Sendafa

No pictures today. I don't have the patience.

I've been in Sendafa for the last three days and it has been simply wonderful. There has been a lot of construction since I have been there last, it's looking nice. Also, the HIV patients that we have been helping for about a year are all looking very healthy. It's amazing to see the difference in some of these people. I have probably told some of you this story before, so bear with me. There is a lady, her name is Busanesh, that we visited on the first trip last August. When I first met her she could barely even lift her arm to shake my hand, much less get out of bed or even roll over. When I saw her in January, she was sitting up, standing up, moving around, moving some furniture. She looked great and was very happy and gracious. When I saw her this time, she looked even better. You could tell that she was starting to gain weight again (she was very frail before) and she was all smiles. You could see in her eyes that she had gained a lot of strength. Seeing things like this is very encouraging to me. Sometimes I wonder if we are able to make much of an impact in a village that is in as sorry of a state as Sendafa, but then I remember people like her. I think we are currently helping about 70 HIV patients. This means doing blood testing for them to see how their CD4 levels are (google it, I don't know much about it). We also give the more poor ones food and soap. We give them emotional support, free medicine, rides to Addis Ababa if they need to go to the hospital. Our staff here is really amazing, they are such a blessing to us. They do this work all year long, without fail. The people in this village love them and they love the people. It is truly a beautiful thing.

I also saw some of the students who were in the English class I helped to teach last summer. They run up to me and say "Dan! Dan! How are you?", I reply "I'm good, how are you" "I'm fine". Then they just stand there staring/smiling. Ha. The kids here are simply wonderful, they are so kind and happy - even though they have nothing.

We have mostly finished preparing for the American team to come next week (about 30 people). So, tomorrow and Saturday we will rest. Sunday is when everyone arrives. We had to buy a carload full of medicine, bring it to the village clinic and also prepare the rooms for all of the doctors to come. I think that next week will be an awesome week. There are 2,400 patients registered to see the doctors, many of these people have never seen a doctor in their life or not for a very long time. The problems that these people face is unbelievable. It is so distant from the life we live in America. I hope that some of my pictures next week will help you to see this, though I think that it is the kind of thing that you need to see for yourself. The sights, sounds and smells of the life here are too hard to capture or put into words. Even the capital city, Addis Ababa, is a mess. The streets are mud, with rocks if you're lucky. Only the major roads are paved, and even they are full of potholes. Many people sleep on the streets, in corrugated tin sheds. The capital is much better than the rural areas, but is still a shock when you think about it being a capital city in 2007 (or 1999 according to the Ethiopian calendar).

Ok, it's time for me to rest a bit.
Denahun (or denahuni if you're a female).
It means, goodbye, be well.