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Published: February 7th 2008
Last night I'm convinced that there were turf wars going on with the packs of neighborhood dogs. At least that's how it seemed through out most of the night last night. I eventually got up and put in some earplugs but they didn't help that much. From now on I'm not going to complain when Tobey starts barking at a squirrel outside because his bark is nothing compared those dogs outside!
So needless to say I woke up a little bleary eyed this morning. It rained overnight so the smog wasn't quite so bad this morning. I walked over to the Fistula Hospital and met up with Annette and her children along with John Little from last night for a ride out to Desder Menda (Joy Village). As we were turning left a truck came alongside us and almost wiped us out completely. Annette was able to stop in time so nothing happened to us but I certainly felt like God's angels were watching out for us.
I met up with Lauren, the English teacher, for the midwife students. She's from Duluth so it was wonderfu to chat with a fellow Minnesotan. It was fun to help with class and get to know the girls better. They weren't so shy around me this time and were very curious about my family and what I do in the US. We taught until noon and then went back with one of the Fistula drivers that were going back to the hospital.
Lauren's tutoring session was cancelled for the afternoon so she was kind enough to take me to the mercato where I went to a bank and exchanged money. Then we stopped into a restaurant across the street that was very busy which meant it had to be good if the locals were there. We had injera with some kind of meat sauce on it that was spicy. It was good. The total bill for the two of us including a large bottle of water was 13 birr. $1 US dollar = $9.26 birr so talk about a cheap lunch!
Then we ventured into the mercato. No wonder they call it the largest open air market in all of Africa. We wandered down through the spices and just looked around. While we were walking up one of the side streets (or alleys) the police must have caught a teenage boy that was stealing. They started to beat him right there. Lauren and I were caught up in the middle of it so we just stood off to the side and tried to look inconspicious. From the mercato we went to the piazza which is whre the Italians. Lauren knew a good coffee shop to stop in so I stopped and bought a bunch of coffee.
I can't even begin to describe to you all that I saw today. Its hard to imagine that we all live in the same world. Life is very difficult here. Unemployment is around 60%. The water and sanitation conditions in some of the suburbs are not very good. Last year during the rainy season there was a cholerea outbreak but the govt wouldn't recognize it because they don't want anything bad said about them so they said that they had 50,000 cases of watery dysentry!
Its difficult to manuever around a city when you don't speak or read the language. Its been a challenge but people have been very nice to me.
I'm going to have dinner at Mark and Annette's house again. They have been very kind to me.
Ciao for now!
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mary
non-member comment
Hey crazy
Finally got to read your blogs. I knew from LeeAnn you were good. Sounds like your trip has already been tremendously rewarding- what a hands on education. Can't wait to hear more! Travel safe! Mary