Measles, Typhus, Typhoid = apparently the same thing

Benjamin's diagnoses was not enough to convince anyone at VOH that he was okay, so again he was taken to the Doctor. This time I think we actually found a competent doctor in Arsi Negelle. The children actually have Measles, who would have thought?! But it's a relief actually, just like we thought typhus was good news instead of typhoid, so measles is better than typhus. As the babies haven't actually been immunized it makes perfect sense and measles cannot be detected by any blood work, just signs and symptoms. Benjamin still looks like "crap" (in Steff's words), but he is slowly recovering. Balditu is doing better and we've got the babies on a dose of Vitamin A.

For everyone's information I never had Typhoid either. That was another misdiagnoses. Apparently if I did have typhoid I would have to prove that I was rid of the disease before I could even get out of the country to leave for the States. Also Typhoid is horrible- you have to burn the person's feces, they have to be quarantined from everyone/thing and you have horrible pea soup diarrhea. What I did have was a parasite that I cannot honestly cannot remember the name of it. I have yet to gain faith in the health care system here, but I have a hope that no matter what our kids are misdiagnosed with that hopefully some Emox will recover it.

This week is the kids' last week of school before they go home to visit their families (though most of them are orphans they will go to see grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc). We will be taking them to Lake Longano this Saturday and all the kids are super excited. It will be sad while they are gone, but maybe we'll actually get some work done?

Cheers,
Jenelle

Addis in a nutshell

The kids had a sleep over in the big house a weekend or two ago. They all lined up their mattresses and watched a slide show Helen and I made out of pictures of themselves. They loved it!


Baby, Dogmawit, Myself and "Anate" in Addis. I love this family!! Anate's a little preoccupied with talking to me rather than smiling for the camera.
At Yod Abysinnia. One of the traditional dancers. This is a traditional dance from Arsi Negelle, the village right next to us. This girl was shaking her head so fast it is absolutely crazy! Nicki's little flute flirt is behind the singer.

Hey Friends and Family,

Sorry for the delay in posting a blog. Apparently the government has finally caught onto free speech here and any website posting “free speech” for people to read online is blocked. Luckily email is still considered an acceptable means of communication, but apparently even some emails can be read by the government. I finally broke into the blog, but there may still be more complications in the future!

I finally made it back from Addis Ababa on Wednesday afternoon. The male interns never came to Addis with us because they decided to stay in Debre Zeit. They decided that Addis Ababa would be even more boring than staying in Debre Zeit with nothing to do (?- I don’t understand college aged men sometimes). So Sarah Nicki and I continued into Addis with our seat belts in tow.

We were going to make it to a soccer match in Addis, but Ethiopians run on their own time and we didn’t make it to the Stadium until the game was half over, so we decided just to drop our stuff off at the office and then go site see. I took Sarah and Nicki shopping and then we stopped back up in Shiro Meda so I could show the girls where I lived last year. The boy I lived with last year, Tesfa has grown over a foot since I left and now truly looks like a young man. He was so shy and embarrassed to see me and just kept saying things like, “oh my gosh, it is true” in reference to the fact that I had actually come back to Ethiopia. We then stopped and saw the neighbors-a very nice old couple that have their two granddaughters living with them. The wife is so sweet, I called her “mother” last year because I didn’t know her name, and I honestly still don’t. She was so shocked to see me and asked why I didn’t call her from America! All the street children remembered me as well. Their nickname for me last year was “kiwi” because a mentally unstable man that lived in my neighborhood starting calling me kiwi one day and all the kids caught on to it. They honestly didn’t know why they called me that, but I don’t think they cared. As soon as they saw me they started screaming “kiwi, kiwi!” and it brought tears to my eyes that they had really remembered me even though I have been gone for over nine months.

Later that night I took Nicki and Sarah to a nice restaurant called Yod Abysinnia where they have traditional dancing and a very nice musical show with traditional musicians and singers. Nicki had been looking for a traditional flute to buy for her father, and eyed up with the flutist and did some silent flirting. She then walked up to him during a break in the music and asked if he could give her a lesson and would sell her a flute. He said he usually sold them for 100 birr each, but for her, someone truly interested in the music, he would sell her two flutes for 100 birr! Being a girl sometimes really pays off! We had such a nice time and I think Sarah and Nicki loved seeing the dancing.

