Of Rats and Women

It's lateish on this Friday night, and I should be thinking of finding my sleeping spot. But I am dreading the moment right before I drift into neverland and the stampede of elephants overhead begins! Yes, folks, I have rats in my walls and ceiling. I don't know if it's true or not, but my furry little enemies seem to be of the nocturnal tendency. Right before I slip into blissful oblivion, they start crawling, scampering, and scratching their way through the wall RIGHT BESIDE my head. UGH!
But, never fear. I've never been particularly scared of bugs and small furry creatures. I killed Mr. Mouse, right? (See prior posts if you don't believe me. Were I cool and talented and not tired right now, I might even add a link right here). I could, however, use some suggestions here. Do I use the sticky stuff, then deal with live squirmy ROUS-sized creatures? Or find some coumadin and let them die scattered in heaps around the attic? Or borrow the neighbor's cat and put him up there for a couple of days? The first problem is, of course, the fact that there is no way that short me can even get INTO the 1 foot hole leading into the attic! Chairs, cabinets, the stove--it's just not sufficient!
Maybe the fleas in the bed are raining down from the rats in the attic . . .

Snapshots

This is a random collection of photos taken over the past several months. At the moment, I can't even get the rest of them to upload, so I am not sure if this is ever going to make it into an actual post! There's not a theme or particular reason for most of these, but perhaps they will give you another glimpse into "my world" here!

View from a big hill overlooking one of the many volcano lakes in the country

In the country about an hour outside of Addis

I thought this was SO cool. Separating the chaff from the grain. Every time I look at this photo, I think again of the One we serve and the work He is about.

Taken at a June medical clinic--from left: Eyob, Tim, and Danny

With my dear friend Laura at one of the June medical clinics

A candid photo of Heilemy at one of the June medical clinics; she's in some other pics as well

Robs, I need you to come empty this!! I think I reached the limit of how much you can ACTUALLY put in the dishdrainer!!

One Sunday awhile back I went with a friend to visit her family in a town about an hour from Addis. We went the last little stretch by this mode of transport (it's a smaller town and they use horses instead of taxis for "public transport")

Took this out the window on the bus ride back to Addis that same day. So amazingly green!

This is one of the oldest support groups in the project--they are a wonderful group! Anyway, on this day they were taking advantage of the sunshine and decided to meet outside.

Deborah! My sweet baby:) Her mom's got her arm, but she was spending time in the office showing us her little steps and giving out slobbery kisses!

Betty (a fellow staff member) and Deborah

I stood on tiptoes on my porch to try to capture the sunset!

Verdict?

Well, the jury hasn't been unanimous in the great ugly blog debate! My friend AnnaLauren just revamped her blog, but I'm afraid if I did that, I would totally mess everything up and would never, ever find the lost remnants in cyberspace. I'm not exactly computer savvy--if it weren't for another friend, Caroline, I would never have had a clue how to even change colors on here. HTML?? What's that?! And how come they think people like me can figure it out on our own? Who are they anyway?
Thanks for the input, readers, and if you have more to share, feel free. For now I'll keep the questionable colors and one day perhaps I will wake up and be bold and daring and say, "Today is the day I will change the blog!"

Rain on the Brain

I don't like Saturdays here very much. Particularly the grey, rainy ones. They always tend to yield these pockets of time that quickly spiral from contemplation to introspection to loneliness to self-pity, which is an asinine position from which to view myself, especially living in a place like this! Oh, how ugly it can be to really see oneself! Today I wanted the comfort of warmth, home friends, my car, a phone with quick (and cheap!) access to a welcome voice on the other end, diet coke . . . it's always something:) And in my more level headed moments, I see all of this for what it is: sweet blessings given for seasons by a Father who cares more about my soul than how warm my toes are, but yet is caring enough to usually allow the toes to be warm. I really, really hate cold toes.
But, happy thought! I just made some oatmeal-raisen cookies. Now if I just had a glass of ice-cold skim milk . . .

