March 11th, 2010

One of my goals in life is to add value in every situation in which I find myself. This week has sure been fun living.

Carolyn and I spent the last couple of days in Lalibella, a small historical village that has 11 rock hewn churches. These churches are from the 12th century and were chiseled from the top to the bottom out of mountains. The site is beautiful but even better, Carolyn and I were invited to participate in the ancient worship in the churches at 3:00 am. It was an experience I will never forget. We also got to spend some time with my friend Cheru and his family. When I first met him six years ago he was a tour guide and now he owns a hotel. He works night and day but he is an example of what can happen here. There really is hope.

We had a meeting with the head of the hospital in this area. He is very interested in working with the Trampled Rose. This will enable us to reach the women in the countryside that have no way of getting to Addis. The ones who need us most. Since I have been here we have expanded our Tier III program to three areas (this is the part of our program that includes going into the countryside to educate the people on how to reduce the cases of fistula and help those who already have experienced this awful situation). The three areas are Lalibella, Marabete and Desi. We already have seven women waiting for us in Marabete. Our manager is planning on going to pick them up next week.

After two years of working on permission to purchase our new car, I stopped into the car dealership yesterday to get the exact information on where to transfer the money. Although I had been told that our paperwork was complete, we need more!!! GRRRRRR……… So today will be spent trying to tie up more loose ends. Visiting more offices and begging for help. I know there has to be a light at the end of this tunnel someday. I just keep my mind focused on how good it will feel to use a safe, clean car for women who have been thrown out of their own family. If not, I could have had a postal moment yesterday.

Last night we had an employee party. We took everyone to a fancy restaurant and then to a classical concert at the Russian embassy. Everyone was so dressed up and excited. Some even started to cry. I told them that I understand how hard it is to continue this work when I am often away and they have been so faithful. It was wonderful to see the effect recognition and appreciation has on everyone. Because it was a late night I also declared today a holiday for all employees. So….. I’ll just need to figure out how to work without them today.

Some more wonderful news!!!! The east Rotary club of Colorado Springs donated a new generator. We had it installed yesterday and we now have electricity any time we want. Can you imagine????