Sunday we went to the local branch and my rivalry with the missionaries resumed. Their pride was still hurt over my previous contest with them and the fact that they could not stand up to a girl!! The culture here in the church is so very different and yet the same in the States. Gossip is a huge problem among all the branches and being down right rude to each other is another problem. This cute little woman gave her Relief Society lesson and was just shaking she was so nervous. She finished her lesson about 20 minutes early and so Sister Woodruff asked the women if they would like to talk about anything. The women immediately started to complain that the woman that gave the talk hadn’t given the right one in the manual and that she had said things wrong, she had added her own personal thought and didn’t read word-for-word out of the manual. Some women even said that they could have taught the lesson better than her. I was in complete shock at what was being said, that they could possibly be that forward and rude. Sister Woodruff looked at me and said, “Jenelle, would you like to say something to the women?” I think I turned red right away and stood in front of the women and gave them some sphill about how everyone has talents and that we need to all develop our talents and support each other. Sister LaPray broke in with a scripture and some words of advice. If looks could kill, we would be dead because those women were so rude to each other and probably thought, “who does this farenji think she is, coming in here and telling us what to do!?”

Monday we just dinked around town and the two girls got some major souvenir shopping done. By the way, Nicki and Sarah have been removed from their project in Arsi Negelle and are most likely leaving for the States this weekend. There have been some problems and it’s too long of a story and it’s unnecessary for me to explain it to friends and family at this time.

Nevertheless, I am back in Kersa Illala with the kids, and it is so good to be back with those kids, especially the babies. When I got back on Wednesday Steff had actually left that morning for Addis to get some stuff mailed out, so we had actually crossed paths. When I got back Balditu and Benjamin were both very sick. As soon as I arrived everyone was like “Jenelle, you have to take the babies to the hospital” Apparently they had been sick for two days already and Steff told everyone that if they were not well by that afternoon when I returned that I would take them to the hospital. I was so stressed out and didn’t think I could take both babies in a minibus to the hospital. It looked like they both had typhus (which is what Margitu had) and Benjamin looked worse, so it was decided to load up Debabe and Benjamin and get them to the hospital. It was the scariest experience of my life because Benjamin had a very high temperature and kept slipping in and out of conciousness. The first doctor hinted towards signs that Benji had a brain tumor, and the other doctor thought he might have leukemia. I was so freaked out that I started to cry. Debabe looked really confused and I actually walked out of the hospital and went outside and started crying and praying that Benjamin wouldn't die. I composed myself and we got the blood work done. The last doctor that saw us said from the blood work he could rule out a number of things and that most likely Benjamin had an URI that had moved to his head (hence the fever, loss of consciousness, bloody nose, etc). It was the scariest day of my life and I can honestly say I hate the health care system here. Balditu was put on a prescription of Emox so that even if she has typhoid, typhus or a parasite the Emox will take out whatever it is.

Last night both babies were up crying all night because they were running fevers and couldn't get comfortable. Steff and I honestly got three hours of sleep. We just sat with the crying babies and watched the Andy Griffith show on DVD all night. I finally went to sleep around 7 am and when I got up at 9 all the staff was calling me lazy and laughing saying that I sleep all the time. I just laughed because it's such the culture here to point out everyone's flaws even if they have no idea that I had gotten no sleep the night before. Steff on the other hand is a maniac and has been awake all day getting things done.

Misdiagnoses!

Sarah and Mariama during the hygiene course they tought last Friday. Mariama is holding a picture of parasites (trying to scare the kids with creepy pictures of germs)
Jamilla and I before our nightly run.
Tayiba coloring her "Scary Germ"


Good news! Sarah has rediagnosed Margitu and she has . . .TYPHUS, not typhoid fever. And why is that good news, you may ask? Because Typhoid is highly contagious and we have two other infants in the compound that share clean diapers with her (bowels are highly contagious and even after washing and sanitizing diapers typhoid can still be spread). We are pretty sure she got typhus from rat fleas. . .yes we have giant mutant rats in the house that sneak through the rafters every night and their fleas do jump everywhere, no matter how clean we may think we are. She is improving very well thanks to accurately diagnosed medication and some TLC from Steff and myself.
This week has been busy organizing the youth group and creating sanitation and hygiene lessons to teach the women who work at the house. We seem to be having problems with them picking snot off the babies faces and then flinging it at the wall and not washing their hands, filling bottles with additional formula without washing them (I found mold in one), shutting off the hot water to conserve the bill and hence NOT washing dishes, themselves or bottles in hot soapy water, not drying dishes, etc. The list seems to go on and I've had it. The kids keep getting sick here and I'm trying to be culturally sensitive to the traditional practices that the women here practice. But once kids keep getting sick the farenji ideas take presidence and my "Western ideals" will take over!! haha





