Our trip to Ethiopia

We are back from our mandatory trip out of East Africa! We headed to Nairobi last Wednesday, ate lunch (our first time in a restaurant in 6 months!) and headed to the airport to go to Ethiopia.  Instead of going on and on about our trip I thought I’d do a few bullet points to fill you in.

Highlights of our Trip (and yes, some would be considered low-lights)

-Getting to eat at Java House in Nairobi before going to the airport-yum!

-Trying to let the boys watch a video in the airport while we wait for our plane only to have T-25 (work out video)stuck in the DVD drive. Come on boys, 25 sit-ups instead!

- On the airplane- here we go again! Tucker singing “Holy, Holy, Holy” (that’s the only part of the song he knows) at the top of his lungs. I think it’s adorable, but maybe others wouldn’t.

-I may or may not have accidentally opened the airplane bathroom door, only to find someone still in it.

-They served couscous as our dinner meal on the flight. Couscous. People, could you think of ANYTHING that would make more of a mess on an airplane?? I think there is still couscous falling out of my clothes, purse, etc.

-We stayed with some lovely folks, the Weeks, who even picked us up from the airport. Their friends that they were supposed to be dropping off that night had a canceled flight so we all 11 piled into their Landcrusier with our 5 bags tied to the roof.

-Traffic in Addis is as bad as traffic in Nairobi. Boo.

- Our kids think that ET is better than Disney World since we literally did every fun thing there is to do there in the 2 days we were there.  I keep trying to tell them that the rest of the world doesn’t go to ET for vaca.

-Cooper was so generous in sharing his cold with all of us. We appreciated it mostly in the middle of the night when Tucker was coughing up a lung.

-We went to probably the fanciest place in all of Ethiopia for the day, the Sheridan Hotel, to swim. It was a lovely way to spend my birthday, topped off by the fact that they sold ice cream there.

-Since it was so fancy we opted to take our lunch (PB and Nutella sandwhiches and knock off Prinlges- people, we are high class). I tried to take a butter knife in with me to spread the PB, but they took it away from me when I went through the full body scanner at the door.

- To keep things lively Alex tried to drown twice in the pool we went swimming in.

-Our children have to go to the bathroom ALL THE TIME, everywhere we go.I think it is contagious.

-Yod Absinnia is a really cool restaurant. Traditional Ethiopian food, served at a teeny tiny table in the middle of large chairs that our kids only fell off of 2 or 3 times. No silverware! Eat with your hands! Super yummy food. There was even a wedding party that came in to dine with us!

-We got to go bowling on our adventure day 2. It was pretty funny, there were always only 9 pins and half-way through we had to switch lanes because ours just quit working. Tucker absolutely loved it and would do a happy dance after every turn.

-Friday night is homemade pizza night at Tenwek and we got to continue the tradition by going OUT for pizza with the Weeks and Semme (our driver) on Friday night. The 9 of us polished off 5 pizzas. Our kids are vacuum cleaners. Skin and bones Cooper ate 5 pieces.

-Ethiopians are beautiful people. We wish we had more time to get to know them and hear more of their stories.

Fun Facts about ET

They consider a year to have 13 months, so to them it is still 2006. Hey, I’m 28 there! I like it!

They start time at dawn, calling it 12:00. So 7 a.m. to them is 1 p.m. Who knew they were so independent from the rest of the world?

Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee. They have “coffee ceremonies” in which they boil the water in a coffee pot of sorts over charcoal and then they burn incense on the charcoal.

Their money is called a birr and it is 20 birr to 1 US dollar

Natives call it “Etiopia”, no “th”

Quoteable Quotes from the trip

-(Squeal!!) It’s blast-offing!! – Alex as he watches a plane take off

-“In case of emergency please remove your high heels and store them under the seat in front of you” – ET in-flight message

- Eric: We are going to this really nice ice cream restaurant so you better behave. Cooper: Oh! Like Spoonlickers?”

-Alex at the pool: We should have something over our mouths to keep water out. Eric: We do, they are called lips.

Trying to fit all our stuff on the top!

Day at the pool

Our yummy ET dinner

Semme, Emily and Travis

There’s more we could tell, but that covers the important stuff. Thanks so much for your prayers that got us there and back! Praise the Lord that Kenya allowed us back in. Please, please pray that Eric’s work permit comes SOON so we don’t have to do this again!

To ET we go!

Well, we are about to embark on an adventure! To Ethiopia!

When coming to Kenya as a missionary doctor, you have to obtain a work permit. While you are waiting for a work permit, you are granted a visitor’s visa that lasts for 3 months. After that, you are able to renew the visitor’s visa one time (3 more months) hoping that your work permit comes in that time.

In our case, if that work permit does not come, they make you leave East Africa (not just Kenya) for a period of time (that no one seems quite certain of) and then come back. At that time you are granted a 3 month visitor visa again (for the pretty price of $50 a person) and you start the process over again.

Our visitor visa expires on the best day of the year, February 13^th! We have looked at all our options and the cheapest place to go, by far, is Ethiopia. So, to Ethiopia we go! We leave next week and will be gone for...some period of time.

