A different Christmas: Kendrick Mensink

My time in Gimbie is more than half over. But after a day like today, I believe it's getting better and better. For starters, my boss of sorts, Paul Howe, suggested I start attending staff worship at 8 am. I haven't gone in months. It conflicts with my breakfast. But I agree my example to the Ethiopians I work with needs to be at a decent standard. So I prayed last night for God to wake me up on time, and with energy. Amazingly, prayer answered exactly! I made my own breakfast, instead of waiting for the volunteer dorm's cook, which I also haven't done in months. I even helped feed a doctor from California who is really helping to improve patient care. He gets up early, no surprise. So maybe it isn't all that amazing to wives who do this everyday, but to them I say Read the end of Proverbs. I also did that today, and I say "well done" to all those wives who honor their husbands with behind the scenes labors of love. The day continued with usual requests for money, to which I simultaneously resist and give. I have diarrhea again, so frequent are my trips to the bathroom. But for some reason I'm energized. I get the crew going on a new road project, trying my best to think how to build it best, though I don't actually have to break my back to make it happen. I get a rare opportunity to ride into town on an errand. I use it wisely to pick up Xmas packages at the post, where I run into another friendly hospital employee who helps me like Santa's personal elf. Also I mail off some more postcards to loved ones back home in cold, white winter wonderlands. I'm in my own wonderland, but Xmas this year is so foreign I would miss it if it wasn't for writing dates on cash voucher authorizations each day. I also pick up "muzii" at the market, aka "banana". Our errand is to investigate buying gravel for the hospital's water project. Turns out we'll have to pick it up another day, but that's Africa to me. "TIA", this is africa. It means waiting, it means enjoying relationships, it means unique cultures, and means corruption, it means nothing can be expected. After an excellent shiro and injera lunch, Paul V, a fellow SM doing his best business administration work for the hospital, calls a meeting with the head of maintenance and myself. We discuss how to better prioritize our projects around the hospital, and then we work together to make deadline goals for each project. I communicate clearly through a trusty translator, Mamo, and then we post on paper and whiteboards our deadlines for all passerbys and staff to see. I hope this with make our work faster, more prioritized, organized, and more optimistic. At least that's how I feel today. I little push here and there to use one's brain for oneself can be an infectious and productive idea. If only every African could take a hold of that.