The Best and The Worst

Dear Friends and Family,


One of the best experiences I've had since I've been in Guyana has been celebrating Phagwah, or Holi! It is the celebration of Spring and the beautiful colors of nature. On Phagwah one can walk around the street and see people with powdered dye covering their whole body. My Phagwah day started out wonderfully because Sarah and Audrey went to a church service later than mine and when they came home I heard them say: "No one Phagwahs before 12 eh?" (Which is what I had hear the night before) As they walked up the stairs I could see the dye smeared across their face. I laughed so hard! Then we went up to the orphanage and played with the boys for a little bit. They were going to play Phagwah but not until later that afternoon.

It wasn't until later that we went out with one of our friends. We met up with a group of people and that is where it all began. Within minutes I was completely covered in dye, glitter, and water!! It was like we were all children again. A bunch of young adults running around covering each other in dye. It was a ton of fun. We did this in two different areas of the city until we went to the national stadium where there was a GIANT Phagwah party. It was sponsored by GT&T and therefore they gave out free blue powder which is the company's color. We stayed their for a long time. It wasn't just smearing dye but also there music and other family friendly entertainment. We spent the afternoon dancing and having fun. Afterwords we drove down to the creek to jump in the water and wash off. I decided not to jump in because I was too cold. I wasn't alone - Audrey also didn't want to go in.

Overall it was a wonderful day. At the end of the day I was tired and happy. It was a pain to try and scrub all the dye off of my skin. My hair is still pink as a result from all of the dye. We were all pretty sad that our cameras had been stolen earlier this year so we weren't able to take any pictures. One of our friends that we saw took a picture of us and e-mailed it to me. Hopefully by sunday night I will be able to put it up.

Well other than that my week was pretty normal. We are about to leave on retreat soon, in an hour so I won't be around this weekend.

I guess I titled this blog the best and the worst because I had an experience that was terrible. One of my beloved girls is in the hospital with pneumonia. It is even worse than that because she already has complicated sickle cell anemia. She has received so much blood already they don't know if her body can take any more. My other girls wanted to go see her and the other teachers said it was fine so I took some of them to the hospital to visit her. Not only was the hospital itself a culture shock, but seeing someone you love there is even worse. The hospital is always packed full of people, one big long room for women. I saw a bed with two women in it because they are out of beds. When you see this it is easy to distance yourself from them as a coping mechanism. However, when you see someone you truly care about lying in a bed with other people lying around... it breaks you. Her breathing was so rapid and shallow she couldn't speak with us. Her entire face and limbs were swollen from an assumed lack of oxygen. I wish I could say that its going to get better for her, but its likely that it won't.

Guyana is still a developing nation and the lack of health care affects thousands of lives each year. Its the sad reality of life here. I kept thinking about how one of the hardest moments in my life was seeing my uncle slowly fade away in the hospital and then saying goodbye. I realize that moment wasn't so bad now... he had lived a full wonderful life, he was always surrounded by friends and family, and he knew he was loved. This girl has come from a broken home, she has had more pains than joys, and she was alone. We stayed for a while and the girls didn't know what to say or how to handle it. I encouraged them to talk to her even if she couldn't talk back. At one point my girl Lashawna asked me to pray with Chelsea. So we all held hands and prayed over her. After that we went to go and buy her some juice and then some family of hers came so it was our time to leave.

This was one of the hardest things I've had to do, to look at someone and know that if this were a different place or a different time things could possibly have a better outcome. However, this is how it is, so I ask God to make the best of the situation and to help all involved see the good in things. I ask for your prayers for her. I will update you on her condition. She needs a miracle to make it through this, but anything is possible.

Well, I am off to go to a much needed retreat. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and week. Know of my prayers for you as I ask for your prayers. May your lent be full of a knowledge that God's mercy is waiting for us all we need to do is repent.


While you are preaching peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart. - St. Franscis of Assisi

Love,

Ashley Ann