March 22, 2010

I am so tired today that I fell asleep during an eyebrow wax!!!

Yesterday I went to the hospital to visit a relative of my sweet friend, Terefa. It was at the government hospital and she is part of the program for the poor. She has been waiting in the emergency room for over three weeks. She still doesn’t have a room. She does have a bed but no sheets, nothing but one chair beside her. She looks like a swollen balloon with stick arms. She is twenty nine years old. Her stomach is swollen with cancer. I brought her everything I could think of including my softest blanket covered in hearts. For the first time she smiled. It is heartbreaking to watch her husband sit all day just waiting for what is most likely coming. They have two children.

We had a amazing week! We are now part of the medical piece of fistula. We have joined with a private hospital. The surgeon is the best known Fistula surgeon in Ethiopia next to Dr. Hamlin. This is a benefit for everyone. The women can be in and out in four days instead of several months. It also helps to not overload the Hamlin fistula hospital so that even more women can get their surgeries. There are 100,000 existing cases of fistula here and we are only doing about 1,500 surgeries per year. Please join me in my dream that there will be not only enough fistula hospitals but other hospitals that can prevent this birth injury and save so many from death or the horror of a new case of fistula.

The thing that makes it hardest here for me is being without you. I was just thinking how grateful I am. I don’t know anyone who has a larger circle of people who love them than I do. Thank you!!!