#7 Merry Christmas

On Christmas Eve Alemu, Israel and I went over to Philipa’s house and spent the night. We went to the store so I could buy more stocking stuffers and Corn Flakes for Philipa’s kids – they get to eat Corn Flakes twice a week so I bought them each their own box. Dinner was so good…we had pasta in a homemade alfredo sauce. Hannah, who is twelve, helped me wrap presents until it was her bed time. We checked the movies I had gotten for her brothers. One worked the other didn’t. So we checked some other movies that I had gotten…finally one worked. I wrapped all the gifts and then put the boy’s stocking at the foot of the bed with nametags beside. They woke me up at 7:15am saying, “Merry Christmas!” I asked them if they opened up their stocking and they said no. So we went back to their room and opened up our stockings. Israel immediately tore open some chips and candy. Alemu started to yell at him but I told him it was ok and to eat what ever they wanted. Philipa had given us apples in our stockings…they were the most coveted present in our stockings so we took pictures with them. Philipa and her children soon appeared and so we went to make breakfast. Hannah was in charge of the pancakes and I had brought blueberry muffin mix so I was in charge of that. Philipa started on the preparations for lunch. Philipa’s husband, Ray, said that the kids couldn’t open presents until after breakfast so the boys were rushing us to finish. After breakfast Ray said that we needed to be dressed. Aaron, the ten year old said, “Emily would you go get dressed now…Hannah you too.” So we went to get dressed out of our pajamas.
Alemu and Israel were the first to open a present it was from our parents and to both of them. You should have seen their faces when they opened up the Spiderman movie trilogy. Alemu was trying to convince Israel that movies one and two were his and that the thrid was Israel’s. They didn’t want to watch anyone else open presents. Israel is getting more comfortable around me and he is also getting into everything. I have started calling him Curious George. They loved the Spiderman pajamas that they got from our parents. They each got a flashlight from Philipa and Ray…which they used last night during the power outage. I gave Alemu an Arsenal soccer ball and soccer socks and I gave Israel a Liverpool ball and soccer socks (I couldn’t find a Man. U. ball so I had to settle for Liverpool). They were excited about the soccer balls but they were ecstatic about the movies. After presents were over we played cricket…it’s actually a very fun game and similar to baseball. Israel was the best at batting but after two innings he lost interest and preferred the scooter. Alemu was the best at catching the ball and got Aaron out all three times. I didn’t do too bad myself. Lunch was so good. We had roasted chicken, stuffing, roasted carrots and potatoes, mashed potatoes, boiled green beans and carrots, fruit salad and soda. Hannah and I had gotten Ray a coffee set and Philipa had gotten him raw coffee beans. After lunch we tried to roast the coffee beans ourselves and make coffee like the Ethiopians do. We tried. It was so gross and watery. We had to leave after coffee to make it back to the house for a coffee ceremony. The ladies wanted to do something nice for Ilie and for me since it was our Christmas. When we arrived home there was a feast of snacks. They made popcorn, special bread, deep fried dough (kind of like a biscuit), some other type of dough snack, oranges and bananas. They even splurged and bought sodas for everyone. They had spent hours making everything but the celebration was cut short when Dereje and Alizare came to take Ilie to the airport. That night I called my parents and woke Israel and Alemu up so that they could talk to them. Well I tried to wake Alemu up but he just wanted to sleep. Israel on the other hand bounced out of bed and took the phone from me and said, “Hi Dad” That took me by surprise and I’m sure it shocked my dad as well.

#6 Kanesa Part III

So Thursday night around mid-night he was still throwing everything up. He looked really really bad so Tesfanesh told me to give him an injection of glucose. I did. I gave someone, for the first time, an injection. I was nervous while I did it because all the nannies and Ilie were watching me. I did an ok job at too. But it wasn’t enough so we ended up taking him to the hospital around 1am. The doctor ordered an IV and we started him on that. They took a blood sample as well as urine and stool samples. Tesfanesh had a cold so I told her to go back home and try to get some sleep while I stayed with him all night. I laid down around three but kept waking up because Kanesa was either thirsty or was trying to pull his IV out. I think we both slept about 2 hours that night…the same the night before. After the IV was done we went and saw the doctor again. He said that the fever and vomiting is caused by a virus, but since his spleen is enlarged and his neck has some stiffness he wants to do more tests for malaria and meningitis. So we went to get more blood work done…he is such a trooper he doesn’t cry at all when they prick his finger or give him a shot. The results came back as I expected negative for both, but the doctor was positive he had malaria and told us to come back when he had a fever. I said, “That’s it? You aren’t going to give him anything for the virus?” And then he wrote out a prescription for antibiotics, anti-vomiting, and iron drops because he is anemic. I was so mad and him and it was probably due to lack of sleep. We stopped by the pharmacy on the way home and got him all of the meds. He and I both slept the day away. When I got up at 5pm he was eating and looked so much better. I was kicking myself for not taking him sooner but we were told not to spend money when we don’t have it. He hates the flavor of the iron medicine and sometimes refuses to take it. I don’t blame him at all it’s gross. Saturday night came around and I was getting him ready for bed I noticed that he felt hot. I took his temp and he had a slight fever. I told Tesfanesh that we needed to go to the hospital right away. Alizare came an hour later and I took his temp in the car…it was below normal…but we were almost to the hospital. He got the blood work done and it showed up positive this time. He has malaria. I told Tesfanesh she was right. Luckily it is the easier of the two and we caught it in the early stage. It has been a week since we found out he has malaria and he is back to normal, although the virus has now spread to all the babies except three.