Also, I have discovered that the oil that the cooks are using at the house is Olean. What is Olean? Well Olean is an oil (saturated fat) taken off the market by the FDA in America because it makes people have oily discharge, incontrollable bowels, etc. We have all had cramping, bloating and even diarrhea. So we are going to buy some olive or vegetable oil and perhaps we will start being regular and maybe start losing some weight. Afterall, we have been working out and eating a limited diet of potatoes, injera and wot.





I am leaving for Addis Ababa tomorrow, possibly, with Sarah and Nicki. They are going up with their NGO for a weekend to see a soccer game. If we can cram the three girls and then three guys (the other interns) into their jeep then I will go. If not, then I will stay. And yes, we are concerned about seat belts and safety. . .kind of. There are not seat belts in cars here and the minibuses that we ride into town should only fit 12 but I've been in some where there are 26+ people crammed in. It will be nice to get into Addis and visit friends from last year and visit the branch again.

Cheers,

Jenelle

NGO's are great?

This week has been a surprising one. First off, Lon has arrived (the founder) along with Helen’s sister Kidist and her friend Calli. I could see the anxiety on Steff’s face when everyone arrived- what will all the girls do while they’re here, what can Steff give them as responsibilities to do? Also there are some underlying issues regarding founder’s policies, expectations, what has really been happening and just mixed feelings all in between regarding everyone that works for the NGO. Though I am not an official employee Steff has sat down with me and I have gotten her to talk through some issues and put them into a clear format of speech so when she sits down with Lon things can run more smoothly. Don’t get me wrong, NGO’s are great, especially this one, but behind every great thing there is a lot of man power, organizing, governing and negotiating.

Steff and I have been on a pretty consistent schedule this week: working with the kids, working ourselves and then we’ve been jogging about 6 km each night. Last night we got totally thrown off our routine though. Margitu’s been having a runny nose and fever and generally under the weather. She was asleep last night after dinner and I wanted to wake her to feed her. She felt really hot and I took her temp. It was 105 F. We immediately packed up the bags, threw a cold towel on her and booked it to the street to catch a minibus at 8pm to get to the hospital. Luckily we flagged down a car that one of our worker’s was in and got a ride to the hospital. Steff went on into the village to wake up Lon in his hotel room and get him to drive his rental car back to the hospital and take us home when we were done. The hospital’s here are so scary and so unsanitary. I was standing with Margitu in my arms in the hallway, the lights flickering above my head looking down the long dark hallway at a line of people wheezing, hacking and waling from their pain. I heard a lady say, “oh God, there’s a car accident”. I was afraid of what I would see next: two bodies brought in, bloody and bandaged. Just then I saw Steff come in, helping the people from the accident (she’s such a Saint I tell you). All I could think is ‘it would be horrible to die in a place like this’. Two hours after we arrived we left the hospital with the diagnoses of Typhoid Fever and a box of medicine, half of which I looked up after we got home last night and is complete crap that the doctor’s recommend and the pharmacy sells to make money. We got a Vitamin B12 supplement for Typhoid Fever. Please explain to me how that makes any sense?

I was telling Steffanie that if there were Social workers that actually worked in hospitals here they might question why VOH keeps bringing in our kids with illnesses, and question if we were really a good NGO doing our job. It is true, we do have a lot of sick kids, and even Steffanie and I question ‘what is going on here’ that there is always someone sick. We try our best to implement clean hygienic and sanitary practices, but some traditions and practices just die very hard here. Sara and Nicki came yesterday to teach our kids about germs and to wash our hands. It was a darling lesson; Nicki put honey on her hands (an analogy for wiping your butt with your hands) and then went and shook the kid’s hands and touched their faces. They were all squealing and making “ewwww” noises. It made a very good point though, that germs are invisible but can get anywhere.

