Africa Post #2

After looking through all of my pictures, I've decided that this is going to take a while if I only do 5 pictures a post. So, thanks to Melanie, I will do 10 in a post. Some posts will be structured and some will be very random, like this one. Enjoy.

Unlike here, there are no clothing stores in this village. You have to buy material at the market or the material shop and then have the tailor make whatever you desire. I had a couple of outfits made and a bunch of fun purses. (Hint, Hint, for the 3 of you that I am sending "pay it forward" gifts to,{I still need your contact information Emily}).

For New Year's Eve we were invited to a dance club called the "El Dorado". I am not sure who came up with that name, but anyway, we had fun. We were unable to stay very long due to having to be up bright and early for more surgeries the next morning. The work never ends.

This picture just illustrates why you always felt dirty (even the cold showers were from well water and so were deceivingly clean). The orange dirt was so fine that it was easily stirred up into the air. I developed a fine itchy rash along with big welts on my face and neck after a few days in Africa (add a sunburn from the day at the market and you'll understand why some of my pictures are not very flattering). I really think the rash had to do with the dirt (and whatever it contained) that was in the air. I also had multiple itchy welts on my feet and ankles .

Proof that this trip was not just a vacation. We really worked hard and I am proud to say that we helped improve many lives.

I couldn't get enough of the babies. They were SO cute! The women carried them on their backs with cloth. In this case, it was a beach towel.

I was shocked when I saw this for the first time. I don't know who came up with the design of the hospital, but the OR is about 5 buildings down from the Post Op Recovery Room. We would have to take these poor ladies across a busy courtyard filled with people along a very rocky and bumpy path. True to form, they never complained.

Some of the women had very interesting tattoos (the men were never tattooed, just the women). Some of them had the soles of their feet and hands tattooed and many of them had their lips/mouths tattooed. Also, most of the women and teenage girls had two cut mark scars next to their eyes like this lady. I am not sure exactly why, but I would guess that it is considered a sign of beauty.

These 2 pictures are of Yatt's house. He was kind enough to let us inside his compound to meet his family and see how they lived. You will meet him in a future post. He spoke some English and interned last year for the Utah Alliance which is how some of the group already knew him.

This is just a picture of the first surgery performed. In our time there, we were able to perform 24 surgeries and 2 C-sections. The first C-section was an emergency and the baby was saved. With the 2nd C-section, the baby had already passed away and was stuck making the surgery necessary.