Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!!! (I know it's a little a late, but oh well!) Hope everyone had a lovely day with family and friends, celebrating what they have to be thankful for in their lives. I found myself thinking of home often yesterday, picturing everyone bundled up in jeans and sweaters, gathered in kitchens and dining rooms, feasting, laughing, playing games. Quite different from my day in a skirt and tank top, sweating in the humid heat, trekking through the jungle, surrounded by banana, coconut, and papaya trees, to get to my island "office" to send email on a cellular connection that makes dial up seems high tech speedy. My office is actually quite nice - the far side of the island gets the best reception, so it is there that we go to work. Jimmy, Nemani, and Poasa have used various materials that we had on hand to build up a great desk, complete with woven coconut fronds crafted into shades that I can roll up or down to let in air or keep out rain. I love it! While I wait ages and ages for a page to load, I can relax and listen to the birds and the gentle waves in the mangroves. It's by far the best office I've ever had!

While we didn't have a Thanksgiving dinner here in Fiji, we did have huge feast on Thursday bidding Jim farewell and welcoming us into the leadership roles. It was a grand feast - a fusion of American dishes and Fijian dishes. On the American menu we had hamburgers, homemade buns, homemade ketchup, potato wedges, candied pumpkin (our Thankgsgiving dish!), and salad with homemade vinagrette dressing. From the Fijian side we had fish, fish and more fish - fried, boiled, curried. We had cassava, breadfruit, dalo, chicken stew, pineapple (the most delicious I've ever tasted!), grated paupau (papaya) salad, and many more dishes that I do not yet know the names of. We've been to many feasts in Fiji, and this was hands down the most delicious and extravagant - it seems each one is better than the last. It was full day of cooking, and then grog late into the night. The island was full of Fijian friends from our earlier months on the island - it was great to see faces we haven't seen in a long time. So while it wasn't Thanksgiving, it was still an amazing day!

I had the opportunity to experience Labasa hospital this week. And what an experience. I have never been more grateful for the healthcare available in our country before. Tomosi, a tribe member from England staying a couple months with us, had been ill for several days and his symptoms were matching up with those of appedicitis. So with Nemani with us as an interpreter (he speaks fluent Fijian and Hindi - very helpful) I went to the hospital with him to get checked out. The hospital was crowded, unlit, dirty, disorganized. Truly a 3rd world hospital. Instruments are sterilized with tap water. After the xray for Tomosi, there was no one to help us or to tell us where to go next. We waited in a crowded hallway while Nemani knocked on the emergency room door only to be told that there were no doctors available - they were all at a ceremony celebrating the opening of a new part of the hospital. During this time, patients were left for hours, locked in the emergency room with no attendants. I hold hope that the system will improve with this facility closes down, and the new one is in use. I spoke with a woman who has recently come back to Labasa after being gone for 15 years and she shared with me her frustration. Her mother was in the locked emergency room with all the symptoms of a heart attack - she could not get to her. For the people of Labasa, where I've been told the average wage is $50 a week, this is their best option for healthcare. You hear so often about the terrible healthcare in developing countries, but it to see it in real life was a huge eye opener. I have so much sadness in my heart for the people here - I've been told that when someone gets sick, they just get worse. There is no facility there for real healing. I was told of a little girl of 5 who came to hospital for a tumor on her head - there is nothing to be done there so she is home in her village, playing, she and her family ignorant to the fact that she is terminally ill. In the hospitals, they don't talk to you - if they can't help you, they just send you home. For foreigners like ourselves who have access to money and credit cards in the event of real emergency, we can fly to Suva to a private hospital. The mama bear in me was relieved to find out that the owners of the sawmill in Labasa, who are friends of ours, just secured a private helicopter, so if one of the kids gets seriously injured or sick, we have a way to get to Suva in a hurry.

In the end, Tomosi is feeling better. Even though he had the ultrasound done at the hospital, we never had an opportunity talk to a doctor about it. When we finally found someone to answer our questions, they shuffled him through a line where a doctor wrote him a hurried prescription for milk of magnesia and something else I can't identify, but never offered any information about what might be wrong. When we got back to the island, it got worse - he was in terrible pain, vomiting, hadn't eaten for a few days. The Fijian family that lives with us began to heal him in their way - they have been praying over him several times a day now (starting at 4 am) and massaging him (massage is an important part of healing in Fiji - healing hands are hereditary and I have seen them work miracles). The prayer and massage did for him what the hospital could not - he is feeling better than ever, and his symptoms are all gone.

My time on the computer is up - I have my family eyeing me to "totolo" - hurry up! It's time to grab a bite to eat before we go visit friends, then head back to the island. We will not be in town as usual on Monday, so the next update will likely be a week or more from now.

Hope all is well with everyone! Much love!