Yates Family In Soddo

Oh the joys of living overseas and feeling neither like an American and neither like an Ethiopian. Sometimes it is difficult and other times it is just funny to see the culture clash.  A few weeks ago we had a team that came to visit us at the hospital and brought cloth diapers for the newborn babies and the pediatric department. One of their team members had come before and was moved in love and compassion that all the babies soiled rags with urine and stool, for the mother or helper to hand wash and change again. The beds get wet, the mothers get wet and the child is covered sometimes down to their cute little baby feet in poop. So this team decided it would be so much better, and more sanitary if we had reusable cloth diapers for the wards. They got everything all set up and gave their specific instructions to the cleaning staff. I happened to be their to watch their interaction... all translated by our local Ethiopian IT worker, who knows nothing about cloth diapers, but he spe...

Why is fear such a great weapon. It feels like it is everywhere, and so easy to get sucked in, especially with young children. Since our return to Ethiopia, as the mother of sweet 2 year old Cole and little 3 month old baby Leah I have had moments of overwhelming fear, crippling fear, and even I want to run as far away from here as I can fear. I was doing ok. I could handle the every changing expectations, the non-functional car, being left alone to care for the hospital compound and the hospital for a few weeks with the others traveling, but when it comes to my kids, it is so easy to get overwhelmed and spiral out of control. Just as I started working in the hospital more than I intended, and the majority of our western neighbors left, there was a new article about aflatoxin in all diary products in greater Ethiopia.  https://aghealth.wordpress. com/2015/07/20/new-ilri-study- finds-high-levels-of- aflatoxin -in-milk-and-dairy- feeds-in-greater-addis-ababa- milk-shed/ I felt like a...