Molluscum Contagiosum

A couple people have emailed me asking about Mihret's bumps.  While in Ethiopia, I was gifted with an email of information from a friend, who works within the BC health system.  Although I knew what they were, I had some denial while reading the confirmation of what they were simply because in reading things contagious, you get nervous.

 

Mihret has molluscum contagiosum on her face, and one on her chest.  In Ethiopia, we treated some of them through curettage, as noted below, only as they were ready to burst to alleviate the possibility of it spreading further on Mihret, or to the rest of us.  They are highly contagious, in that they spread very easy. Since we have been home, only the one on her chest has needed to be treated, and I again did that through cutterage [partially because she had burst it by accident and it was HUGE].  

Today Mihret had her first doctor's appointment with our family physician.  She doesn't see the pediatrician until the end of the month.  He confirmed the information and treatment of the molluscum.  Through good hygiene [to alleviate further spreading to her and others] and healthy nutrition [to keep the inside of the body clean], they will continue to cycle through and disappear.  This could take up to six months.    

 

What is molluscum contagiosum?

Molluscum contagiosum is a viral infection of the skin caused by a poxvirus. The virus is easily spread but not harmful.

What are the symptoms?

The symptoms can appear anytime from 2 weeks to 6 months after contact with the virus. They begin as tiny painless bumps and grow over several weeks to become small, firm, waxy, pinkish-white, raised lesions, which may have a small crater in the centre of them. The bumps may become swollen and turn red as the body's natural way of fighting the virus.

In children, these symptoms or bumps may appear on the face, body, legs and arms. In adults, these bumps can occur almost anywhere on the body. If the viral infection is sexually transmitted, these symptoms are usually found on the abdomen, groin, external genitals, buttocks or thighs. Molluscum contagiosum is contagious until the bumps are gone.

How does the infection spread?

The infection can spread from one part of the body to another or to other people. The infection is spread by direct skin-to-skin contact, scratching the lesions or bumps, touching objects that have the virus on them, or through sexual contact. In children, the symptoms can be spread to the genital area by scratching.

If you have symptoms, contact your doctor or health care provider. You can also call 811 and speak to a registered nurse.

Who is at risk?

Anyone who has skin-to-skin contact with an infected person is at risk of getting the infection. While molluscum contagiosum is most common among children under 10 years of age, the infection can affect anyone. In young adults, molluscum contagiosum is primarily a sexually transmitted infection (STI). The infection can be more severe among people with a weaker immune system.

Although it is found throughout the world, molluscum contagiosum is more common in places with warm, humid climates.

How is it treated?

In some cases, lesions or bumps may persist for years, but they usually go away without treatment in 2 to 6 months. If these symptoms appear around the eyes, they may be treated to prevent irritation. Treatment of symptoms in the genital area will prevent them from spreading to partners through sexual contact.

Home treatment includes trying not to scratch lesions or bumps and using bandages to cover them.
If the symptoms cause concern, or to stop them from spreading, a doctor may use any of the following treatments:

• Cryotherapy - freezing and removing the bumps with liquid nitrogen;

• Curettage - removing the viral material in the centre of the lesion or bump; or

• Medication - applying medication to the lesions or bumps to help them go away.

There's Hope Still!

February 3, 2012

Dear CAFAC families and friends,

We mentioned in our February 1st correspondence to you that CAFAC would be unable to continue provision of services beyond February 3rd. Since then, new information has become available to us. The Board of Directors is holding an emergency meeting tomorrow morning to discuss it. We promise to provide you with as much information as we can as soon as we can. Unfortunately we cannot provide any details at this time.

We are very aware that the recent news concerning CAFAC’s operations has been upsetting for you. It has been very upsetting for the CAFAC staff and board as well. We would like to reiterate, CAFAC’s primary concern remains centered on the children in our care and bringing them home to their parents as soon as possible, and to our clients that eagerly await a child to make their family whole. And we continue to work very hard towards that end.

We want to assure you that our operations in Ethiopia are continuing, the children are being cared for, the files continue to proceed, your funds remain in trust accounts.

We believe that you deserve a voice in this matter. Thank you for your overwhelming show of support this week. We are very grateful and appreciative of it.

Sincerely,

CAFAC Board of Directors

Heartbreak

While in Ethiopia, I had to assist in dealing with some issues that arose. Although it was important at the time, I still had some "awww nuts" selfish attitude because it happened when I was scheduled to go tour the world famous fistula hospital. It was issues that didn't directly affect me, but affected people working in Ethiopia, and families I was living with at the time. However, I was asked to be the mediator and it was an important role.