It will be my most interesting birthday yet!

Thanks so much to those who have helped us with info about Addis Ababa, the capital, where we will be staying. While we were praying and hoping to avoid this extra inconvenience, we now are looking at it as a divine appointment from the Lord and hope to enjoy the adventure! We’d appreciate your prayers over us as we travel and try to navigate a new place with 4 little explorers in tow!

Guess who was the first in our family to be treated at the hospital!?

Did you guess Alex? If so, you’re wrong! It was ME.

Potty training can be bad for your health.  It’s a pretty ridiculous story.....

I was at Mom’s group, which meets on Wednesday afternoons. Tucker had woken up from his nap and come over to find me at our neighbor Ashleigh’s house. We were just about finished and he was telling me “poo poo”. Now, I’m not really potty training him, but I have been putting him on the potty every time I change him and he does go. So I thought it was worth taking him to try. Of course, we get in the bathroom and he doesn’t go.

     Here is where I made my first mistake. I took his diaper off, since we were just going to walk right home and get a new one. Well, in the 1 ½ minutes it took to leave the bathroom and walk outside, he peed and pooped in his jeans.....which went right down his leg and got all over his shoes. Blech. So I take him home, bathe him, clean off the shoes, etc.

     Fast forward an hour. I am reading books on the couch with the boys and Tucker wants to go outside. Well, a man was working on our front door because the lock wasn’t working, and he broke a pane of the glass. So I didn’t want Tucker getting glass in his foot, but that meant I had to find his only other pair of shoes.....and I couldn’t. They were missing. So I searched around for a bit, with no luck.

I then put his rain boots on him, which made him annoyed. So he started fussing and making ME annoyed so I threw him in his crib for a time out.

I think that sucker is about 10 lbs. 

     I then returned to the couch to resume reading, but looked over and thought I saw his croc under our shoe shelf, way in the back. So I went over and crouched down to retrieve it. Well, on that shelf was a pumpkin. A big one, that I had bought from Amos, my door-to-door pumpkin supplier. While grabbing the croc I unintentionally bumped the shoe shelf which knocked the pumpkin onto my head, causing it to slam into the concrete floor. PEOPLE, A PUMPKIN FELL ON MY HEAD.

     It hurt so bad that I screamed and as I stood up, put my hands on my head. I pulled them away to find them covered in blood. Then I hear Cole and Cooper crying. So I start crying because I figure this.must.be.bad. I yell for Cole to go get a towel,  and he returns with one square of toilet paper. Literally. And I don’t even buy the good kind, so people, this was not gonna cut it. I yelled that I needed a TOWEL, and this time he returns with the poopy washcloth that I had used to clean Tuck. Okay Erin, keep calm. No Cole, a TOWEL, DO YOU SEE THIS BLOOD??? Third times a charm and I at least got a clean washcloth this time.

     I then recruited Cole and Cooper to run and get my neighbor Ashleigh. Tucker is still screaming in his crib (but contained!!) and Alex is who knows where?

    The boys come back and say that Ashleigh is not there, so I send them to get Jen, my other neighbor. I also frantically call Eric and tell him he better come because I cut my head and am bleeding everywhere. Just the phone call you want to get, right? Well, the boys did well and returned with Jen AND her husband Todd, who happens to be a surgeon! They arrived to help and 2 minutes later Eric arrived to the bloody scene of the crime.

    The two surgeons conferred and it was decided that a few stiches were needed. Eric decided to let Todd to the job, so in case it hurt, I wouldn’t be mad at him J So Todd and I trekked up to the hospital, where he sewed me up (and two of the surgery residents checked on me to make sure he didn’t need help) and sent me on my way.  So now I get to look like a battered wife for a few days (is it finally time for my role in a Lifetime movie!!??),  have a rockin headache and a swollen eye, but thankfully I (and the pumpkin) are still in one piece. But you better believe that pumpkin is gonna pay. Pumpkin bars, anyone?  

This was the night of the injury

This is the next day (Thursday). You can't really tell from this picture,  but under my eye is turning a nice black and blue shade as well. 

Being a funnel...if there is room.

"Be a funnel, not a bucket."  This was a saying that one of my teachers told me at the beginning of my general surgery residency.  "Make sure you distill the knowledge you gain and pass it down to others, don't keep it all to yourself."  Supervising and teaching residents here at Tenwek is one of the best parts of being here in Kenya.  As we all learn together, I have the privilege of investing in the next generation of African surgeons and seeing them grow in knowledge and skill.  Little by little the goal of PAACS (Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeon)  is coming to fruition...to train Christian surgeons to impact Africa for Christ.

At Tenwek, residents like Seno (a Maasai third year with a leader's personality), Kanyi (a quiet but competent third year who is extremely thorough), Elijah (a chief resident with amazing technical skills), and Festo (a new ortho intern from South-Sudan with charisma and tons of potential) are being mentored by Christian surgeons in both medicine and the wisdom found in God's word.  Not too long from now, they will one day provide surgical care in Christ's name, and continue the legacy of Tenwek by teaching others throughout East Africa.