Pictures

A pic that Helen took of Dibabe and Benjamin. I think this picture makes Dibabe look old as it appears she has graying hair. But I just thought it was a great picture and captures a bit of the story behind her and her baby. She was raped by her father, and hence Benjamin is a result of incest. Her father is in prison now, but nevertheless, it's a miracle she even looks at the boy.

I picked up Benjamin one day to hold him. I guessed I squeezed a little too tight on his bum, because this is what squirted out onto my arm!!

Steff can hold two babies at once!! Balditu did not fall, though she looks like she's hanging on for dear life!

We are not the only one's with sick kids, I swear! We found this girl in the village and told her to come to see the Nurse at our clinic to get her eye looked at. The poor girl hasn't shown up yet.




AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! I'm really sorry, but I accidentally erased my last post by trying to edit in the pictures for this one!! If anyone has been printing this blog out (Mom?) could you hold onto my last post (Galatomi, Galatomi). I'd like to keep it for journal/documenting reasons! Thanks!!

A few questions answered

Mom emailed me with some questions that family and friends have asked, and perhaps I have not been too clear about certain things in previous posts. So here is a friendly q & a session:

Who exactly are Helen and Steffanie?
Helen is the Kennard's daughter. The Kennard's are the American founders and CEO's of Village of Hope. Helen came to Ethiopia this April with her mother and is staying until July to help at the village and visit her biological family. Helen was adopted by the Kennard's 13 years ago along with her five siblings from the very village where Village of Hope is located.

Steffanie is an American. A very good friend of the Kennard's, she decided to come to Ethiopia nearly two years ago to help set up the Village of Hope and get it running as a non-profit organization, register with the government and all the other details. She is a volunteer, spends money from her own pocket to be out here. She is absolutely amazing and Helen and I are looking for some single 30 something man that has an interest in humanitarian work, has a graduate degree in something, loves children and will cherish Steffanie for the rest of their lives. Please submit potential applicants for Helen and I to review. Steffanie will most likely move back to the States after October or so, once the whole Village of Hope is in the hands of local Ethiopians.


Are they other students, where are they from, how long have they been there, how long will they continue to be there? No, there are no other students out here.


Are there other adults besides? No and Yes. There are many Ethiopians that work for the VOH, but no other volunteers/Americans that are here. The Kennard's bring out expeditions every few months which consist of either Doctor expeditions or just volunteers from the states that come for about a week and help with building/planting/health care projects.


Who takes care of the children when the three of you are away/together? That is left up to a few women that work at the VOH during the day. At night there are three teenage girls that live a the compound that we have left the responsibility up to. Usually there is some clean-up work to do once we return, such as messy diapers that need washing, and making sure that the kids really did eat.


Why are the children so Beautiful? (as opposed to emaciated, starving, children in ill-health).
Ethiopians are just biologically gorgeous people, and in my opinion, some of the most beautiful people on this earth. None of the children at our compound are emaciated, starving, etc. because they live with us and we feed them three square meals a day and address their medical needs as fast as we can.

Do children just get abandoned, or are they removed from their homes because of neglect, or other reasons like in the US?
All of the children that we have at the compound have different reasons for being with us. Examples:
One girl was raped by her father and ran away. She refuses to return home.
One girl was abandoned by her mother and left at a restaurant and raised by the owners until Lon Kennard found her and brought her to the compound.
Three children live with their grandparents as their parent's have died. Their grandparents can't financially afford them and therefore they were not being fed well or sheltered.
There are two families of kids (three kids from one family, three kids from another) where the mother's are just un-fit. They are local prostitutes and have up to six children all from different men. The kids get neglected and left to roam the streets during the day while their mother is away.
And NO, there is no policy like Child Protective Services in Ethiopia. If children are abused, neglected, etc then they are succumb to survive off of the services that the local community or their extended family offer. Police reports can be made on abuse, but rarely are they followed through.

