Return to Langano

Coming back this time to Langano was not discouraging like last time was:  I felt refreshed by Addis and quite ready to be in my own house.  It is fun having our team together- we all ate spagetti in the dining room.

 

Today was the way I like it- off the compound, in the community.  Of our two kebele (townships), Dawe and Kalibo, I spent today mostly in Kalibo.  I met with the kebele leader this morning just to check in, and he continued to mention the food shortage situation and ask if SIM was going to help.  Gosh, food aid is so complicated, and the last thing I want to do is hurt the area with just a "handout" mentality, but then... I'm in the meeting... the people are hungry... will they die??  It is also hard to know the gravity of the situation:  seems like everyone says things like "this is worse than the famine in the 80's" but I know those can't be true.

 

Actually the whole point in going out was to give immunizations, but as it turns out some community health workers are giving vaccinations right across the road from our usual site- great!!  That's taken care of, the women are being provided with the opportunity but we don't have to be the ones doing it.  We ate lunch in Alem Bada then we went to visit a new pharmacy that opened.  I heard two new pharmacy/clinics have opened in Alem Bada, one was closed, but we went to see the other one.  Mohammed, the nurse running it, was very friendly, open about the fact that it is an illegal clinic, said he had applied at our clinic in the past, showed us around, showed us all the meds he distributes and told us the prices, and treated us to a soda!  I liked it, and I would love to take any staff education we do here, and duplicate it there!

 

I have quite a few home visit ideas/places I need to go, so that's my plan tomorrow since it is my regular home visit day.  Its hard to know how to focus and sometimes feels like I'm not "working" when I get up in the morning and head out to visit.

 

So, at the school where our second latrine was just finished (we also went to visit that today) we asked about when we could do an education session.  It is nice, however, instead of scheduling our own session, to choose a time when there is already an existing meeting.  He said a week from... Sunday!  Sunday is NOT an ideal day for me to be out, but it would be perfect to catch everyone together.  When do I stick to my day of rest because I want the rest, and when should I be willing to do things their way, not my way??  It would be a great chance to teach without the logistics of gathering people or wondering if they'll show up......

 

 

The week's news...

Monday and Tuesday were bad- I told Brian I have never been so tempted to impulsively say, "I quit this job as of right now!" as I was on those days!  Wednesday was better- I did remember that for so long I have wanted to be a missionary, and here I am- doing it.  I love this life and wouldn't choose anything else!

 

Thursday was Ethiopian Christmas and Brian came down on the motorcycle to pick me up.  After working in the clinic on three days that I had wished I was in Addis, it was a little bit sad to leave when the Langano church was getting a program ready, asking me if I was going to be there, etc.  I do love holidays with Ethiopians.  Brian came on his bike and I had made "Potatoes Anna" from the cooking light cookbook- it was a yummy breakfast on the veranda with him:  the potatoes and strawberry smoothies and the goat cheese, too!!  We've been really enjoying that.

 

We planned to leave Langano at 1 pm, but we got a flat on the way out which was a MAJOR delay!  We had to drive the tire in a car out to town (45 minutes each way) to get it patched and reinflated, then back to Langano to put the tire back on, then headed out to Addis around 4:30 pm!!  We had good talks on the way there about where to work:  Brian is so open to the farm idea, he's had more communication with Mike and it seems clear that they could very feasibly work together well.

It has been so fun to be with him.  I love riding on the back of his bike, and as we stop and have a drink and discuss things, we have so little tension between us right now- it is amazing and fun.  With all my frustrations and bad moods about Langano he has been just so nice and understand, asking questions, not wanting extra stress in marriage, great.  And when we talk about Bingham, he is just as concerned about how to not work 13 hour days as I am, like we share the same concerns instead of one and not the other.  I do love being with him, and I'm tired of leaving Addis without him!  At least that won't be for too much longer.