Hi, family and friends. Let me just take a moment and say: THANK YOU. Thank you so much for reading this blog. I am highly honored that you would spend your time keeping up with me and learning with me (or watching me learn what you already know :) from life). Thank you for not forgetting me despite the fact that I am halfway across the world and not daily present in your lives. I definitely haven’t forgotten about you all and miss you very much!
Now for the events of the day:
• A language lesson. With my roommate and another girl in beginner language, I attended a lesson. Learning a new language is FASCINATING to me. And, it is essential for people who move overseas into a whole new world. To live effective (and not lonely!) lives, it’s important to at least attempt the native tongue. Many different language programs are available so it was good to get a glimpse into one of these programs. The language program the people here use teaches language for the students in almost the same way that you would get a baby to learn a language. First, the students focus on listening and recognition by pointing to objects and then speaking the language comes further down the road. Yes, all pretty fascinating to me.
• Lunch at my friend’s house. I like her a lot and have been so blessed to get to spend so much time with her.
• The Fistula Foundation’s Hospital. My friend, several others and I drove to the Fistula Hospital for a tour. One woman here has been investing in the women at the hospital for awhile and was going to share her experiences with us as we all took an official tour. First of all, I will explain what the hospital is about since I had no clue before my friend told me! Some women experience an injury during childbirth (if labor lasts too long, etc.) that tears a woman, causing incontinence. It is so sad to think about because these women are most likely greatly anticipating the birth of their child and then they have to deal with all of these medical problems in the mix. And because of it, many women are looked down on, embarrassed or rejected by the ones they love. Well, the hospital does hundreds of surgeries a year, most of which make the women completely fine. (Some women require multiple surgeries and unfortunately, some women will always have problems because the tear was too bad or because they have waited too long for the surgery.) I didn’t know it, but this can be a common problem, especially in areas where C-sections are not available. So, we toured the hospital grounds... which were like a resort. It was very nice and beautiful everywhere you walked. The women are given opportunities to do crafts and other trades with their hands so that they can be productive and continue somewhat normal lives. It was amazing to see everything that they thought of in the process of making this a great hospital for so many women. The most amazing part of it all is that the hospital is providing FREE care for all of these women. (Through donations and other sources of money, the hospital is able to do this.) I was so thankful to get to see this incredible place and all that is happening through it.
• Adventure part of the day. It’s important to have a little adventure in every day, I guess... so this was my adventure today: my friend and I were running SHORT on cash (Visa doesn’t count for much around here) and had told two new girls who had just arrived to the city, that we would bring dinner for them. We had planned to eat with them but learned that we didn’t have the money to buy carryout for the four of us. So, we used almost all of our money and got them both a meal, took it back to their place and found ourselves almost out of gas and definitely hungry when we left them. So... we rummaged and found 5 birr (NOT MUCH at all). We took it into a supermarket and bought fake Cheetoe’s (You know it is bad when the ingredients list includes “edible oil.” It just makes you wonder why on a food label it was necessary to mention that the ingredients are edible.) and two packs of sandwich cookies... like fake Oreo’s. While this isn’t much of an exciting story, it was definitely a great memory for my friend and me.
• 2000 Millennium Restaurant. It’s true. (Remember: they just had their millennium two years ago.) And what an exciting restaurant it was! After driving back to my friend’s, I rode with a group to a cultural restaurant that is said to feature dancing from all different African people groups. Well, seven of us got to experience the magic. We ate a traditional meal with shiro, injera (both of which I am used to now) and watched cultural dancing. I can’t describe the cultural dancing with words. You’ll just have to trust me when I tell you: it was quite the experience (and probably should have been rated like movies).
• A side note: people will do anything to get money here. This includes prostitution, which makes me so sad for the young girls involved in selling their services to make money for their family. At the restaurant, we saw a young girl and an older man and it was obvious that the young girl was being paid. Things like this here are hard for me to see and think about.
• To get home, we had one truck (that seated two, maybe three people). There were eight of us, remember? So, two found their own way home, the truck took three people home and I was left to catch a ride with two other girls in the house. Well, it was dark. We knew that we probably would have been fine catching a minibus since we were in a group, so we waited on a corner trying to get home in the most legitimate-looking vehicle possible. :) LOTS of taxis pulled over (and random NON-taxi cars) asking if we needed a ride. We kept saying we were waiting on a minibus. Then, I told my friend that if she could get a taxi for 3 birr that we would take it. She began asking and immediately got taken up on our offer. Let me just say: it should be IMPOSSIBLE to get a ride in a taxi for 3 birr. That is WAY cheap. So, I refused the offer on behalf of the three of us and our friend’s truck came back to get us... a safe and free ride home :). The moral of this story: I do have a sense of taking care of myself and there is a point that I step in and say something is too crazy, even though I am traveling all over Africa by myself. I tell you this so you can rest easy, concerned adults. :)
Thank you for your prayers and thoughts and support!
Laura
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