the latest

I know I have been absent from this site for a while, long enough that I don't really know where to begin to fill you in on the last month. But here are some of the highlights:

• I celebrated Christmas and the New Year with my friends and "family" here (someone even filled a stocking for me on Christmas morning)
• I was more homesick than I ever thought possible (its getting better now)
• I went on safari the week after Christmas to Arusha National Park (where parts of the film Hatari! was filmed)
• I celebrated my 30th birthday with a series of parties and events planned by my roommates, friends and coworkers. I even had two homemade birthday cakes!
• I taught two sections of the current HIV training course: Caring for an unconscious or bedridden patient and Basic first aid and wound care
• My roommates and I cut out and laminated hundreds of pictures for the 18 students in the HIV course to take home a teaching set to do seminars in churches and schools in their communities
• I've travelled to several different villages, once to visit HIV patients, once to take pictures of sponsored children to send back to America, and once to observe the fieldwork portion of our HIV training course
• One of the HIV+ people I visited was newly diagnosed and had a CD4 count of 17, normal is 500-1500! This means he has practically no immune system left and even taking antiretroviral medication at this stage may not help. (This is a great reminder of the importance early testing and counseling)
• I've seen Mt Kilimanjaro from three different sides in the past two weeks, and yes, it looks very different from each angle
• We have a mouse in our house that seems to have super powers and a taste for dried fruit and nuts. (He's learned to avoid all the traps our landlord put out and can climb walls and tables. Any suggestions?)

A few people have asked about the child with hydrocephalus I wrote about before, here's the latest update: he is a good candidate for surgery, it will just have to be done in Dar es Salaam (10+ hour bus ride from where he lives). Pray that logistics and funding will be worked out in a timely manner for this surgery to happen.

I've added some new pictures to my picasa page, just click the picture link on the left.