Elections!!

Hello,

Yesterday as I was at the hospital I ran into Sarah in the hallway and I asked her if it was her fault that the hospital was so much chaos and she turned to me and said "no, I was just coming to blame you". We both laughed and continued going about our massive amounts of work. Friday the hospital was absolutely packed there was not a single bed empty in Mercy Hospital. We also had a completely full day with patient after patient after patient. I think I finally ended up taking a twenty minute lunch around ohhh 2pm. I couldn't believe how there was just never a dull moment.

I enjoy the chaos of work sometimes because it keeps the day moving fast. After I finished work I had to go to the bus park to catch a bus to go home and I realized I was just going from one place of chaos to another. Yet - I use the word chaos in an endearing way, like as if the chaos because it is so constant really isn't chaos at all. Rather a well oiled machine that to someone who knows nothing about it looks like chaos, and it isn't until you fully understand the mechanics that you can understand and then begin to love the machine. I feel like that's a good way to describe the daily life in the heart of Georgetown. Yes it is crazy, madness, but beneath it all there is some system that works.

When I was at the bus park friday afternoon there was what I call a "Hobo circus". A few men who were apparently street dwellers had picked up some rope and metal rings. The proceeded to hang the rope between posts and try to walk across it, and then the did tricks jumping through the hoops. It was one of those things that you watch and laugh at and kind of makes every other thing that happened in your day seem not important. It was kind of a reminder that even though things are really tough there will always be something to make you smile.

Here is a picture of the market/bus park - although it really doesn't do it justice. This is just a very small part with not nearly as many people as normal. Plus it doesn't add in the factor of constant honking and shouting that is always present. :)

So anyway, At school this week my students started working on Microsoft PowerPoint and one of their assignments is to come up with a PowerPoint on any topic they choose. Many of them have decided to do it on themselves. One of my girls named Mohanie was writing about her best friend in her PowerPoint when she wrote: "And he is like a diary to me because I can leave all my secrets knowing that they are safe with him". I told her how much I liked what she wrote and asked her if I could share it. I felt like it was so insightful and well written and made me remember how much potential all my students have. We all have secrets that make us vulnerable to other people and she is describing such a beautiful relationship. A relationship of complete security. What a beautiful thing.

I said that I would put up some stuff about the upcoming elections on November 28th. I would first like to say I have no political views in Guyana and am simply putting up information that others might find interesting.

One of the major differences I have found is that there are Political signs EVERYWHERE. Maybe I forget what its like back home but there are major banners, billboards, and signs posted to every telephone and light post that you can see.

The party in office right now is the PPP/C the Peoples Progressive Party/Civic. If you click here you can see their facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/votepppc#!/votepppc?sk=info
If you would like to look at their official website it is here: http://www.ppp-civic.org/new/

 

This picture of the party rally was taken on Regent Street - the "main street" of Georgetown. It was during a parade on nomination day. All of the parties had a parade before officially declaring their candidates. (This is if memory serves me correctly) 

The two people I circled are the Current president on the Left and the running president on the right.




The next party is the APNU - A PARTNERSHIP FOR NATIONAL UNITY
Link: 
http://www.facebook.com/votepppc#!/pages/APNU-Guyana/195116613874257?sk=info

APNU is not a political party, but an association of political parties, Guyanese organisations and citizens that share a common desire to ensure a bright future for our country and citizens, guided by our Statement of Principles. The name, “A PARTNERSHIP FOR NATIONAL UNITY”, (APNU), and our symbol were carefully selected after a prolonged period of collaboration, consultation and discussion with ...the wider Guyanese society. The First word “A” emphasises the moving away from multiple interests into a cohesive unit, hence: A Partnership for National Unity. The term “Partnership” was preferred over other suggestions such as “Alliance”, “Coalition”, etc., to convey the idea of sharing: shared power and governance; shared dividends; shared responsibilities. “National” refers to the homeland Guyana. “Unity” is the launching pad for everything and one does not have to spell out reconstruction, reconciliation, development, etc.; Unity gives the level playing field, as does partnership, thus the removal of all barriers to everything else. The Symbol, “The Palm of the Hands”, reflect the importance of all partners: their hands and their fingers working together. The symbols on the palm of one hand identify the initial partners from JOPP offering to the people of Guyana, represented by the map of Guyana in the other hand, an opportunity to work together in a Government of National Unity for the benefit of all our citizens. The two palms of the hand remind us all that the future/destiny of Guyana lies, literally, in the palm of our, (Guyanese), hands.See More

