Over the last two weeks we have been pretty busy.  We had a OBGYN come from Canada for 36 hours.. he was going to Egypt and stopped off to see the project. Since we are not ready for big gyne cases at the hospital I got him to come to Korah with us and see a bunch of the ladies there.  He did a home visit and saw 7 ladies in the clinic. 

 These poor goats are on there way to somewhere...

 Past week infection control and waste management have been my projects... Writing policy for it, figuring out what supplies are available, sourcing them and doing education to nurses, docs and housekeeping about it all. 

 Nicole hard at work in our office surrounded by my waste management supplies

 In Korah last week we had our first children's souk-  Rather then just handing out donations and toys to the kids they can earn points by doing things like coming to tutoring, good sportsmanship in soccer ect and then they can buy things in the souk with their points.

 Girls Day in the Youth Complex

 We went to a cultural restaurant for a friends birthday.  It was a ton of fun- at first we thought.. oh might be abit touristy but the majority of the patrons were middle class Ethiopians out for a fun night to.

 Good Friends Megan and Larry had me over last Sunday for dinner- spending some time with their kids... our tree climbing selfie didn't work so well so Josh took the phone in the tree and took his own selfie

 What do you wear when you need to quick grab something from the OR and there are no gowns.... a drape shawl of course..

 This past week definetly had some very hard days and some times of wondering exactly if what we are doing is making a difference at all. I was so encouraged by two things- one a good friend sent me a message encouraging me to read Joshua 1- the phrase- be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, no be dismayed, for the LOrd your God is with you wherever you go is repeated often and is such a comfort. Second- this is M. one of the ladies from Hope for Korah- we were able to get a surgery for her related to some complications from her HIV meds. She was so happy and so grateful even though I know she was in pain and has so much suffering in her life 

A super awesome part of this week was that lauren, a friend of Nicole who is working as a midwife in the south of Ethiopia was in Addis for a weeks vacation. She stayed with us and we laughed, chatted, prayed, cooked and played games together- (I won Catan two nights running- never happens at home)

 We also visited the Hamlin Fistula Hospital in Addis this past week. This is an internationally recognized hospital which does life changing surgeries for thousands of women each year who are suffering from the complications of obstructive labor. The story of the founders who came to Ethiopia in the 1950's to train midwives is super inspiring.  We were also able to form some connections with them as occasionally the ladies need other surgeries and we hope to be able to partner with them in the future.

As Lauren was heading back to the south on Monday, on Saturday we rented a van with a bunch of friends from church and set out about two hours north of the city to the Portuguese Bridge- a bridge allegedly built in the 1600's to cross a stream that turns into a waterfall into a huge gorge.  The stream right now was pretty little but in rainy season is a roaring river. The drive was gorgeous going through the countryside dotted with grass homes and fields of cows and goats.  We also saw some baboons!!

 Cactus!!! everywhere!!!

 The river that runs at the base of this canyon is 700meters from the top

 Locals crossing the bridge like they have for 100's of years

As we start the new week I am so thankful for the rest of the weekend- excursions to the countryside side and encouraging worship at church.  Pray for us this week as we try to get the final piece of our work visas approved.. this week there are three options- we will have our work permits and be good for the next year, only get our visas renewed for another month, or have to leave the country by Sunday. 

Last week was a lot of paperwork!!! A lot of research and deciding what works with our resources, population we are serving.   This was my face when I realized that my Monday morning was to be spent researching hospital morgues and developing policy and documents for our morgue (which we are currently modifying a container to be). 

Nicole pretty excited about our name on the side of a building

This is our favorite little shwarma place down the street for the hospital.. its open air.. pull up a stool at the counter and order.

We became friends with the guy at the stationary store down the street... here Nicole doing our laminating for signs for in the ORs

Nurses week was last week so we made an effort to make it special for our nurse.. We ordered in coffee most days. 

We have a housekeeper who technically also cooks breakfast and dinner for who all live in the house. But Nicole and I each make our own breakfasts... oatmeal and protein shakes.  Dinner we come home.. eyeball up what is on the stove for dinner and most days head out to our favorite vege stand and come home and make a stirfry.  The docs don't understand why we don't want beans for breakfast and usually say no to dinner when it is when unidentifiable meat (liver??.. random stuff just labelled meat) that has been on the stove all day .. But last week we started getting our baking on as well... my first batch of peanut butter cookies... They went over pretty well.

Thursday we headed out to Korah.. got some people set up with rehab equipment.. one with a walker and another lady who broker her leg.. got her set up with some crutches. 

 

Saturday Morning I headed out of the city. I had been privileged to be asked to join the Hope for Korah leadership Retreat.  We went out to Debra Ziet. Its a small city about 1 hour south of Addis.  We stayed in a place right on the crater lake which is the main attraction there.  It was a full two days full of workshops and learning but was so nice to be out of the polluted city, enjoy some nice views, and spend time with wonderful people who have such a heart of service. I also pulled out my camera for the first time since I have been here!!!

 

The view down toward the lake had me wishing for my kayak!!!

Where we got to stay... the stairs were killer but the gardens so gorgeous

The Gardens were full of lavender which smelled so amazing!!!



These gorgeous birds had amazing hanging nests

Sunday Morning I snuck out early for a sunrise walk on the country roads and along the lakeside "trail"

These little guys were out on their way to the pasture.  The little ones were maybe a day old!!

Ethiopia's sport is running.  This little group of boys were out for their Sunday Morning training runs with their dads.

 

The country side trail led to this cliff lined path that led back to the lake

These guys kept me company... and also were a little reassurance that there were no hyenas hiding in the caves... I figured if they were chilling eating grass there probably wasn't to much to be scared of

The lake from the other side. So gorgeous.. Still (not so quiet as the Sunday Morning Prayers broadcast from the Orthodox Churches echoed around the lake)

 

These lovelies spend their time working as the social workers for all the Hope For Korah Families

Group Photo- Local staff and part of a team here from Canada right now

We spent a Sunday Morning Studying from Romans 12- especially verse 2-3 "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God"   Studying together but also time spent in solitude thinking about what it means to be transformed.. how that has happened in our lives but also how we want that to look like in this year ahead and for the years to come.  A big one for me was being transformed and doing and serving in the place where Jesus wants me to be- balancing that with the selfishness that is "what I want".  And then also looking further into Romans and seeing how God blesses us with gifts and calls us to serve in those areas for His Glory.

It was an amazing two days.  Was a bit sad on the drive back to the city.   This week though is going well... updates next week on that.  In the mean time.. I am endeavoring to figure out the postal system here as well.  I love the comments and emails sent to me but if anyone  like Branson who is drawing me pictures wants to actually mail something it can be sent to
 Samrawit Lijalem  P.O Box 7206 Addis Ababa Ethiopia