Not only are there surgery residents who are being taught within the walls of this established mission hospital, but also family practice residents, interns, and medical students from around Kenya.  In fact, there are 53 trainees currently at Tenwek, and with the new orthopedic residency, this number is expected to grow to 64 within the next 5 years.

General Surgery - 10
Orthopedic Surgery - 10
Family Practice - 6
Interns - 16
Medical Students - 12
Visiting Residents from other parts of Africa - 10

With all these residents, one problems has arisen...we are having trouble housing them here on campus. As opposed to life in the U.S. (where the residency directors just tell their residents to go find an apartment), residents in Kenya truly are residents...living at the hospital compound.  There are no apartment complexes down the street from Tenwek, and we can't expect them to live in a hut with no running water or electricity.  We have maxed out our current housing, and have even started putting two residents to an apartment.  Next year, if we don't have more housing, we won't be able to take new residents, and the possibility of future expansion is non existent. We are thrilled with the growth that God has brought, but face a challenge to construct housing for the expanded group of learners.

Currently there are plans drawn up for a new housing complex that will alleviate the current crisis and provide room to grow in the future.  We hope to begin construction soon on a three story housing unit that will house 44 students, interns, and residents.  The cost of this building is $800,000 and although we are on our way to raising the total amount, we still are in need of supporters to come alongside and support this project.

If you are interested in giving toward this housing unit, and therefore allowing the continued growth in education at Tenwek, you can mail checks made out to

World Gospel Mission
note: for Tenwek Housing Account #125-35006

Donor Services
World Gospel Mission
PO Box 948
Marion, IN  46952-0948

Please prayerfully consider what part God might have for you to play in this project.  This investment in the education of Christian physicians is really an investment in the future of Africa.

The Price Is Right!

It’s game time!

Today we are going to play a version of the Price is Right! I am going to list an item that I regularly buy here and you will guess how much I pay for it. Some will surprise you, high or low. I will list the price at the end of the email. It is fun to play this game with a friend, your spouse or the child sitting next to you right now! You both guess and the person closest without going over is the winner! So grab a piece of paper and a pen an here we go! Prizes will be awarded when I come home in 19 months....if I remember.... (don’t hold your breath)

1. 1 Avocado

2. 1 Pineapple

3. 1 Mango

4. 1 imported apple

5. Bag of tortilla chips

6. Small loaf of bread

7. Boneless, skinless chicken breast

8. Bottle of pancake syrup

9. Fresh raw cow’s milk (fresh that day)

10. Jumbo pack of Pampers

11. Huge bunch of fresh spinach

12. Head of cabbage

13. Single soda in a glass bottle

14. 2 liter of soda

15. small package of  pecans

16. a turkey

17. 2 kg (4.4 lbs) of not-very-good cheese

 

18. 4.4 lb bag of sugar

19. box of generic (Kenyan generic, not American generic) cereal

20. A US cake mix (a hot find!)

21. Jar of Mayo

22. Our Rent per month

23. Gas per liter

24. Meal at the “restaurant” in Bomet, the closest town to us. (I use the term restaurant very loosely. I had an extremely fried piece of chicken and a chapati (like a tortilla) plus a bottle of water-

Scroll down for answers....

1 Avocado- 10 shillings ($.12)

1 Pineapple- 60 shillings ($. 70)

1 Mango- 30 shillings ($.35)

1 imported apple-  34 shillings ($.40)

Bag of tortilla chips- 425 shillings ($5)

Small loaf of bread- 50 shillings ($.60)

Small package of boneless, skinless chicken breast  710 shillings ($8.35)

Bottle of pancake syrup- 795 shillings ($9.35)

Fresh raw cow’s milk (fresh that day) 40 shillings per liter ($.50)

Jumbo pack of Pampers- 1695 ($20)

Huge bunch of fresh spinach- 10 shillings ($.12)

Head of cabbage- 30 shillings ($.35)

Single soda in a glass bottle 40 shillings ($.50)

2 liter of soda- 150 shillings ($1.79)

small package of pecans- 495 ($5.85)

a turkey- don’t know exactly, but at Thanksgiving we paid $6 a person per serving.

2 kg (4.4 lbs) of not-very-good cheese  - 4060 shillings ($47.75)

4.4 lb bag of sugar- 270 shillings ($3.20)

box of generic (Kenyan generic, not American generic) cereal- 475 ($5.60)

A US cake mix (a hot find!) – 275 shillings ($3.25)

Jar of Mayo- 580 shillings ($6.80)

Our Rent - $250/month

Gas per liter- 110 shillings ($1.29 per LITER, not gallon)

Meal at the “restaurant” in Bomet, the closest town to us. (I use the term restaurant very loosely. I had an extremely fried piece of chicken and a chapati (like a tortilla) plus a bottle of water - 200 shillings ($2.35)

So, who won?? Hope you had fun and now know a little bit more about food prices for us! Maybe I'll start a turkey farm....or a cheese factory! Are there child labor laws in Kenya? (stir that cheese! catch that turkey!)