To demonstrate our commitment to national unity and to fulfil the requirements of the Election Laws of Guyana, the members of A PARTNERSHIP FOR NATIONAL UNITY will contest the 2011 General and Regional Elections as a single united List of Candidates with: a common symbol; a consensus Presidential Candidate, Mr. David Arthur Granger; a single Representative and a single Deputy Representative of the List of Candidates; an agreed Electoral Platform; and, a unified campaign organisation and management. (Copy and pasted from their facebook page)

Their Offical Website:

http://www.apnuguyana.com/

This is the presidential candidate, David Granger, with some children.



The last major party that I see campaigning is the AFC. Alliance for Change.

http://www.facebook.com/votepppc#!/ChangeGuyana?sk=info

ALLIANCE FOR CHANGE
CHOOSE CHANGE IT'S TIME
AGENDA FOR CHANGE
We commit to -

... * Establishing a caring government where the suffering and the plight of the poor, the elderly in particular, youths, the issues of gender and Guyanese in general will be addressed in a timely manner.

* Creating a stable social and political environment where the rule of law is upheld to attract suitable local, regional and foreign direct investment for the creation of jobs, economic development, self reliance, wealth and the alleviation of poverty, consistent with the Millennium Development Goals.

* Dealing with the crime situation in the country in a holistic way and returning the country to a satisfactory level of security where our people could once again feel physically secure in their homes, places of work and recreation.

* Working towards the development of trust between government and the people, between local professionals and government; between the private sector and government; between investors and government; between all the ethnic groups in Guyana and government.

* Re-establishing a qualified and professionally competent public service and a National Insurance and Social Security Scheme that is relevant to the financial and economic realities of the Guyanese society.

* Restoring the principle of separation of powers, strengthening the three arms of the State by reforming the Parliamentary System, improving the standards of the judiciary as well as inculcating in government a culture of excellence and service to the people.

* Developing institutional arrangements for the mutually beneficial utilization of the expertise and financial means of the Diaspora.

* Conserving the natural heritage and the biodiversity of out country in accordance with the principles of sustainable development.

* Creating a system of education and moral guidance that will unlock the potential of our children in an environment of equal treatment and equal opportunity to give support to the family structure.

http://www.voteafc.com 

Information taken off of their offical Facebook page - which is linked above. 

I only have a few minutes before my time at the internet runs out - So I am cutting this a little bit short. But those are the three parties that are running for this election. 


I hope you all have a very blessed week. Keep positive and enjoy the weather for me!! Take care of yourself. 

All my love, 

Ashley Ann 

Who am I?

Hey there,


Walking down to the internet cafe` today in the 90+ degree heat with a scorching sun made me think of all my friends and family back home who are enjoying the snow in their lives right now. I can honestly say I really don't miss the snow at all! I thought when I first came to Guyana that I would miss the cold, but I have converted and now I know that there is nothing all that special about being cold all the time!!!

This past weekend we had the flu bug go through out house and Meg, Sarah and Audrey got a little sick. Luckily I was able to stay healthy - mostly by avoiding the house. :) Meg got sick the most and had to miss a couple days of work. Monday gone was another national holiday. I ended up going into work to finish connecting all of the computers to the internet so it didn't seem like a holiday to me. This was okay since we had just had a holiday the week before.

I would like to throw a shout out to my beautiful and great friend Anna. She left Georgetown on friday to head back to the UK. Anna and I have shared so much throughout the past year together and reflected as I was helping her pack on how much we have both changed and grown in the past year. Anna was always a great person to talk with and throw ideas at. She is honest and passionate about life. Anna is never shy to make me see both sides of everything and help me to be cautious if I am about to tread in dangerous waters. I will truly miss her and she will always have a special place in my heart.

This past week we had to submit stories for our Mercy Volunteer Corps connection and my roommate Sarah submitted one titled: "Who am I?". We were sitting in her room talking one night and we were both reflecting on how sometimes we do or say things and we wonder what the younger version of us would say. I feel like I am a completely different person than I was a year ago. Conversations with Anna, Audrey and Sarah all helped me to confirm this.

