This past week I finally delved into the Ethiopian Postal system... a post office opened up right across from our office so I sent a trial run of 5 cards.... if they get there let me know. There was a bit of confusion.. Where is Canada? Is it in the US?  It will cost 9 birr to send... but it is hard to make the stamps add up to 9... I said I could afford the extra 1 Birr($ 0.06)it was okay if I had to pay 10 birr($0.66) If these reach their final destination  I would love to post more so if you send me your address by email (mel_w@mail.com) a post card may be headed your way

 Nicole and I spend a few hours each day last week sorting the donation room.  At some point over 1/2 container worth of supplies had been offloaded into a room ( the other half is still in the container)... no organization.. you could not see the floor.  We opened up each box (each would have very random offerings) and sorted according to surgical specialty(ortho, gyne, urology ect) and other categories such as active physio, homecare and rehab.  It was a bit of an eye opener to 1st world giving.  From working in a hospital I am pretty familiar to the boxes labeled "for a 3rd world country", - you put stuff that is expired, things you don't need ect in it.  But the reality is that most of that stuff is no more useful here then at home..  Meds expire for a reason, past a certain time you can not ethically use them as their efficacy is impacted, boxes of IV tubing do no good without the matching IV cannulas which they fit into, bair hugger blankets do no good without the accompanying machine.  Also a large portion of the donations I think were from a rehab shop going out of business... thank you for the crutches and wheelchairs and ankle braces but I think we would be been okay without the ice crampons for canes, the 3000 pairs of compression stockings, and the SAD lights.   A lot of these donations are not anything that I have not wanted to give at some point as well and I think really drove home the point for me of point of care donation screening, researching local needs, and the need to try find local sourcing for items.

 We also discovered a great bin of kids stuff... this will get donated to the kids souk at Hope for Korah where they earn points by doing completing tutoring ect and then can spend their points on things in the souk.  I have yet to figure out what we will do with the Cotton Candy Machine and bouncy castle that were also in the bin......

 Nicole and I taking a break from the paperwork and sorting to cut plastic aprons(for the OR, housecleaners, morgue) out of the king sized plastic mattress covers that we found.

 

Highlight of this past week was a visit from a good friend.  Marissa has been working along side the Nile in rebel held territory in South Sudan for the past few months. On her way home she had to fly through Addis and so added a few days to her layover.  As she has been living in the desert for the past months I thought a trip out of the city to the lush countryside would be a good treat. Having worked Mon-Friday for the past two months (that's hard for a shift work girl!!) I took Friday off and we headed to Debra Ziet.  We minibused the 1 hour back road trip there and then took a Bajaj (TukTuk) the last 8kms.  

 

 We stayed the Lakeview Lodge on Lake Babagoya-

 

 

This is a great place... we were the only guests (benefit of sneaking in a trip before rainy season).  This great hut on stilts was our room.. The first floor has chairs and a table and then you climb another ladder to the bedroom.  in the bottom right you will see one of the resident tortoises

 

They had kayaks there and Marisa and I popped our bags in our room and headed out right away.  While we were out the wind came up. the clouds turned a little black and thunder sounded in the distance.  We paddled through the white caps and made it back to shore just as the clouds opened up.  We jumped in the lake and had one of the best swims of my life.  the drops of rain were so huge and coming down so hard they bounced on the surface creating a mist that hovered about 6 inches from the water.

 

 The rain didn't last to long and we caught a minibus into town.  Once we got there tho the rain started up.. we ducked into a tent set up on the side of the road and enjoyed a cup of coffee with some locals before heading out to check out the local market.  Well Debra Ziet is not an uncommon day trip from Addis we were the only white people we saw all day.. as we walked through the market you could hear the chatter going ahead of us about the "forengys" that were in the market

 Certain parts were an absolute mud hole.  Marissa and I garnered more attention then usual as we slipped and slided through the vegetable section lots of gasps and laughter each time we almost fell

 Morning breakfast with a view

 Nicole came down from Addis saturday morning to join us and we did another gander through the market.  Saturday is Market Day so in addition to the regular market which as more permanent stalls on Saturdays people from all the surrounding countryside come and set up tarps with their wares to sell.  Each street has a theme.. grains, veges, goats ect

 We climbed a hill to the church to get a view over the city

 Swimming and more kayaking filled our relaxing afternoon..    I must say in Canada I have never had someone jump out of a boat to swim to my kayak for the sole purpose of talking to me and then attempting to get in my kayak with me.... Back home I look out  more for rogue seals that might come to close lol

 

 Sunday morning we joined the vegetables, goat and random people for the minibus ride back to Addis and Marissa continued on her journey home.  I feel like that between her work and mine our visits for the future will continue to be stolen days in countries far away from the ER where we met.  

 

Monday I went with one of the doctors to the SOS children village here in Addis. It is an orphanage with a family focus. Rather then a large home with many children. There is 20 "homes" on the compound each with 10 children, a house mom and aunt.  This was the children are raised more in a family structure. We are going to partner with them to provide annual health checkups, weekly clinics and health education for the house moms.  In their kindergarten there is a play house corner.. I though this doll doing a coffee ceremony was super cute.

 .  Was challenged by this quote a friend of mine had posted to be focused on my own purpose and pray to be used by God in the place where he has placed me. To be excited for the work He is doing through others and not compare and be discouraged by lack of progress.

"We wouldn't be distracted by comparison if we were captivated by purpose, Purpose is given and we choose to receive it by "living in a manner worthy of the calling we heave received" Purpose is that thing that lights you up, lights God up and gives light to the world.  (Audrey Roloff)