"I WAS DEAF, BUT NOW I HEAR..."

Many of you know we have mentioned our cook’s baby sister who is 12 years old and suffers from moderate bilateral hearing loss. We sent her to Addis back in October because there was no ENT here in Mekelle and she was told she has two ruptured ear drums and needs Tympanoplasty. One of the projects we were able to do with the funds provided was provide this surgery for her. It was decided that I would accompany her, as the last time we sent her they went, they saw the Doctor, he said she needed surgery, they came home. Many Ethiopians are not accustomed to advocating for themselves with medical professionals or asking questions, so we’re not sure what happened, but the surgery didn’t happen. Danite and I flew out on Monday morning in early February, her first flight ever, and she was googly-eyed the whole trip. We stayed at a bed and breakfast and saw the Doctor that afternoon. He had been recommended as the best in Addis and we had called ahead, but it still required some minor haggling to actually get him to schedule the surgery for that week. At first we intended to do it local, but once I saw how she handled the bloodwork (not pretty!) I told the doctor we better go with General and more arrangements were made with the Korean Hospital. This hospital was very impressive and though we of course had a “group” room for pediatrics, it was a good experience. It was humbling to be in the room with other families, one who had an 8 year old daughter recovering from removal a brain tumor, one who was having his appendix taken out. Although we had to work through many bumpy places where she was scared and didn’t want to see needles, she DID have a successful repair of her right ear drum and recovered nicely enough to only spend 2 nights in the hospital. The next hurdle was aftercare, since the Doctor would not release her to return to Mekelle for 10 days and I couldn’t stay that long away from my kids. We flew here older sister from Mekelle (after much begging and reassurance that in fact, airplanes DO FLY) and she stayed with her in Addis until she was cleared to come home. She arrived safely by bus 10 days later and reportedly was feeling fine. This week, she dropped by for a visit, quick to show off her scar and point out that she can, in fact, hear MUCH better in her right ear. The left ear is still waiting, and we are praying about when/if we can provide this surgery as well. Praise God for providing the funds to allow us to give this precious girl the gift of hearing in a culture that doesn’t embrace disabilities with any available resources.