One example of this is we were cooking in the kitchen and someone told Sarah what to do. I immediately stopped them because back in the day I used to over correct Sarah because I thought I was always right. Sarah said to me: "Ohh, just like Ashley back in the day, when you used to think you were always right... you're not like that at all anymore". I then replied: "Yeah, in fact I think sometimes now I admit when I'm wrong a little too easy". I am able to see things from so many different perspectives and actually to be honest if I have become judgmental against anyone these days its against people who remind me of the old me. Oh what growth can do to ya - its not always perfect and you always have something to work on.

I have been able to see this for a while but it really hit me this past week when I realized I just don't stress nearly as much as I used to. I used to let things bother me and stress me out and now although I do still have stress and troubles it reflects in a much different way in my life.

The main example I have for this is a huge change in friends throughout the past couple of months. Before coming to Guyana I thought that there were people in my life who I couldn't live without. Now I realize that this isn't true at all. People will always be coming in and out of our lives and I have finally come to the conclusion that at the end we just need to be at peace with ourselves. There are people who literally try and suck the fun out of life. Focusing on the negative doesn't get us anywhere. If you have a beautiful tree in your yard but it has a bunch of dead branches you should probably cut them off. Yes at one point the branches had beautiful growth but if it has become dead weight and is a negative influence to the rest of the tree - cutting it off is most often the best option. Life is about continual change and growth and once we become comfortable with the natural changes in life I feel our stress level will decrease dramatically. Yes there are times when we have to fight for things but not everything is a battle sometimes its just a turn in the road in which you shouldn't look back.

Audrey and Sarah have been instrumental in helping me to realize this. We have had many different people come in and out of our lives the past 14 months but they are two people who are constant. Last night Audrey and I sat in my mosquito night and has a really good talk about life and it reminded me that we are always provided with what we need. Sometimes we think we know what we want and what we need - but God is giving us a present 1000 times greater but because we are too stubborn to even look at the new gift we focus on the old.


I guess this week I am kind of at a loss of what to share. Life this week was busy with classes, patients, and catching up on some good sleep. The elections are coming up here and that has lead to some really big campaigns and interesting tatics. Next week in my blog I will share more about what is going on with the election and all the interesting things about that. I guess I will end with a short reflection that I had to do for our Mercy Volunteer Corps Connections:


"I once heard a quote that said "statistics are humans with the tears wiped away". I often wonder how many times I looked at a statistic about HIV and didn't think twice about it. HIV's toll on the world is easy to overlook when we only see numbers. My life in Guyana has forever made me look at these numbers not simply as numbers but as faces, as tears, as stories that are unheard by so many people.

I sometimes think we lose connection with actual human beings because of technology and Guyana has firmly reminded me to focus on the human rather than the machine. No story over text message or email is even comparable to sitting down with someone and chatting. Because we have this distant mean of information sharing and communication we have the ability to change horrible statistics into a fact that evades our heart.

Take time to focus on someone who has become a statistic, a story untold, someone the world has forgotten. We might not be able to change the world, but we can change a life. Give validation to a individual and connect ourselves to another human being. For every HIV statistic there is a tear and face, don't ever forget that."

Stay sweet,

Ashley Ann

White Trash

Happy Belated Halloween!!!

I hope you all have had smooth transition into the month of November. In Guyana the date is written Day/Month/Year and I can tell you that November is always tricky writing /11/11 my dashes and ones get messed up, and well i've made a mess of some of the hospital paperwork already. haha : )

Last Monday we had a Halloween party for some of friends. It was just a laid back night where we all dressed up, had some cook up and channa, played games and some music. I've always liked coming up with creative/literal costumes for Halloween and this year I went as "white trash". I dressed up in a trash bag and made it into a shirt. I made a bunch of jewelery out of bottle caps and used aluminum foil. It was by far an interesting costume. There were people dressed up as zombies, Vybes Kartel, Sponge bob, Pirates, and anyone who didn't wear a costume had to put on one of our skirts over their clothes!! Three different men ended up wearing some pretty colorful skirts!! :)

There is a small cafe near our house and this week I ended up visiting it three times. On tuesday after work one of my friends showed up at my house and asked me what I was up to. I said nothing so they asked me if I wanted to go grab a coffee. We ended up chatting for quite some time and it made me thankful for the friendships that  I have developed here. Sometimes just being with someone can make everything better even though no solution is created. Wednesday night I once again went with a friend where I ended up having a quite interesting debate about the topic of abortion. The individual brought the topic up out of no where and to be honest at the end of the conversation I felt like we had gotten no where. I firmly believe that if you are going to have a discussion on such a hot item - you need to listen to the other persons opinion. Sometimes I think we forget that just because we listen to someone else doesn't mean we need to believe what they tell us. My last trip to the coffee shop was with two girls and we just sat around and relaxed after both having a stressful day at work. Wandering conversations can be healing for the soul.

