July 16, 2009
Well, I guess the first order of business for this month’s blog is to wish you all a HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!! It’s rather odd celebrating a strictly American holiday in another country (particularly one that has never really been colonized so therefore doesn’t really get the excitement of an independence day), but I must say that the PCVs in Ethiopia did our country proud on the 4th. We had about 15 volunteers meet up in Hawassa to celebrate and it was awesome. Chris hosted at his new house, which is on this AMAZING compound with another American guy, his Ethiopian wife, and their 2 month old baby girl. They built this huge tree house with tons of cushions to sit on, complete with a little baby pet monkey! Unfortunately, the monkey kept getting into people’s drinks (we made a 20L bucket of gin and mango tang with pieces of pineapple…don’t knock it ‘til you try it) and it got very drunk.
A couple of us split up the shopping and I worked the grills (which I brought from my home on the bus) and grilled hot dogs (canned viennas) and cheeseburgers (4 ½ lbs. of meat that I minced myself…ugh). CR and I also made french fries and bought some potato chips. We listened to Michael Jackson (RIP) all day, eating , drinking, playing games, and had a wonderful time. When it got dark, we lit some sparklers and roman candles that Kyle found in his town. It was such a wonderful day, it really was the next best thing to being at home with my family.
After the holiday it was right back to “work”. I have been pretty busy lately having lots of meetings, but I don’t know how much is actually happening. This week I was no-showed by two different people. It’s so frustrating because my town is big and hot and I go most places by foot (enduring all the attention) and to arrive to find the person isn’t there, and is even in a different city, is so annoying! Everyone just laughs about “Habesha time” and that it’s part of their culture, but I think it’s an inconsiderate aspect of their culture. I guess I am just going to have to start dropping in on people rather than making appointments.
However, I have had some pretty great accomplishments. Last week I gave a half-day training on HIV and ART (anti-retroviral therapy) to a group of 40 medical students and about 10 staff from the health center. I was really nervous (hello? No medical background here…poli-sci major?) but I think it went really well. I covered so much material: the basics but also epidemiology statistics; the correlation of STIs and HIV; social factors contributing to the spread of HIV; the life cycle of the virus inside the body; different illnesses, infections, and diseases caused through the different stages of HIV taking over the body; and ART drugs available in Ethiopia, how they work and what side affects they have. At the end of the training, I administered a short test to see what the students had learned. Ethiopian students (even medical ones…scary!) are notorious for openly cheating on tests, but all but three students got more than 50% of the questions correct. I gave out certificates to the students afterwards (everyone always wants proof that they did something) and overall I think it was a success. I think there will be another group of students coming from a different college after these ones so I am sure I will do it again.
Another highlight is that kids are finally starting to call me by my name! A group of girls that have Koran class every afternoon at a home located between my office and the health center, always run out to hug me yelling “Benny, Benny!” Ok, so they don’t actually know my name, but it’s close enough and I am becoming quite fond of it. The lady at my “supermarket” also calls me Benny. I guess it’s easier than Bonnie to remember, although logically, I can’t figure out why. For a while I was determined for people to learn my actual name, since I am more than fond of it (way to go Mama and Dad), but I have decided to be grateful for what I can get. So from now on, my name in town is Benny. Maybe I can find a group of street kids to follow me around and be my “Jets”. :)
So I think that’s all the updates for now. I am loving and missing you all as always.
More belated birthdays to:
Uncle Pat!! (June 21)
Aunty Kate!! (June 27)
Tony!! (June 29) – and congrats on the engagement!
George/G!! (July 3)
Also, special congratulations to my cousins Melissa, Maura, and Catherine on their high school graduations!!! I’m so proud :)
Ok, so that was going to be the end of my blog (which I intended to post today but there was no power) but something just happened that was too funny to wait until next month. So it’s Friday night and, as I mentioned, there is no power. After hours of reading my book and running out of things to occupy my time, I decide to lie in bed and read through all the cards I have received since I left for Ethiopia. As I am getting all wrapped up in a blanket of warm fuzziness and appreciation for how loved I am (not an actual blanket, of course, it’s hot and no fan), one of my candles burns out. I light a new candle and while I am trying to make it stick to my make-shift candle holder (a piece of cardboard), I knock it over. I scramble to grab it before it falls and in my haste, allow my hair to dip into the fire from the other candle. The smell of burning hair alerted me to my blunder (the smell which still lingers in my room). I laughed, joking to myself that I guess it’s finally time for me to cut my hair again, which I had been putting off. However, the best part is that as I am plucking burnt, shriveled shards of my hair away, in literally less than twenty seconds, the power comes back on. Moments like these can only be summed up by two words: Peace Corps.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
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