How much funding and/or other support do you get from the Ethiopian government? None. Village of Hope is an NGO meaning Non-Government Organization. It gets its funding strictly from donations, and from sponsors giving money to support the kids education, food and living expenses. If you or someone you know would like to sponsor one of the children please contact me immediately. To sponsor a child it is $50 a month or $600/year. My email is jenelletittelfitz@gmail.com


Are you in any kind of danger from civil unrest, or do you feel threatened by virtue of being American??? Not at all. I am registered with the American Embassy and if there is any sort of terrorist threat or threat to American citizens I will be contacted immediately. There are general threats to myself for a) being a woman and b) being a foreigner
I feel that I am very well informed on how to deal with these matters. The best defense I have is that I speak enough of the language to know what is going on around me and to ask directions and where to go when I need help. I had a few things happen to me last year that I walked away from without a scratch, but those only made me more aware for what I was getting into this year. Also I am in a pretty rural area. There are generally never enough people around to pose any sort of threat. I never travel alone either. Either Steffanie, Helen or one of the employees from the compound is with me at all times when I leave Village of Hope.

How did you get so darn cute? Why is it that you are smiling so much when you are under such primitive conditions?
Well, I guess you could thank good genes for my ridiculously good looks.
About the smiling- A smile is the light in the window of your face that tells people you're at home. All I can say is that I love what I am doing, where I am, and the people I am with. How could I not smile?

Have you grown attached to any particular children? How many are you planning on bringing home with you in August? I love all the children. Helen, Steff and I laugh because we are somewhat like proud parents, and when we are away from the compound we talk about all the children, their little quirks, the fun things they do, and also the annoying things they do. I won't be bringing any of them home, unless an adoption goes through right when I leave and I might be able to travel with the kid(s) to America. That would be fun, but not very realistic as all the kids that are under the adoption process right now will probably take months, if not a year to go through.

A Little rank, dank, and some stank

We're in Addis right now for the weekend as there was a tri-Branch conference today that we all wanted to attend and Steffanie has to meet with a potential donor on Tuesday that is flying into Addis. We're seeing this as a good opportunity to get away from the kids and see what happens while we're gone. We're thinking the babies will be dressed up in doll clothes, will have been fed pebbles mixed with mud that the little girls fed them as play food and that the house will have burnt down? one can only imagine. . .

We ate at the Sombkes house today, a family that the husband works at the Embassy. It was like walking into America at their house. They made strombolli and we had ice cream and salad. Us three girls had a competition with the missionaries who could eat more. We definitely won for desserts. They were a little offended by our pride though, bragging on and on about how much we could eat, and then I think they were a little disgusted by how much we really ate. Sister LePrey, the missionary couple sister here, kept making comments like "you're kidding me" "good heavens girls" when we kept getting more plates full of food. It's kind of sad that I've only been here two weeks and already craving farenji food. But got to stock up now before we go back out to the village!


The pic above is one that Helen took. She found a cool feature on my camera where only green's, yellow's and blue's stick out. That was when I was making the mobile for Benji.


Here's Helen with Margitu after a few days without showering. Then there's me with Benji (Benjamin). That's three days without washing the mat of hair on my head and just a little sunburnt from being sensitive to the sun from my Malaria meds.

Little Balditu on Helen's lap to the right. She's doing so much better now after having girardia. She's smiling and being a baby again!

So on Tuesday the electricity went out at the compound because of some faulty wiring. Therefore the pump on the well shut down and therefore no water or light. . .for three days. Helen and I didn't take showers and were becoming a sore sight to see. Just look at us in the pictures. . .not too shabby? We didn't change our clothes either because we are always having the babies cloth diapers leak through onto our pants or babies throwing up on us, so what's the point of going through five pairs of clothes a day?
I made a mobile to hang over Benjamin's crib and Balditu got a hold of it and ripped it to shreds, so much for that.
The youth group that Steff started had it's first official activity on Thursday. We first met and had a general meeting and they picked a group name (Youth Service) and designed a logo that we are going to try to get printed on shirts while we're here in Addis. They also played volleyball and I was asked to step out for excessive cheating (actually I stepped out at my own free will- ha!)


This is a comic strip I cut out of the paper before I left. Though I hope this is never me, I thought it was pretty funny. If you can't read it, it says, "Any last requests?"
"Can I put one last entry in my blog about this?"

It's been nice to be in Addis for the day and to cruise around and show Helen and Steff around MY territory since I was here all last year and Steff has always lived out in the country in Kersa Ellala. BAD NEWS- on the bus ride to Addis yesterday morning Helen got her passport, money and immunization card stolen. Her dad's coming out her next week so she is going to survive off of my money for awhile and we called the embassy and they're getting her a replacement passport on Monday. She was pretty upset when she first figured her things were really gone, but only hours later we are joking about it.