At work this week we had a small test in my class. I have always told my students how they don't need to be able to read or write well to do well on my tests - but they just need to pay attention and try hard. One of the classes in particular had test scores that shocked me. The students who are normally the most low preforming and have a very low reading level ended up getting some of the highest grades in my class. The students who have little problem reading and writing ended up getting scores WAY below satisfaction. It made me realize that sometimes when you think you are good at something you don't put the effort in. I was so proud of my few students who I knew had actually paid attention, asked questions, and really made the effort to do well. Never underestimate the ability of your students. They have taught me they all have great capabilities its just that they need the information presented to them so that they are able to grasp it.


The month of November is always a great month to take time to find things that we are thankful for. I guess the first set of Thanks this month that I would like to share is being thankful for having a purpose in my life right now. Even as I worked at the hospital this week I just felt good to be what I was doing. I am sure I could come up with a million little stories each week of why I love what I am doing. To have patients look forward to seeing you again or even just to make someone smile makes each day at work something to look forward to. Also of course my students. I had them help me do an ultra cleaning of my computer room this week and I didn't even have to try that hard to convince them. They may have done more talking than cleaning but I can tell they just enjoy being around and being able to have someone listen to them.

Well anyway, I have had a crazy busy week when it comes to work and socializing and even as I write this I have a few more things to get done.

Love and prayers,

Ashley

Good Wins

Hello Everyone!

This week has been a wonderful week because once again we had a holiday! Diwali!! Also, Sarah's parents came in last weekend and it was wonderful to have them around. Sarah's mother always gave us so many hugs and it was like having a real "mama's" hug as she called them. They brought us some wonderful treats from home and it seemed like it was a mini Christmas full of candy!!! It was a blessing to have a small reminder of life from back home and its always good to be reminded of home!!

On Saturday night Audrey, Meg and I went out to the national cultural center to see a dance show. The cultural center has a dress code so we all had to dress up! I enjoyed the dance show and the performers were really good. It was the national dance troop and its associates.

Work this week was easy and simple because we had a day off in the middle of the week. My favorite work story of the week comes from Thursday morning. I was walking to work and as I went to cross the street a motorcycle went to pass the bus at a rapid pace and I didn't see it because it was passing illegally and I had already looked once. All of a sudden I hear someone yell miss. I stopped and the bike just missed me. When I got to school I told one of my students the story and he said: "See miss, God be with ya, See, Good thing I pray for ya every morning". It made me smile. My students bring me so much joy and truth.

Diwali is the Hindu holiday celebrating the religious new year and also the celebration of light: Triumph of good over evil. The night before Diwali there is a motorcade along the sea wall and we went to Sarah's parents hotel to watch it from the veranda. We had a decent view and we didn't had to be in the middle of the chaotic crowd... I had already done it the year before! It was a good night just to relax, see the floats, and enjoy getting to know Sarah's parents a little bit more.

On Diwali day we spent most of the day with orphanage boys. At first the church next door had their church fair which we took them too, and after that one of the supermarkets in town had a party for all of the orphanages in town and we went with to help take care of the boys. It was a great day. I brought along my new camera and tried out some of the new features with the boys when we had free time at the orphanage between activities. :) I got some Amazing pictures... Also we went out that night with our friend Ryan, he brought us by some of his friends who feed us Seven curry - my favorite - and then "Sweet meats" which are not meats at all, but rather sugary treats!!

Wendell showing off his shoes after he asked me to put them on for him.... He is my baby!! :)

Audrey helping Sanjay put his shirt on right!

My make shift belt for Sanjay that was 2 sizes too big. :) Gotta be creative when you don't have much to work with!

Boys at the church fair

Wendell 

Lenny, Showing off for the Camera :) 

Adrian and I 

Boys being silly!

My new favorite picture!