In doing so, part of the task was helping explain the things to the Canadian families staying with us while attending court and still in the adoption process. They would be returning to Canada to wait out the paperwork until they could bring their children home. What happened resulted in watching heart ache, worry and stress overwhelm families I had come to know. My heart broke for each of them. I saw tears, loss and pain.

Within two days, the HUGE and IMPORTANT miscommunication was over. Thankfully, most people will actually never know what was going on.  Relief and joy was had by all. But I knew there was more yet to come.

With it came, though, true realization that Lyle and I needed to let go. That our family expansion through the amazing country of Ethiopia was ending. [Part of the reason is it now takes 7 to 10 years for an Ethiopian adoption in Canada.] I went through some grief. Even still, I don't know where we are going next or if our family is to be complete just as we are.

And now, today, completely separate from what happened and what the miscommunication was about while I was in Ethiopia, an email of disheartening news arrived. Our agency will be shutting down in two days due to financial loss. The process has become so long that the money for the agency to continue is very slow coming in. This news definitely closes the door to us returning to where our hearts are for the purpose of bringing more children to our home here in Canada.

So I can sit here and be so thankful thy we made it home. That we have our daughter sleeping in her bed, in her room, in our house. That she tangibly gives us hugs and kisses every day. That we can tell her right to her ear, and not just to the air we breathe, that we love her.

But instead I'm sad. I'm feeling broken. Those same families that I shared time, hugs and emotional ups and downs with don't have their children in their arms yet. I saw them go through horrific moments once, and I keep seeing their faces and remembering their names, and watching them smile as they held their kids for the first time. I imagine them going through heartbreak and pain again. What about them?  Will the province finish things for them properly?  Will things speedily finish up?

And what about the families who have invested years and thousands of dollars but haven't received their referral yet?  The money is in trust so that's fine.  But they must be grieving at the loss of their adoption. Their miscarriage. I've miscarried before and I know their pain of a miscarried adoption will be very real and very difficult. And each miscarriage is remembered for life.

So if you know a family in this situation, please understand their loss. Please don't brush it off since they didn't "have a child".  They did.  They do. They always will have a heart filled with some loss. Hug them. Pray for them. And never let them feel that this is easy and should be forgotten.

January 19 Journal Email

Not having any morning plans, I decided to be lazy in the morning. I was unmotivated and took my time showering and getting ready. But this resulted in me not eating breakfast too.

Lyle and I took advantage of our moms and went for a walk without the kids. Grandmas watched the kids, and we've been enjoying seeing them smile and give hugs and kisses to their new grand daughter throughout the week. When we started this a few days prior, it came as a surprise to them. We hadn't set out a date that they could start this, but played the attachment plan by ear. They had been prepared to not hold her or anything the entire trip. Mihret has continued to make incredible strides in her happiness, contentment and attachment that we started to let grandmas give love and snuggles much earlier than planned.

After our walk, we chilled out, ordered in some pizza for lunch then got ready for an afternoon of swimming. We went to the Sheraton hotel, which is one of the top ten hotels in the world. We couldn't remember if it was the number five or number seven. We enjoyed the company of two other moms and their children. It was glorious. We relaxed, we swam in amazingly warm water (32.5C), only warmed by the sun, ate delicious ice cream and got sunburned, again. We are much closer to the sun here!

Mikiyas was a fish, as usual. He swam and swam and loved every minute. Having his new friend that is staying at the guest house (last day today) was a huge bonus for him.

Mihret, having her first time in a swimming pool, couldn't get enough.  She was quite upset when she was taken out the water. When I first took her in, she was a little nervous and clung on. Once I got her enjoy some motions and she saw her little friend playing beside her, she got into it.  By the end, she was going right under the water, splashing and giggling with glee and kicking (not flailing) up a storm. Lyle was even throwing her up in the air and she wasn't scared of the water at all. After almost two hours of constant playing, she came out and relaxed one the side.  

The Sheraton really was an amazing thing to see. Stunning, gorgeous and a world class resort in every way. Door men in tuxes and top hats. Marble and gold. Views, flowers, fountains .... But knowing what was sitting outside the gates - the poverty and distress - almost made you feel guilty for going in. But we let ourselves enjoy the short time of relaxing and comfort. And it truly was a gift to watch both our kids enjoy the water as much as they did. They deserved the treat.

 

 

January 18 Journal Email

Today was rather crazy.  Later in the evening the night before, Lyle and I were called for a confidential meeting.  We discussed things and I began mediating.  Come morning, things were still needing to be tended to and we were have secret discussions.  At the time we were preparing to join others to tour the world famous Fistula Hospital.  On the way there, a call came to a drivers cell and I had to return to the guest house with the kids.  Lyle and the two moms joined the rest of the group in the other van and continued on to the Fistula Hospital. 