#5 Kanesa Part II

So it is Thursday night and he is still sick. He throws everything up. Sometimes he can get some water down but most of the time he is throwing up more than he takes in. Tomorrow we are going to give him some medicine that the Ethiopian nurse gave us. The medicine - which is supposed to be taken orally - will stop the vomiting. If he throws that up we have it in injection form. He is so skinny I told Philipa that we will have to put it in his butt because his arm is so small. If he is in really bad shape after the injection we are going to take him to the clinic and have an IV put in. If he is doing better tomorrow after the injection the nurse will bring an IV with her on Saturday morning. Hospitals are different here than in America…I would never send a child to one without knowing the doctor very well.

#4 Christmas

It doesn’t feel like Christmas is in a week. It probably is because the Ethiopian calendar is different that ours and so they don’t celebrate it until January 7th. Maybe it is because I don’t have any family here with me. Thanksgiving felt odd…I’m sure Christmas will feel the same. I decided that I am going to take all the kids to the movies for their Christmas present. They love watching movies on my computer and I can’t think of a better gift for all of them. I am going to have Christmas dinner with Philipa and her family. It won’t be the same but it will be good. I have started collecting Christmas gifts for my family although I’m not sure when they will be getting them. I got the best gifts for my sister and mom. I wish I could write it down but I know they read this. Maybe after they get it I will remember to write it down.

#3 And I Thought Los Angeles Was Bad

I know it’s a long title but I really thought that driving in Los Angeles was bad. It is nothing compared to Addis. Some of the roads have lines dividing it into lanes but no one stays in their own lane. There are few stop signs and stoplights…people just go and hope no one hits them. You have to look in all directions constantly. If you are a pedestrian you walk at your own risk - this includes sidewalks. There are cows, goats, and donkeys walking the streets that you have to watch out for as well. On Sunday I navigated the minibuses with Alemu and Israel to church. We had to cross two streets and Israel didn’t stay close enough and almost got hit by a car - luckily an older lady took his hand. Alemu didn’t go and had to wait on the other side until the car passed. The lady yelled at them to stay close to me. Hahahahaha. I told them that our mom would not be happy if they got hit by a minibus…I know they didn’t understand - but I think they got the point after we crossed again. Just so you know we made it to church on time (5 minutes early…sorry dad it’s not the typical 15 minutes) and back without an accident.

#2 Hallelujah...Amen

One Sunday afternoon little Eyob was outside and I swear he was leading church. He was under the laundry line with a tall laundry basket in front of him and the other kids on the other side of it. From my room I could hear him shouting “Hallelujah!” and the other kids shouting in response “Amen!” From then on you can hear almost every day one child saying “Hallelujah!” and everyone else shouts back “Amen!” One afternoon Eyob was leading “church” and Buzenesh (Lily’s mom who is not a Christian) started yelling at him to stop. He started preaching to her right there and then. Tesfanesh told me that he said that Jesus was his Father and that he wasn’t sad. Apparently I didn’t get the whole story as to why he said that but it doesn’t matter. It is a miracle that a 3 year old understands that. Buzenesh doesn’t tell the kids to stop anymore nor does she practice her religion. (I’m not sure what religion she was following but she couldn’t eat meat or drink milk on Wednesdays and Fridays.) One day while we were out in the field playing a small herd of cows came grazing our way and he called out very sincerely in Amharic, “In the name of Jesus leave.” They wandered away. Tesfanesh and I had a good laugh. I think he will be a great Evangelist when he is older.

#1 Special Plate and Cup

One of the children has HIV - I will call this child Morgan (a gender neutral name). I don’t treat Morgan any different because there really isn’t a need to. I knew Morgan had a special plate and cup but I didn’t really understand why. One night after the other kids went to bed little Eyob was still up and so I gave him some crystal light from my water bottle in a cup. He drank it and Zoudie said she wanted some so I poured some for her to try in the same cup - which he took upstairs to her. Hiwot came back down with the cup still full asking where I got the cup. “The cupboard of course.” “But this is Morgan’s.” “Oh sorry. It is clean though,” was my reply. “Yes but she is sick.” “You can’t get HIV from a cup.” Then it dawned on me…they think someone can get HIV from sharing a plate or cup. Then we had a lengthy HIV 101 discussion. Hiwot agrees that you cannot get HIV from a cup or plate yet she still brought down the full cup of juice. She says that the people who were born and raised in the villages still think this. Hiwot said that one time Morgan gave her a kiss on the mouth and she went and washed her mouth out. Really people? A kiss…that is preposterous. They should be more worried about getting Hepatitis A and B here than HIV.