Opinions Needed

I have to ask. Is my blog ugly?
On my computer screen, it shows up as this dusky green and a mellow brown, and I like the combination. But the other day I was using another computer, and it came up as this ghastly combination that looked like a 70's era bathroom gone bad! So it's time to make your opinion known--if you've been thinking for months, "Does Sara actually like this??!!" then now is the time to tell.
And perhaps I'll snag some of you who read this and never make your presence known. I know you are out there!! :)

Happy New Year's!

It's 1999!! Yea!
So today is New Year's Day here, and it really is 1999 as of 6:00. Well, that would be midnight our time. And today is the first day of the month, not the 11th. Would you like to be more confused?
It's the biggest holiday of the year, and the past few days there's been an air of excitement much like the pre-Christmas spirit we have. Minus all the commercialism and malls and fake Santas standing around.
But you know? Some things don't change no matter what culture you are in. They will celebrate today with family, yes, but mostly by . . . eating! There will be "doro wat" (chicken "stew"), bueg wat (sheep), and of course all the normal wats, like lentils, chickpeas, cabbage, beef, potatoes, and spinach. MMMM. Last night I went out back to my landlord's for a few minutes to join the New Year's Eve celebration of burning special wood and shooting up a few fireworks. In the corner of their little yard adjoining mine sat their sheep, peaceful and content, little knowing . . . . well, I won't go there!! In another part of the city, the Sheraton put on this enourmous fireworks display at midnight. I, however, was gloriously asleep at that point! I did think back to all the times we've kept the neighbors up on New Year's Eve and July 4 by our fireworks and sparkler bombs. Ok, that wasn't me making the bombs. You know who you are:) There was much shouting, singing, chanting, and generally excited noise through the night--until the monster rain came, at least.
It is a odd to see the celebration here, yet know that it is such a somber day in America and so many other places. My worlds are split right now--but I hope to find the balance between sharing in the joy here today and remembering the sorrow there.
May your day be peaceful.

Izote

This afternoon another staff member and I set out to visit a new beneficiary whom we had heard was sick and had sent some medicine to yesterday afternoon. We anticipated a short check-up visit, maybe a chance to encourage her a bit. When we stepped down into the painted mud-walled home we immediately realized the situation was much worse than we thought. She was curled in her bed, moaning and furtively glancing helplessly around. When we tried to ask her some questions, she couldn’t even focus but instead seemed to be staring far beyond us. She was acutely dehydrated, and had no family or friends to care for her. Apparently she’d been in bed for about 5 days and hadn’t had any food or much water. I held her hand, checked her pulse, counted her breaths—all the while holding mine as I prayed that we would be able to do more for this precious one than just hold her hand. She kept moaning, alternately grabbing us and pushing us away. We knew she needed to go to the hospital, but you can’t take someone without having family or someone to stay with them. So we called all the neighbor women in. Within a few minutes, the little one-room house was filled with old women whose lives are filled with their own struggles. After much discussion, one sturdy woman said she could come to the hospital at 7 tonight. So we sent someone out to get a taxi to come as close as possible. Then we awkwardly pulled her out of bed, tugged her wet dress down to cover her legs, and slowly lurched out the door, along the rock-imbedded path, down an alley to the waiting taxi. Three of us squeezed into the car with her and headed to the main government hospital. As we sped along, I was facing the back window, helping to support her body with mine—all the while thinking, “This is the craziest ‘ambulance’ ride I’ll probably ever have”. When we arrived at the emergency department, we got a stretcher and again clumsily shifted her onto it. As we rolled into the dimly lit hospital entryway, we sighed in relief to see a nursing friend of ours standing there. Had it not been for her, we wouldn’t have made it past that entryway regardless of how sick our patient was. Eventually we were allowed a spot along the hallway wall, so we wheeled her in between people, stretchers, patients, IV bags, infusing blood, and medical staff. I stood there with my hand supporting her head on the pillow-less stretcher, wanting to give her the help she needed yet feeling as though my hands were tied by so many things. All the while, she continued to moan and look up with unfocused eyes, clutching me at times and breathing rapidly. Ever so slightly she turned her head into my gloved hand and it seemed as though she gave me the slightest kiss. My heart heaved.
All I could do, all I could say even as I prayed this whole time was “Izote, Izote”.
Be strong, be courageous, press on.