 

For one thing, possibly the thing that had the biggest impact on me all week was that unbeknownst to me, Ukrainian summers are really hot! To this day, "yes" and "hot" are the only words I can remember how to say in Ukrainian. Spending time in that kind of heat, but also playing games and running around in that heat, was a bit of a trigger for me. I had my brother there to look after me but I struggled in that heat (hence the ridiculous headgear!) I managed by finding shade wherever possible and keeping a cold water bottle on me at all times. 

Other than the ridonkulous heat though, one day all of us leaders went into town to see the sights. My epilepsy has always had a difficult relationship with spiral staircases, so when I was presented with one to climb a castle wall, it didn't cope very well. I got about 4 steps up and became so twitchy my brother had to help me back down to the bottom and he sat on a bench with me while everyone else looked around the castle. 

If you read day one of this photo challenge, you'll know that my epilepsy and gastroenteritis (tummy bugs) don't mix as it not only triggers seizures, it also makes things worse than a regular cluster would be. Most of the leaders got sick and we aren't really sure what caused it. I was one of the only 4 English-speaking leaders to not become ill and I am convinced that it is down to God's providence, as my getting ill would have been a whole lot more complicated especially due to the language barrier I would have faced trying to explain not only my seizures but also my medications etc. 

All of that being said, it was a fun week, I really enjoyed getting to know both the kids and the other leaders and I'm glad I experienced it, even if it was slightly more complicated in regards to my epilepsy than I initially thought it would be!