So these past few days have been interesting like always. There are great days, there are hard dyas, and there are some really hard days. Things have gotten more frustrating at our house with the invasion of privacy, the screaming, and just trying to meld two very different cultures. But on the plus side, our absolutely amazing guard Gemedo (who seems to be the only reliable person in our lives right now) found two houses for us, which Mieso will cheick out on Monday.
Friday was the day we were to meet with the community workers and have our first lesson of the health program Sarah and I are attempting to implement. Thanks to the advice from the former intern Aaron, we have been able to get a few more things rolling, and we are finally feeling busy at work. Dejene translated, and we started 45 min late because we waited for community workers to show up, and some even showed up 2 hours late in fact, but we figured that was better then not showing up at all. Dejene kept adding things in translation and then took the whole meeting over and turned it from the importance of clean water to a lesson on how they needed to work harder to get more latrines made in the villages. They never have meetings with the community workers anymore, which is ridiculous, but then they took our organized meeting and made it theirs, and we ended up on the side sitting while they scolded them.
Then the problems with the truck. Sarah and I tried to drive it somewhere but that turned into a huge fiasco. No matter what we did to prove them that we could drive the truck, even legally (and we were right and had proof of all our arguments from driver's liscence to my insurance policy), Mieso said no. It all came down to the fact that he was afraid his boss Nigatu would fire him if something happened, even though we got permission from NIgatu himself. Mieso is so afraid of getting fired and that even if Nigatu found out he was afraid of getting fired he would get fired. So he made us promise that we wouldn't tell, and any solution we can think of to get us to drive the truck involves mentioning that he is afraid Nigatu would fire him for anything that happened to the truck, even if we took full responsibility, and so now we're stuck between a rock and a hard place. I've never felt so trapped in a place in all my life, no phone, no car, in a village in the middle of no where, they won't let us go out without our gaurd or someone becuase we're girls....Anyways, so things kept piling up, problems that I couldn't fix, and problems with this organization...too many to go into right now.
However, basically the entire point of the blog is that I've come to peace and realize that those little, and big things don't matter. It was so nice to walk this morning and think on the way to church, and to sit and take the sacrament and then listen to the words of the prophet (we are watching last years conference for sacrament meeting) and realize that this is not it, this is not the reward, this is the test. I am here for a reason, that I cannot say enough. And I just can't get mad that the people for begging and screaming "you!" at me and everything else. Everyone is arriving from a journey and I do not know that journey. I don't know what has happened these past few weeks to make me harden my heart so much to these people and get so mad at them for making me feel like I'm not even a human being. Shame on me!! I'm doing the very same thing that I claim they are doing to me. I know this gospel is true and I'm grateful for my Savior and the Atonement and the fact that I know I can read the scriptures and learn from His example. This church defines who I am and I need to remember that and to be proud of the fact that I am a daughter of God and these people that I'm struggling so hard to serve and help are His children also.
And how could I forget...Friday was Wandu's 20th Birthday and Sarah and I were invited to come to his house at 1pm so we took off for lunch, ran home to get a few things to eat and were about 10 min late because we got lost and ended up at his cousins. I think we were 10 min late. He came running out wondering why we were late and said everyone has been waiting for us to start. When he found out we didn't have a camera he had to call a photographer, and we waited for 30 min for the party to actually start. While waiting we found out that Ethiopians don't really celebrate their birthday past the age of 6, if they do at all. Then he said he wanted to be American and so he was having his American Birthday with a cake and candles and everything. The photographer came and Wandu made Sarah and I stand there with him while they took pictures of us by his cake and candles. Keep in mind his family was there and he did not get a single picture with them, not even with his mom who has spent so much time preparing everything, and in fact he totally forgot to invite his Dad. We were the guests of honor and they made us sit in the middle, and we were the only ones who got a pop and were the first ones served. Sarah and I didn't realize that it was a full meal and they gave us enjira and potatoes. After we ate more then I could ever want, he informed us that we were the entertainment and everyone sat around waiting for us to do something. So I sang Happy Birthday in German and Sarah did the Marilyn Monroe Happy Birthday, and then they wanted us to dance for them and put on music and everything....I decided I might as well live it up while I was there, besides it was Wandu's Birthday and he was telling everyone how he was American now....so I danced and behaved like the idiot I am and had some fun with it. I just blows my mind that this thing was planned about us, and we weren't even informed. Wandu sure keeps us on our toes!
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