A beautiful Ethiopian tukul

Striking young woman waiting to be seen in the clinic.

The Nutrition Center

Hello from Ethiopia 5 March 2009

I hope you guys are doing well. So far the trip has been great. The weather is hot and dry during the day but gets cool at night. The place we are staying has a new cook and great food so we are all well nourished and get to eat as a group with our missionary hosts. The coffee (Buna) is hot, strong and wonderful.

The wildlife noises are amazing and we get too see all sorts of amazing birds. Colubus monkeys are common and on our walk in the morning to the dining hall we pass by a tree with 5 or 6 baboons. The baboons sometimes throw leaves and sticks.

The clinic is busy and we are already seeing interesting things. The nutrition program provides supplemental food for children who are 75% below expected weight for height. After we weigh and measure the children we check for edema and measure mid-arm circumference to determine who also qualifies. Edema signifies protein calorie malnutrion or kwashiorkor. It is a great program and the students have provided checkups for these significantly malnourished children. We had ‘prenatal day’ today and had the opportunity to check more than 75 woman and provide vitamins and Malaria prevention medicine.

The people are beautiful and gracious and we are so blessed to have the opportunity to be here. God has blessed our team and this trip is already wonderful. Thank you for the prayers we are all healthy and happy and working hard to be the hands of our Lord and Savior.

In Christ, Lori