Wendell tired at the party... 

a Diya which is lit on Diwali night in front of the houses

SEVEN CURRY, Ryan, Meg and Audrey

SEVEN CURRY - I love Hindu holidays!!

Megs first batch of seven curry

A house lit up with Diyas

Well I hope you enjoyed the pictures this week. And remember the meaning of Diwali - Good triumphs over Evil. Even though we may be in the midst of the battle, ultimately good wins.

Love,

Ashley Ann

What kind of Sandals are you wearing?

Hello Everyone!

Once again another week has flown by and I feel like it was just yesterday that I was writing my blog. Days seem to be moving faster and faster. I keep hearing how weather back state side is getting colder and colder and its really hard for me to imagine right now. This week it was rainy for both thursday and friday and we felt like we were in our own little "cold spell". All four of us felt cold on friday and sat around the house with long sleeve shrits on... However, I am sure it was nothing compare to the cold that has hit the states.

Last Sunday was one of my favorite days I have had in a long time. I went out to my friend Andrew's house with my friend Venus and met a few other people out there. We ended up spending the entire day cooking and relaxing. When we finished cooking we watched Big Bang Theory which I have to say is one of my favorite shows now. I think it is absolutely hilarious. Maybe part of the reason I find it so hilarious is because I know a couple people who vaguely remind me of Sheldon, a man with almost no social skills, and I can't help but laugh whenever he says something ridiculous. Sunday night we went out to the sea wall and relaxed. It wasn't anything special but it was just all together a very relaxing sunday, helped me to get ready for the week ahead.

School this week went pretty well. I am always surprised at how the students behave depending on the week - the class last week that had no attention span and no energy acted as angels and the class that is normally angels decided to be completely distracted and lost through out the entire hour. I have learned that predicting the behavior of my students is impossible so I just take things one day at a time.

Life at the hospital was as expected this week. We had a steady week with no extremely busy moments, yet very few completely dead moments. The hospital is under construction and I am completely sick of the noise that is going on there. It is always so loud and I can't wait for it to stop. However - the construction will be going on for a LONG time so I guess I just have to get used to it.

This week I've been reminded to focus on the good that people bring into your life. One of my co-workers Terese always brings a smile to my face. On Friday I gave away my lunch to someone who forgot to bring their lunch to work and asked her to buy something for me when she went out on the road. When she came back she brought me an AMAZING and FREE lunch. It was from a restaurant that I had never been to before and the food was out of this world! She even brought me a coke which just made my day. I know that this sounds really small - but sometimes when you have a really long week even the small things in life can just make a REALLY huge difference.

On Wednesday this week I got off of work about a half an hour early because I had to run some errands related to our visa's before different offices opened. I ended up getting a free ride from my co-workers friend so the extra time I took off was not needed. When I realized I had some extra time I decided to stop by a church that one of my past students now works at. When I went to go find him we had a really good discussion. He is doing well and is actually now in charge of his own "parish" in an area about an hour away from Georgetown. He asked me if I wanted to stay for the prayer service which was starting in a few minutes but I kept giving a reason for why I couldn't stay. He had to leave town so he didn't pressure me too hard because he wasn't going to be there anyway. On my way out another pastor kept talking to me and trying to convince me to stay. I have a really difficult time saying no (something I inherited from my mother) and ended up going to the prayer meeting.

Now I've always had non denominational friends before but never have I been to a prayer service like this. There was a lot of loud praying and yelling and at first I was completely freaked out. I was doubtful that God was hearing any of this as I thought it was all crazy. After a while we sat down and they handed out a bible story and their interpretation of it. It was the bible story of when Moses is on Mount Sinai. The scripture that they looked at was: "God called to him from within the bush, "moses moses!" and moses said, "here I am." Do not come any closer, God said. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." (Exodus 3:2-4)

They then went on to talk about if the sandals didn't have negative influence then God wouldn't ask Moses to take them off. The sandals represented the doubts that Moses had in his life. In order to fully approach God Moses had to remove all doubts that he had and come to God without any reservation. This really made me think about my own life and what kind of sandals I am wearing on my feet. What am I doubting that is keeping me from a full complete relationship with God. I wrote in my last blog how I have a hard time being sure that heaven exists and that is a perfect example of a doubt that I walk around with. Like our shoes, our doubts become a part of us that our entire self rests on. I doubted that I would get anything from this prayer session and yet I still found something, how much easier would it have been if they didn't have to practically drag me into the church. How much better would it have been if the doubts didn't have my judging the validity of the prayers being offered at that very time.