While driving to the Fistula Hospital, Lyle recognized the area from our trip five years ago.  The Fistula Hospital is very, very close to the foster home Mikiyas lived in for six months prior to us picking him up.  Ketema was shocked that Lyle was able to quickly recognize the neighborhood as things are constantly changing.

No pictures allowed inside.

Healing women make these and sell.

Regarding the Fistula Hospital, this is my mom's writing:

We visited the Fistula Hospital today - this was quit the experience.  It's a beautifully landscaped (referred to as Garden of Eden and you would never know the place is in a city like Addis) hospital near the river (unnamed river) about 25-30 minutes from where we are staying in Addis.  It is the only hospital like this in the world.  Oprah Winfrey has financed the recovery area for women whose surgery was unsuccessful to some degree and require further assistance for as long as it takes.  The grounds are beautiful, the hospital buildings are all white and everything is spotlessly clean.  We had a tour of the facilities - an opportunity of a lifetime.  So proud of what is being done there for the women.

I returned to the guest house for a brief meeting, important for us and why the call happened. I received the visa for Mihret to travel to Canada!

The rest of the day had continued meetings and talks about things I cannot discuss.  I mediated and worked on explaining things between language barriers and cultures the best I could.  I also went for a couple walks just to air my brain.

During the evening, we went with a bunch of families for delicious Chinese food.  We could have eaten more, but when my mom asked the waiter for another plate of chow mien for us, she was told "one is enough" and he walked away.  During the dinner, things were happening outside the restaurant and what was necessitating all the meetings and talks was fixed.  It was a relief to many many people involved. 

Quite the loaded down van!

January 17 Journal Email

Sweet girl I saw. Couldn't resist a photo.

Today was the long awaited visit to the Compassion project that we support in Akaki. Akaki is a district of Addis, but a much more rural and poor area. It is more what you would see on something like World Vision with the tiny tin shacks with no lights, one bed and maybe a few items inside.  No real roads to places, but you drive anyway.

Lyle and I visited Akaki in May 2007 and enjoyed ourselves a lot.  We've never forgotten the experience, the sites and the amazing visit we had with workers, children and especially our sponsor family. We have come to refer to them as a sponsor family, and not a sponsor child, because it is something in which you really do support the whole family.  Sponsor one child enables the whole family to benefit during food shortages, need for medical care, education and learning about God.

As we got further from the city and into the more rural area, Lyle and I were able to recognize easily where we were and the homes we had previously seen.  We arrived at the project and enjoyed meeting some of the new staff and seeing a couple of the staff we met previously.  Not as much detail was done in going through accounting books and history of things as we had done that before, but they did recognize that both Lyle's and my mom hadn't been there and needed to know things as well. It was during this time that we gave them just over 100 pounds of donations, mostly school supplies and specific curriculum packages they requested. It was a very cool experience and we thank everyone who contributed to this, even in the smallest way.

We were getting ready for a coffee (bunna) ceremony and popcorn (fendisha) which is served only at special occasions when my mom's sponsor child came in. She had the most gorgeous smile and was beaming she was so happy to meet her sponsor. Her mother was with her. Tears of joy were flowing from the two, as well as my mom. There was so much gratitude and happiness.  It was a real neat thing to watch as an outsider, which I had not done before.

The next two sponsor children arrived, together with their moms. One was Lyle's mom's child and the other was one of ours.  Both were older than we expected so they were almost hard to recognize. They were beautiful young teens. Lyle's mom was beaming and you could really see the love shared between her and her child. For us, it was nice to meet a girl (Eskedar) that we had been writing for almost five years. It was also nice to see how she had grown since our only photo of her was still from when we started sponsoring her. Eskedar and Lyle's mom's child are very close friends, which was good for us as I ended up being tied up with Mihret a lot that I could not sit and visit easily with Eskedar all the time.

We enjoyed coke, water and coffee together.  The kids sang traditional songs to us.  Eskedar did a solo song as well and has an amazing voice.  She really enjoys singing and is in the church choir.  You could see her mom watching and filling with pride.

We had a small tour of the grounds and saw the large building (but very small by Canadian standards) used for hosting more than 2,000 people on Sundays for church.  Incredible!  While playing on the playground that would never meet Canadian safety requirements, Yisakor arrived.  It was a true joy and my heart lept when I saw him.  It was different with him because we've sponsored him for so long, and we met him and his family on our last trip.  He had grown so much, but you could still see the same boy in his face.

