allergies

I feel like someone turned on a water hose inside my nose...I'm allergic to something around here, not sure what yet, probably won't ever know. I thought maybe it was the new bed, but luckily I don't think that's it...but I've been sneezing like a banchee (although I do love to sneeze - has a wonderful cleansing feeling to it, at least for the first few seconds just after), and my nose has been running constantly. I had this happen a year or two ago back in St. Louis. I would be standing at a patient's bedside at work and have to tip my head back and cover my nose and make the universal sign for "wait a minute" (holding up one index finger) and run out to the nurses' station to find some kleenex (which were invariably the texture of a paper towel, so I started bringing my own box of Puff's Plus with Aloe to put in the conference room for such moments as these). It's not a good situation when your child's nurse has got to go off and blow her nose before she can return to the room. Not really the picture of cleanliness/hygiene/health :) But it's not like the kid is going to catch my allergies from me, but you can't very well explain that to them convincingly. Anyways...It was much like that today down at the health center. But TIA. Things are a little bit different here...
1. I don't know that people (Ugandans) have allergies here...they sure don't get treated for them that's for sure.
2. This is a culture in which no one has kleenex. Maybe they have a handkerchief or a piece of kitenge they use instead but mostly they just wipe/blow their noses and their kids' noses in their kitengi which is wrapped around their waist as a skirt of sorts. It's the same piece of fabric that their kids pee/poop on when they're sitting naked on their mom's laps, it's the same piece of fabric that they often hand to me to wrap their 10 cups of beans in because they forgot the bag we gave them to carry their beans home in...a very versatile piece of fabric indeed.