Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great Christmas with friends and family! Christmas was a little different for me this year. First of all, only the few farenji’s (foreigners) left here celebrated Christmas on December 25. Most of the Italian volunteers went home for the holidays. Ethiopian Christmas is on January 7th. The liturgical calendar, along with the date, time, and year are all different here. However, Abba Bugali was kind enough to have an “early” Christmas Mass for us. We did Midnight Mass at 8PM. All the foreigners came and many many locals too! The Sisters asked me to read the first reading, which I was so happy to do. Afterwards we had a feast at the Sisters’ house. There were about 20 of us, including the head doctors & their families. We all brought something, and (of course) I brought chocolate cake for dessert. Baking here has been very experimental due to the ingredients being very different from America and also with the metric system. After the meal, we picked names and everyone gave someone a gift that the Sisters had prepared. We all received a nice towel, a very essential gift.
Christmas was relaxing, as it should be. I took the day off from work, and I watched “Home Alone” and made sugar cookies for my co-workers. At 10AM is our bunna (coffee)/shai (tea) break, so I brought it to them then. However, I forgot that Eastern Orthodox Christians and some Catholics fast (eggs, butter, meat) on Wednesdays & Fridays. Opps! I need to learn what type of fasting desserts I can make.
Speaking of work, I switched to the Children Under 5 area a couple of weeks ago. It is an outpatient department where children are able to be diagnosed, get labs & medications, and be admitted to the hospital, if needed. Every child over 1.5 years & their parents are offered a free HIV test too. My main job is doing this test (which requires pricking a finger) and recording the results. Yay for finally doing something with HIV! I also help put in IV’s and give medications when a child is admitted. I really dislike putting IV’s in children as young as 1 week old, but this area will give me an opportunity to see the typical diseases in the area and to hopefully eventually be able to assess, diagnose, & treat children with these diseases. I have a lot to learn with just that, and then also the language and remembering pediatrics in general. However, the staff and the nursing students who are doing clinical are very nice and very willing to help me.
Outside of work, life is good & as always busy. I am still going to Mass and running every chance I get. Now I am also involved in a lay ministry. Dr. Gaetano, his wife Zama, Abba Bugali, and I meet every Thursday evening to discuss a spiritual book we read during the week. My favorite part is how diverse the group is. We are composed of an Italian, Tanzanian, Ethiopian, and American, and also a married couple, Religious, and single (lady).
Almost every day I eat lunch & dinner with my friend Francesca from Torino, who is working on her dissertation to be a Public Health MD. She is attempting to teach me Italian and to cook. Both are going slowly, but we have hope I will succeed. I am also staying busy with many trips to Addis lately and also accepting invitations from my local friends to visit their homes. Last weekend I went to one of my co-workers neice’s Baptism in Addis and I spent all day at her sister’s home to continue the celebration with a feast. Both were very lovely and her family is fantastic.
Life is very good, and I pray the Lord will continue to let me be His hands and that He will use me in ways I haven’t even dreamed of. Thank you for your letters and e-mails. I will do my best to write each one of you back. Sorry if there is a delay. I love you!
My favorite song over the last few weeks: “All I Want for Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey, dedicated to Mandie and the ladies of the Church Hall Penthouse Freshman year at UGA. ; )
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Friday, December 4, 2009
A Wonderful Thanksgiving!
Hello everyone! Although Ethiopians do not celebrate (American) Thanksgiving, this was definitely one of the best Thanksgiving weekends I’ve ever had. After working on the orthopedic ward in the morning, I then spent the rest of the day traveling from Wolisso to one of the Missionary of Charities homes on the outskirts of Addis Ababa. The following day I went to Mass with the Sisters and spent the morning & afternoon helping a volunteer from Barcelona (Rosa) feed malnourished children. We helped feed 20 babies up to 1 ½ years old that live in the clinic. Sadly some are unable to eat without vomiting, so I helped feed those children via nasogastric tubes. The majority of the time was spent feeding the 3 infants Rosa is responsible for. I fed one of the 1 ½ month old premature twins who weighs just under 3.5 pounds. My first time feeding a baby and this little guy was mine!