Although Mikiyas and Yisakor had never previously met, they were attached like two peas in a pod. They played together. They ran together, often with their arms around each others waists. When we had lunch together, they even shared a chair. They were stuck like glue. Yisakor, thankfully, understood some English so they could do some minimal communicating. But their love and respect for each other went much deeper than I can ever describe. It was something you watched in awe.

Before starting the home visits and lunch, Lyle went with our hosts to the market and bought each family 100kgs of teff flour.  Each 100kg bag was carried by one man, one the back of his shoulders/neck area. That was incredible too. Each bag is worth three months of salary but the time it will last depends on the size of the family. We got some cool pictures of kids all sitting together on the bags.

The first home visit was Yisakor's. He lived the furthest from the project and also had the nicest home, but nothing any of us or you would desire to live in.  His was nicer due to inheritance and support from the community as his mom hosts weekly meetings and out of town special visitors when requested. Yisakor's mom was wearing black and in mourning as her brother had recently died. We gave Yisakor his back pack and all his treats from Canada. As we suspected, his soccer ball and his soccer t-shirt were his favorite. Mikiyas and him, always attached, went to his room, which Mikiyas later realized was the only bedroom and was shared by the entire family and the dining table. Mikiyas soon came back out to ask if we could send him toys from Canada as Yisakor had 3 toys. It was eye opening for Mikiyas to say the least.

The visit didn't go too long and we gathered each child and their mothers and headed for lunch at the Crowne Hotel.  Here we had traditional Ethiopian, with no power.  We also were often fed by our sponsor children and their mothers.  To be fed by someone is an honor and is something of deep friendship.  We fed fourteen people food, each having a drink, paid tax and tip, for $60.00 USD.

After lunch we headed back for home visits. First we said good bye to Yisakor and his mother. Tears were shed, pictures were taken and Mikiyas too was quite sad. He loved spending time with Yisakor and wanted to spend the rest of the day with him.  It felt like it was cut too short.

My mom's child was the first home visit after lunch. A tiny house, but clean and tidy.  She enjoyed receiving her new back pack and the gifts my mom brought her. Her home was a traditional home, made of mud and straw, as we saw the others to be too. The girl continued to beam and hold my mom's hand, never letting go. A truly thankful and joyful girl.

We then went to Eskedar's house.  It too was very small, but this time one wall was attached to another home.  It looked like it was a very small back room behind a curtain.  Somehow we fit at least a dozen people into a room smaller than Mikiyas's bedroom.  This room served as their bedroom, dining, living .....  Eskedar had grown so much so some of her items we gave her were a little young for her.  She was so grateful regardless.  But what she didn't know yet was that I had another idea for her before we left.

Finally we went to Lyle's mom's child's home. We had some more laughs there and enjoyed the final round of coffee (having had some at every house) and popcorn. The child's older brother had a lot of fun with Mihret. She really liked playing with him outside and it gave my arms a break. The mother was in black and in mourning as well as her husband (the dad) had died only one month and ten days prior.

It was time to say our goodbyes and drive off. As we left I gave Eskedar my Roots Canada hoodie jacket I had bought for the trip. She was thrilled and had it around her quickly. She had tears, as did I, and we embraced many times. It will be a joy to write her, and the others, when we get home, and send all the kids photos of the visit.

My mom with her sponsor child, and mother.

 

Lyle's mom with her sponsor child and mother.

 

Mikiyas with his "brother" Yisakor. An amazing connection!

The director in Akaki, who bears an incredible resemblance to this guy from House.

 

Joy was had with the surprise bags of Teff!

 

  

Our sponsor families.

  

Mihret with one of many new friend. He works with there and grew up as a sponsor child.

Lyle's mom's sponsor child and one of ours are best of friends. 

 

  

January 16 Journal Email

We stuck around the guest house, going for a few walks, stopping at a few stores and getting Mikiyas' and Mihret's hair done.

Routines are definitely setting in for my mom, Mikiyas, Mihret and I as we have been here almost a month.  We see certain people regularly.  Certain ones wait for us to give them our change or a birr (their $1.00 but maybe a penny to us).  Others look forward to Mikiyas giving them a refreshing drink on the hot day.  We've definitely become more comfortable in knowing who to give to, how to give to people discretely and when it is appropriate.  We've also come to know short cuts and routes to where we like to go for certain items.  Settling in nicely.

For something people pay hundreds for in Canada, it cost me 2.00 CAD each child to have their hair done.  I watched close enough with both kids that I can potentially do their hair back home.  Haha!  Mikiyas did great during his hair-do and Mihret screamed throughout hers.  It didn't hurt her and we know it wasn't that part making her cry because she had started screaming when she saw the lady coming towards her.

But they did great and both kids looked terrific.  Both were happy and full of smiles when we left the salon.