One last line that really hit me from the sheet they gave me went: "I believe that those who have not conquered what they are fighting to conquer, due to the faith they claim to have in God, Surely, have not yet removed the sandals (doubts) from their feet. Due to this they have not yet placed all their strength {in God}." This hit me really hard. Sometimes I want God to have control of my life but I don't want to give Him all of myself - I give him a piece here, a piece there but there are major things in my life where I say to God: "Don't worry I got this one...". What am I thinking?!?! I don't have the right answer yet instead of removing the doubt I have that God won't bring me happiness and peace - I cling to my own strength and often fall.

What sandals are you wearing that is keeping you from approaching God fully?

Moses removed his sandals and God sent him to Pharaoh to bring his people out of Egypt. It was difficult, it was hard and I am sure there were many times where Moses sandals again got in the way of God... but in the end Moses brought the Israelites out of Pharaoh's reign and this journey could have never began had Moses not first removed his sandals.

May you all have a blessed week! Prayers and love being sent your way!

Always,

Ashley Ann

Love = Mangos and Bananas

Hello Friends and Family,

Last friday I ended up spending an hour of my time at the main branch of the post office here in Georgetown. Now, that sounds like a long time - but the truth of the matter is if you have a package waiting for you one hour could be considered a blessing. I know some people who have had a 2+ hour journey. I got two packages one from Kelsey which was a beautiful bracelet and a mystery box from my Auntie Deb.

As I was watching this box I was wondering what could possibly be inside. Although I really wanted to open it I decided it would be better and safer to wait until I got all the way home before I busted open the box. When I got home I was pretty excited about everything that was inside - but one thing that really sparked my interest was the book: Heaven is for real. I was interested into what the book would be about but by that time I already had to run off to work. I had a long but good day at work and was excited to come home and read the book. I ended up sitting down at four pm and didn't move until six pm when I had finished the book. It really hit me hard and God must have inspired my aunt to buy just the right book because it was just what I needed.

Although it is typical for me to get completely absorbed in a book I just couldn't put this book down. It wasn't even close to the best book i've ever read - but it was the best book that I could have read at that time. It is about a little boy who has an experience of heaven. I don't have enough confidence in the fact that heaven actually exists. I think of heaven as a place that I hope exists but my hope is terribly week. To hear a young boy be so confident in heaven was inspiring and made me realize that I have so much to learn in life.


One of my favorite parts of the book is when the young boys talks about how Jesus emphasized how much he loves little children. I kept thinking about that yesterday after work because I went up to play with the orphanage boys for an hour or so after work. I was sitting on the edge of the play field just kind of watching them and I ended up being some type of "safe zone" for the nursery boys who were playing tag. They would start running towards me and jump into my arms so other boys couldn't tag them. They are all so affectionate when they want to be. At one point one of the little boys was laying in the field crying - now this sometimes happens and in two seconds they are running around again fine, so I gave it a couple of seconds before I started to move. Then I thought :"What ever you do to the least of my people you have done unto Me". I went and picked Jr. up and asked him what was wrong. Of course he didn't respond but just clung to me for dear life. After a while he told me what was wrong and a little bit later he felt better so I tickled him to get him smiling and then set him down to go and continue playing. The book reminded me of the simple truth of how much God loves the little children - yet so many people in the world don't share that same deep love.

The week for the whole was pretty typical. We had school sports on thursday but I stayed at the school to teach the students who were to stay behind. In the end it wasn't so much teaching as supervised free time because I had so few students.

Yesterday I was at the hospital and I ended up having a lot of interesting characters. The first one was talking to me about how God is going to cure her from her HIV. She then said but if he doesn't - I still am faithful that everything is for a reason, and He is the source of all my good. Even if you think she is crazy for her beliefs I give her credit for her passion. Either be hot or be cold - do not be lukewarm.

Another woman came in not to long after her wanting an HIV test. After I began explaining to her what HIV was she ended up laughing and telling me how she hadn't had sex in over 20 years and was almost 80. She didn't know it was an STD. Before she left she handed me a pamphlet to look at about her religious organization and I asked if I could keep it when she said to me: "Of course you can keep it: You show people the path of God and you will be blessed." I thanked her as she exited my office and thought to myself: "Wow Ashley, you have a lot of lessons to learn on faithfulness".

