The latest e-mail from Allyson came in on Friday morning. And bless her heart, she has fleas. I’ll let her tell you the details:

When I arrived all the females who work in the feeding centers were complaining about fleas, and they warned me they would eventually get me and they were right.  They have feeding times, I think, and I think that they hop off of the people and the various animals that hang around the feeding centers, goats, scroungy dogs, the odd chicken.

At least she’s staying in a place where she can take a hot shower every day. Even after all her time in Darfur four years ago, she says, she was still unprepared to see the filthy living conditions that many people in Africa have to endure. “I still can’t believe they live in houses made of sticks and mud,” she writes.

So today, when you’re watching football on TV, look at the floors beneath you, the walls around you and the ceilings above you and be grateful. You are among the fortunate.

Not much else to report, but let’s send Allyson good wishes. Let’s hope that the Gods of Itching have mercy on her.