Well, our first week is coming to an end!  It’s been a good one.  Have been working with the kiddos and loving it here!  Was just going to share some random things so you can get a better idea of what it’s like here.

This is not the Africa I had imagined.  There’s no Pride Rock or savannahs, no small huts in villages, and it’s not uncommon to see pretty well nourished people here.  Not talking ‘American’ nourished, but only a few are skin and bones.

The chances that I will lose weight on this trip are about 0.0005%.   We have three ladies who feed us every meal and they do it well.  We’ve had lasagna, pancakes, tacos, French toast, pork chops, etc.  And dessert with almost every meal.  We are not eating what most people eat here.  Duane said that most of the time meat is a special occasion kind of thing, usually only seen on holidays.  One of the ladies is named Anosieta, and she walks an hour to and from her home every day to come and serve us.

The hospital does things a tad differently than those in the US (tad=sarcasm).  The families are in charge of taking care of the patient really.  They cook their food and do everything else besides the nursing care.  Once the patients have been seen by the doctor, the patients can be found roaming around outside.  This might be nice to not be stuck in a hospital room, mayyybe not excellent for infection control.

I wanted to add something about the case William talked about 2 days ago.  A 17-year-old woman came in to the OR with a leg wound so horrible that almost the entire length of her tibia was exposed.  How long it takes for something to get like that, I do not know.  Why nothing was done until this point, no idea either.  At this point, she needs a miracle to avoid having her leg amputated.  Dr. Albertson posed a question to the Rwandan doctors there, what are the chances that she will marry if she has to have this leg amputated?  It was a unanimous no chance whatsoever.  And if this girl cannot get married and will be without any type of support system through a husband and later children, she has two options: prostitution and begging.  Please pray for this young woman and that a miracle would in fact happen!  This is one of many stories I’ve already heard that show how different their culture is.

Tomorrow we are going to the rainforest to spy on monkeys, should be interesting!  Thank you all for your prayers, continue to pray for our health and safety and that God would do some amazing things over here!  

In Him,

Elizabeth

boys will be boys

the view from the girl's house

somewhere along the road to Kibogora