Later that afternoon I took 2 buses and a taxi to get to Marion’s house for a Thanksgiving dinner. One of the many great things that are great about Ethiopia is the large amount of organic vegetables. Marion, some of her coworkers, and I made a not so traditional (but amazing!) dinner of carrots, green beans, zucchini, okra, tomatoes, salad, garlic bread, mashed potatoes, and a delicious roast (no turkeys here) for dinner. Chef Marion did most of the cooking and I am amazed at her skills. She even brought canned pumpkin from America, so we got to have pumpkin pie and strawberries with cream (that we whipped for an hour) for dessert! Mmmm. Marion makes beautiful necklaces out of stones from Ethiopia that she sells at local bazaars, so the next day some of her friends and I helped complete necklaces she designed. This girl is severely talented! On Sunday at the main cathedral in Addis, they strangely had a 2 ½ hour long Thanksgiving Mass outside. What a glorious weekend!
Life at St. Luke’s has been very good. I am still working on the orthopedic ward. Slowly I am learning Amharic and the nurses now feel comfortable enough with me do dressing changes on my own (our main duty). Although I can’t say much to the patients, wound care has allowed me to be in close contact with them, which I love. My favorite is doing wound care on the children (ranging from age 4-15). They are so nice and I think they enjoy the attention I give them. One of my favorites is a so cute 5 year old boy who literally has his tibia sticking out of his lower leg. He still climbs around everywhere though! The only orthopedic surgeons we have are the ones that volunteer short term from Italy, and unfortunately we have not had one for the last week and a ½. I’m really looking forward to his poor little leg being fixed.
Sadly, a couple weeks ago when we were running, my dear running partner, Kiera fell and broke her wrist. She is in a cast for 40 days, so now I am running with Abba Bugali (St. Luke’s priest & chaplain) and a 27 year old Fantahun, whose name means “you may become a portion”. He is a friend of mine that works in the Ortho OR and he is a really good athlete. You will literally see him win Boston one day. I impressed him the first day we went running (for a foreigner, I’m sure), so eventually he wants to work me up to running up mountains…we’ll see.
Life here is certainly a learning experience, but one that I am learning to truly enjoy. Thank you for your support and love. It is essential and I’m grateful for it.
What I’m listening to now: Seven Stories Up
(Andy Rocker, my dear friend, thank you for helping me get pumped up in the morning while I’m getting ready to start my day. Oh, by the way, CONGRATULATIONS!)
Later that afternoon I took 2 buses and a taxi to get to Marion’s house for a Thanksgiving dinner. One of the many great things that are great about Ethiopia is the large amount of organic vegetables. Marion, some of her coworkers, and I made a not so traditional (but amazing!) dinner of carrots, green beans, zucchini, okra, tomatoes, salad, garlic bread, mashed potatoes, and a delicious roast (no turkeys here) for dinner. Chef Marion did most of the cooking and I am amazed at her skills. She even brought canned pumpkin from America, so we got to have pumpkin pie and strawberries with cream (that we whipped for an hour) for dessert! Mmmm. Marion makes beautiful necklaces out of stones from Ethiopia that she sells at local bazaars, so the next day some of her friends and I helped complete necklaces she designed. This girl is severely talented! On Sunday at the main cathedral in Addis, they strangely had a 2 ½ hour long Thanksgiving Mass outside. What a glorious weekend!
Life at St. Luke’s has been very good. I am still working on the orthopedic ward. Slowly I am learning Amharic and the nurses now feel comfortable enough with me do dressing changes on my own (our main duty). Although I can’t say much to the patients, wound care has allowed me to be in close contact with them, which I love. My favorite is doing wound care on the children (ranging from age 4-15). They are so nice and I think they enjoy the attention I give them. One of my favorites is a so cute 5 year old boy who literally has his tibia sticking out of his lower leg. He still climbs around everywhere though! The only orthopedic surgeons we have are the ones that volunteer short term from Italy, and unfortunately we have not had one for the last week and a ½. I’m really looking forward to his poor little leg being fixed.
Sadly, a couple weeks ago when we were running, my dear running partner, Kiera fell and broke her wrist. She is in a cast for 40 days, so now I am running with Abba Bugali (St. Luke’s priest & chaplain) and a 27 year old Fantahun, whose name means “you may become a portion”. He is a friend of mine that works in the Ortho OR and he is a really good athlete. You will literally see him win Boston one day. I impressed him the first day we went running (for a foreigner, I’m sure), so eventually he wants to work me up to running up mountains…we’ll see.
Life here is certainly a learning experience, but one that I am learning to truly enjoy. Thank you for your support and love. It is essential and I’m grateful for it.
What I’m listening to now: Seven Stories Up
(Andy Rocker, my dear friend, thank you for helping me get pumped up in the morning while I’m getting ready to start my day. Oh, by the way, CONGRATULATIONS!)
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