7th April 2012

Sorry not to have blogged for a while but it has been busy – I know it seems hard to believe but really, time flies here. I think it’s because everything takes so very long to get done. This must have been what it was like before we had all the machines to help with every aspect of life.

Anyway, things have been going well. I go out regularly to the clinics and am now considered to be something of a local. People recognise the car coming along and then women come to the clinics to be seen. I’m not sure whether it’s because I am actually doing something that they value of whether it is the belief that being seen by a faranji has to be a good thing. It’s possibly a mixture of the two, but I am hoping that the latter is less of an important factor as it suggests that things won’t continue once I leave here. Part of the work I am doing will look at this so perhaps I will understand it all more in time.

We are currently in Addis as we are off to Gondor and Lallibella to be tourists – this is the first time that we have actually been tourists here so it should be fun.

I have been rather ill over the past few days and for a while, I was concerned that I might have malaria – simply because I felt so very rough. I got Jeremy to take some blood and it came back negative for malaria so all is fine, but I have to say, it was a very nasty virus that left me feeling totally washed out and weak. So now one more kilo lost ….but time to eat loads of food on our trip.

I'm going to rely on pictures for the rest of this blog as I need to go out soon for supper.....

 The car journey to Gimbie is full of hazards, especially when you travel on markey day.

Being Easter (well, one week later here), there are lots of chickens for sale along the roads.

Hannah has been teaching in this elementary school. It's a very poor region and there are many challenges, not least of all, the fact that the teachers seem to spend more time outside of the classroom rather than inside where the children are.

This lady's grandchildren were at the school and she was collecting water from the stream at the end of the school.

Two boys were chasing monkeys with a spear. One of them wasn't looking where he was going and stuck the spear in his friend. All well in the end though as thankfully, his heart and liver were not damaged and so the spear was removed. Guess they won't do that again.....or will they?!?!?

In addition to carrying the children everywhere, women have to carry bundles of wood on their back - it often weighs 35Kg plus.

If you've been following the blog for a while, you'll remember the twins who were born in hospital and then I took them home when I was going to the clinic. I visited them a few days ago, only to find that the whole village had arrived to greet the faranji who came to ganji. It was lovely but really quite strange to be surrounded by so many people. there must have been around 50 peopl crammed in and around quite a small house.