Farenji Christmas

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. ; )