Okee Dokee, this is a direct copy/paste from an e-mail from Carmen herself. I don't think I have anything to add...



I arrived in Langano, which about 4 hours South of Addis Ababa.We got to the compound in the afternoon and got settled. The compound there consists of a medical clinic, dealing mostly with births, pre-natal exams, infections, crisis feeding program, vaccinations, and malaria (there are a few more things then that,of but it is not anything like what you would invision as a medical clinic). A new place Called Mana Abdii, or house of hope. This house deals with babies in crisis ( having lost their mother or having health problems). At this time there was a mother there named Kufto (koof-too)( about 20ish years old) and her baby. Kuftu and her baby came to clinic workers as they were administering Extended Outreach System (A Unicef project to find cases of malnutrition, administer vit. A, and treat for worms) in the near by villages.Both she and her child were experiencing sever malnutrition ( her husband had abandoned her and left her with no support system) and were entered into the Crisis Feeding Program and the Dawe Langano Clinic.
After a couple of weeks it was evident that both of them were in need of more intensive care so they were admited to Mana Abdii. After you drive past the clinic and past Mana Abdii the road turns toward Lake Langano and leads you to the "Beach House" where we stayed. Jen and I took a tent. we were there all week for Christmas. The nature there was totally amazing, I was able to see 3 kinds of monkeys and about 20 different kinds of birds. It was amazing. I was able to talk to one of the gaurds, Even though I never saw him again it was encouraging to see someone going to school and learning english, He was about 25 with a grade 7 education. We were able to decorate the Beach House and have tons of food for eveyone staffed there for Christmas Day. The day before Christmas I was able to witness a birth. It was amazing. She was about 16, circumsized and having her first baby. She was lucky to have a live baby boy and to leave with little tearing. Christmas day was a blast. but a little wierd. It was warm and sunny, we went swimming...all the stuff a Canadian girl isn't us to. We clebrated with the staff and had a really awesome day together. The next day we were going to spend with a family that had come on the 24th to visit for Christmas from Alaska. Instead we happened to be there for another birth! This one was much more personal for me, I was able to help and hold her hand the whole time. Again she was circumsized, maybe 16, first baby. She was amazing, and although she tore really really badly she came out fine with a healthy baby boy. A custom here that seems harsh, but is understandable; basically the mother is to show no emotion towards the baby. Sometimes this last until they are 5 years old. The main reason for this is that the fatalitly rate in children and infants is massive here, and therefor the mother does not want to be too emotionaly invested in the child. This is the harsh reality. Another thing that this Clinic does is go out into the community and vaccinates children for basic things like polio, rabies, and measels. Polio is still a problem here. While vaccinating they also check for malnutrition and when they find it they enroll the child into the clinic feeding program. If the child does not show improvment in that program then they are admited to Mana Abdii. Basically this whole program has opene my eyes to a lot of truth and reality. I can only hope that the rest of my time here is so amazing. Well, That is all for this week. Thank you for your prayer. Please keep in mind continued health and just the ability to hear God's voice through the next weeks. Until next time.