At the end of the day at the orphanage yesterday one of the boys Ramario asked me for my rings. And this is how the conversation went -
Ramario: "Miss pwease for one ov ur rings"
Me: "No Ramario, sorry they are mine"
Ramario: "Pweare for your ears ings."
Me: "No Ramario sorry all I have to give you is my love"
Ramario: "Ahhh...." (Sad face)

I started to laugh on the inside because I thought to myself: In my life God is me and I am Ramario. Always asking for shiny things and not being satisfied at all by love. These boys are always teaching me lessons.

One more funny dialog from my week:

Me: "Bye boys"
Wendell comes running and jumps into my arms for a hug
Me: "Bye Wendell, wheres my kiss?"
Wendell kisses me then smiles at me
Me: "You know I love you Wendell"
Wendell: "Please bring me a sweetie"
Me: "You think love means sweeties?"
Wendell thinks hard then says:
"Well, then please bring me a banana" .... "Or a mango"

Haha!!!!  I laughed the whole way out. These boys really do bring joy into my life.

Wishing you all the best. Love and Prayers,

Ashley Ann

Whats with all the noise?!?!

Hello Everyone!!

I guess that I need to start my blog with an apology that I had been kind of slack at my once a week post always before Sunday - I was scolded recently, so I promise to try and do better! :) 

I sometimes wonder how life always goes by so quickly, I feel like it was just yesterday that I sat down to write my last blog and I realize that a whole week has actually gone by. This week was a really good week. Last weekend was a lot of fun. Saturday morning I was just hanging around my house wondering what I was going to do for the day when my friend Andrew ended up outside of my house. We ended up hanging out for the entire afternoon, joined up with some other friends, and eventually went to a party that night for one of our friends Marcia. I had kind of been sulky that morning for several different reasons and having someone come by just to see how I was doing and what I was up to made a ton of difference in my attitude. It was a big reminder for me on how important it is to find joy relying on and enjoying the company of other people. 

Sunday I went to Guy-expo again. I ended up walking around with a student from last year and we had a good time just window shopping. I am not a big fan of big craft type fairs like that because I get distracted really easily, but in the end it was still a good time. I was glad to reconnect with her and just catch up on how her life was going. She now has a job at a day care which she seems to enjoy and it brought some re-affirmation that the work we are doing does have fruit in getting these students a job!!

This week at the hospital was VERY LOUD. They have started to do construction on the floor above my office and all week we heard jackhammers and saws. On Wednesday I had to leave my office a few times and go to a different part of the hospital just to keep my sanity. It was hard to do my job when I had to talk over a jackhammer. I am hoping by monday they will be done with all the very loud work. 

On Wednesday I had an appointment set up with a patient at 7:45 am, they ended up coming to the hospital at 3:45 pm as I was on my way out of the compound. I thought about it for a second and ended up going back and talking with her. It was a really complicated story which kept her back from the clinic and in the end I thought to myself - whether you have an excuse or not I'm going to come and finish this education thing with you so might as well just spare yourself the stress of explaining the entire story. Gotta give people grace sometimes...

Today we had school sports for Mercy Wings. It was really good because I basically just got to stand around and take pictures of the students. I always enjoy school sports day because its like a day of work, but its also kind of like a day off. I got to watch them run, eat good food for free, and interact with a lot of different people. I hope to post up some pictures of my students running sometime soon. This year we had a couple of good athletes but nothing compared to the year before. Although we didn't have the high achievement we did still have a great time. I would have to say that they all had really great attitudes and laughed at almost everything which made the day have very little stress. 

Anyway, I came here after being at sports day and I am just exhausted from the sun. I kept putting on tons and tons of sunscreen, drinking water, but no matter what this tropical sun always take the energy out of you. 

I feel like this quote describes a lot of what I have been thinking this week. A lot of the struggles I see around me and a lot of the injustice that is faced is because people are being used as objects rather than being treated with their full dignity. We forget the worth of each other and treat people the same way we treat objects without emotions or a soul. The very first lecture I gave to my students in my computer class was about how even though learning about computers and how they are used is good - computers and technology can never replace real people. A friend on facebook is not even comparable to a friendship based on face to face communication. 

Enjoy the fall colors for me - I sure am missing the leaves and how they are changing. 

Love, 

Ashley Ann