Meskal and all that

Last Sunday we celebrated Meskal.  It's a HUGE festival here and it was a lot of fun.  There's a big square down town where they erected a large wood structure and covered it with grass and flowers.  There were marching bands and all the priests, bishops and the pope of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church were gathered.  There was a lot of singing and some speaches in Amharic and even some evangelists in the crowd, who were VERY animated.  When the sun went down, they rode horses around the wood thing and then set it on fire and set off a bunch of fireworks and stuff.  There were TONS of people and everyone was happy and it was a lot of fun. They had shut down all the main roadways so everyone walked back to their parts of the city.  While we were walking there were groups of people dancing and singing.  People along the road had lit their own little fires, and as you walked the road was lit by the fires.  Definitely a rich cultural experience.  Even despite the crowds I never felt unsafe. People are very respectful here and it was a great time.
I've had the pleasure of sampling one of Ethiopia's largest exported resource...coffee.  I tell you, it's something else! I don't know how I'll ever go back! For all you coffee lovers out there, I hope you're jealous because honestly, you should be! ha ha  The taste is so full and rich.  There's a special ceremony they have of serving it to you too which is really neat.  We went to a fancy coffee shop one day to try it out, but have since discovered that this little shack closer to the compound makes it way better and with a lot more ceremony.  And really, at less than 25 cents a cup, Starbuck's can't hold a candle to this!
My work with the nurses is going well.  They are slowly learning.  Sometimes is hard to teach proper technique for a procedure when you're lacking important equipment like sterile gloves or saline.  Sister Martha Joan keeps challenging me clinically.  Yesterday she had me make up an insulin sliding scale for a diabetic patient who came in with a blood glucose reading that was so high our machine couldn't measure it.  Would have been nice to start and infusion, but that's NOT realistic here.  I'm learning a lot about Malaria treatments and the treatments of Typhus and Typhoid (didn't even know there was a difference before).
A lot of the people here suffer from HIV/AIDS. The testing here is almost as common as a CBC.  It blows my mind! Unfortunately, they often come when the disease is so advanced that there isn't much we can do but make them comfortable.  The people here are very superstitious and often come in with ash on their faces, fresh wounds or strange markings on their bodies from having visited traditional healers. The sisters say that they sometimes come in when they are first diagnosed, but then leave and seek out traditional healing, waiting till the disease is so advanced before coming back.  The mortality rate is high.  In a week, we have 8-12 people die.  It's nice to see how the sisters care for them in their last moments and how they are loved and prayed for.  But, it's frustrating at the same time, to know that earlier education and intervention could have prevented such a painful end, especially in some of the young people who come in.  
There's a wonderful surgeon here, Dr. Solomon who comes every Saturday and donates his services.  He is a GREAT guy and he speaks english well.  He sees patients all day on Saturday, not even taking a break for lunch or anything.  He let me lance a boil yesterday.  It was SO cool! He taught me a few things and is a great teacher.
I've taken on a serious battle this week.  One of the other volunteers went traveling and has since returned. Her bed is next to mine, and along with her wonderful travel stories, she also has gifted my bed with fleas.  The first couple of nights, I noticed a few bites, but nothing bad.  Then they really started to make themselves comfortable and my bites became too numerous to count.  I decided that I needed to take action.  I went to a nearby store that sells chemicals.  I have NO idea what I bought, but I looked for pictures of dead bugs and symbols of toxic substance.  I hung my sheets and blankets out on the line and sprayed them quite generously with the stuff I bought.  It rained that day, so I was without sheets for one night.  But I tell ya, it was worth it.  So far I think I'm flea free.  I have too many bites to really say what's new and what's old, but I'm confident that it has improved if not resolved.  Sometimes I still feel like there's things crawling on me, but I think it's psycological. I have since implemented a no go zone and have separated my bed from the others.  Thankfully there are only 4 women volunteers right now, so there's a bit more room.  It's amazing how much joy small victories like this can bring!
I've taken a few opportunities to have some great conversations with some of the workers and young kids that hang around the compound.  It's amazing to hear their stories.  Life here is very hard.  It's amazing to hear how they struggle for the simple things yet demonstrate such generosity. Even the young nurses that I'm working with.  We were talking about money the other day and it was quite eye opening to me.  They said that a nurse here would make 1100 birr a month.  That is someone who is educated, with three years of college.  BUT things are so expensive! Rent for a simple appartment with no running water is 600 birr.  You pay 10 birr for a shower. Meat is 60 birr/kg.  So, even if you make 1100 birr a month, it doesn't go very far! I can only imagine what people without an education make! The inequality of wealth distribution in our world is very evident here and it makes me sad.   It makes me ashamed to think of all the things I waste at home, and the ease of life that I enjoy in North America.  I am so grateful for an education and a good job.  But even things like regular meat at meals and running water are luxuries here.  These are things we deem 'necessities' back home.  My how my perspective is being broadenned!
Until next time!