How are things? Good friends and family want to know and we are grateful for their concern. The short answer is that everything is fine. No major accidents or injuries or illnesses to report. But there is a longer answer I can give, so I will for the sake of good friends and family.
Health: we are fortunate for overall relative good health and when we are ill we are grateful for medication that cures. All of our family has fallen ill with headaches, diarrhea, achiness, fever, occasional vomiting and general weakness. Not all at the same time nor the same symptoms. For the more severe we are grateful for Ciproflaxacin, the miracle drug of choice for gastro-intestinal illness. Wanda and I were hit with something just before we came out to Tanzania, then last week at EARM we were hit again. I took Cipro and Wanda got a stronger prescription from a doctor in Arusha. We’re both fine now but Amani isn’t feeling well. Now all this talk of health issues may make you wonder why so indiscrete? But anyone who has lived overseas in a 2/3 world country will tell you that when ex-pats get together it’s one of the first things to come up in conversation. It’s so common. But even more than that, one can more readily sympathize with the people we are serving who struggle against other, more deadly, diseases and illnesses on a daily basis. It makes me wonder how often the Ethiopian population actually feels healthy.
Animal news: When we left Addis all our animals were doing well. But we had a traumatic time with Princess Waffles, our female cat. It became clear in September that PW was pregnant. Who the father was, we don’t know for sure although we’d like to think it was Spot, our male cat. When PW was in heat though neighborhood Toms did come around and it was hard to keep her away from them. Wanda guessed that she might have kittens while we would be in Tanzania. But she had them the Monday before we left. Just 2 kittens, one DOA and the other should have been because PW rejected it. The girls were alternately thrilled by the birth event and then horrified when PW treated the kitten with contempt, biting it and throwing it up in the air. So our family separated mother from infant. But then it became our responsibility to keep it alive. All week long the girls, Wanda & I tried. We made PW lie down and tried to get the little kitten to nurse. It was hard since PW had no interest in the event. Hands had to hold her down and prevent her from grabbing the kitten and running off. We also tried to keep it warm by wrapping it in a wash cloth and holding it in our hands to stay warm. Then we tried feeding it with a syringe and later an eye dropper. In all cases short term success but ultimately failure. The kitten would cry and we tried to make it comfortable. But by Thursday we were losing the battle and it was getting weaker and in the night it died. It’s hard to say who was sadder, the girls or the parents. In the end Wanda & I tried to keep it alive for the girls’ sakes. Being invested meant being sadder. In talking about it afterwards Wanda & I both found out that we chastised ourselves for feeling something when all around us, every day in Addis, are sad, sad cases of people and animals who are in misery. One wee kitten dies and we are getting emotional? Yes, for in the end it is the personal that counts. That’s the way it works for all of us, isn’t it?
School news: Just before we left for Tanzania we sat down with the Grades 4 and 5 teachers. The good news is that our girls are very strong in reading and ‘riting. The bad news is that they aren’t in ‘rithmetic. They need to learn the multiplication and division tables which will make life easier for all of them. But in their reading comprehension and writing skills they are all at the top of their respective classes. They also seem to not be a problem in class behavior as well. So Wanda & I were grateful for those reports. It made it easier to travel and miss a week of school for this trip. But the girls did bring homework along with them to work on.
Piano and Lessons: Just before we left we bought a used electric piano off another expat family. It is a Kawai and seems to be good enough for the girls to use. We also found a young woman who is with her family who is at Bingham Academy this year. She graduated from university back in New Zealand and is willing to teach piano for the year for free! We are grateful for her servant attitude and look forward to the girls starting piano the week after we return to Addis. Will our girls end up like my sister Anita, who stuck to her lessons and is an accomplished pianist, or me and Lon, who took the obligatory lessons until we could get out of them and never looked back, until well into our adulthood. Yes, I wish I could play now. You were right Mom.
Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays, Easter and then . . . Yes, we are looking forward to the various high points of celebration coming up but it is true that we are looking forward to June 2009 when we’ll be coming to North America on home leave. Let’s see, that would be 8 months from now . . .
In the meantime, we’ll try to keep up our correspondence with friends and family. Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.
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