“Doctor, Doctor Help Me!” — Reflections on Two Weeks of Free Health Care in Nigeria

“Doctor, Doctor Help Me”

This was a common refrain I heard as I walked through the halls of our temporary hospital to go visit the bathroom. I got to hear this often thanks to the handy parasite I picked up while I was in Nigeria. As I walked through the halls, masses of people reached out and grabbed my arm asking me for help. They assumed I was a doctor because almost everyone else in our group was a doctor or at least training to be one.

I spent two weeks in Nigeria along with 40-50 other assorted Nigerians and medical students from the USA. We worked with an organization called Pro Health International. Here is a news spot that a local news station from Erie did on our group.We arrived in the country to a not-so warm welcome from immigration and were told that we should enjoy Nigeria as long as we didn’t visit the Niger Delta. Pre-Nigeria, I had no clue about the Niger Delta as I am sure most of you are presently in your understanding.

Niger Delta

Here is a quick lesson on the Delta. There is a lot of oil in the Niger Delta so guess who is there extracting the oil? Not Nigerians. On top of that, the Delta is one of the poorest regions in the world even though they are on top of the largest quantity of oil in Africa. In fact if you filled your tank up with Shell gasoline lately you are supporting Nigerian oil exports. Therefore, the local mobsters decided that the best way to drive out the foreigners is to kidnap oil workers and hold them for ransom. They have kidnapped over 200 people in the past two years. This has brought down productivity by over 25% as a lot of companies are withdrawing their oil workers. While we were there they kidnapped a 3 year old British girl which you may have heard about in the news. If you want to read more about the conflict in the delta check out this article. This is the context into which we went to do free health care for two weeks. It was a great opportunity to help people who are in the most dire situation, while at the same time showing that Americans can do something at no benefit to themselves. However, we did have armed guards everywhere we went in Nigeria because of the situation with the oil workers.

I am going to give a non-linear explanation of our trip because the liner time-line is so boring and that is what I have done for the Uganda and Kenya blogs.

Pharmacy- My love/hate relationship with drugs and patients

I spent the majority of my time in the pharmacy. However, I don’t want you to get the wrong picture of what the pharmacy was like because you are probably picturing Walgreens or CVS. We were in a dingy, run-down room surrounded by bottles of drugs and engulfed by people trying to get their drugs through the bars that also served as windows. It was more like being in a prison cell with no electricity. Here is a picture of the eager patients in the midst of a pouring rainstorm.

I spent at least half of my time in here because it was the one place that I could give the most help. This was the downfall of being a non-medical student, but it was also good to know that I could contribute. This wasn’t my favorite place to be, but I was reminded that being a servant is not always fun and glamorous so I settled into days of pill-counting and sorting. After a few days of this, I decided that I could help to dispense the drugs to the patients. My responsibility was to take a card from one of the patients, fill their drugs and then explain to them how to take their drugs. Imagine hundreds of yelling patients trying to get their drugs while I calmly explain to the patient “You need to take 3 5ml of this tonight and in 6 hours take 1 5ml and then in 24 hours take 1 5ml.” I tried really hard to make sure they understood what they were supposed to do with the drugs. The patients were always extremely thankful once you handed them the drugs, but until they got their drugs they had this fierce sense of entitlement and anger that they had to wait for their medicine. This was something that perplexed me and made me think about the merits of a free health care system and its fostering of this attitude. Overall, it was an incredible experience to know that over 10,000 people were treated and received drugs during our two week hiatus in the Delta. The practical help we could offer was enough to remove my thoughts of the entitlement system and be thankful that I could help. It was good to do something practical even if it was oftentimes monotonous.

One of the Med School Students (Amber Hunt) wrote about her reflections in the Pharmacy and they are far more eloquent and accurate than my musings. “Out of all of the departments I’ve gotten to work in (surgery,consulting, etc.) this was by far the hardest work both mentally and physically to me. There is chaos and frenzy but it’s great because you really have to work together as a team and I felt like I was really being productive and helping, which is what I came here for. At first we were just counting pills and filling bags which is easy and boring enough but as the day wore on and people flooded outside, crowding around the windows they allowed us to start filling prescriptions. I got a crash course in pharmacy lingo (like t.d.s is three times a day here and ii means 2 tabs for example) and my mental math skills were greatly tested. It doesn’t take much. It’s so crazy because there is such a huge crowd waiting for their medicine and they are pressed up against the windows on all sides of you and yelling at you trying to get your attention. Anytime I had to move close to the windows to grab some drugs they would start yelling, “doctor, doctor” and try to get me to take their cards. One time this guy kept yelling “white woman!” trying to get me to fill his prescription. I just went about my business and pretended that I didn’t realize he was speaking to me, the only white girl in the room. The worst part about working in pharmacy is that everything is extremely disorganized and there is a severe shortage of pens. I’ve never experienced the frustration of constantly not having a pen when I need one. It’s great that they were able to come up with the drugs to give out but its always the little things you forget to think of. Peter was great because he helped to dispense the drugs to the people and give them instructions on how to take them. I can’t do that because I talk fast and mumble my words, Americans can’t even understand what I’m saying. The most annoying thing here that is hard to get used to is that Nigerians call attention to someone by hissing basically. It’s a very nerve-grating sound. I wanted to be like seriously, can you not hiss at me for a second!

Dental Work

This will be short and sweet– I pulled a tooth!

AIDS Education–Disaster and Redemption

I went with a group from Texas to one of the local schools to do AIDS education. We had worked on what we were going to say the night before, but when we arrived we were told to give the presentation in 25 minutes instead of the previously promised hour and a half. The three girls I was with decided to educate them with the scare tactic, telling the students that if they get AIDS there is no hope. The motivation behind this was to scare them out of having pre-marital sex because they might get AIDS. At this point I tried to chime in and mention that ARV’s are widely accessible, but I think my message was lost in the wave of hopelessness. I left this event rather jaded towards the idea of HIV education among Christians in Africa.

However, on one of my last days I observed a young man doing HIV counseling with such concern and skill that my hope was restored. He had taken this specific girls blood and he was explaining what would happen if the test came back positive or negative. He also went over the high risk activities she was engaging in and told her that she should use a condom if she was having sex. When the results came back he explained to her how to read the test and she read that she was negative. He told her that she couldn’t expect to keep living in a high risk manner and expect to stay safe. She assured him she would change and she left the counseling center with joy. This was a much more redemptive experience and seemed to be in line with the love of God. I left the other experience feeling like God is a fear-monger and I left this one feeling like God loves people. I agree with the latter statement.

Surgery and Consulting

I spent a small amount of time in surgery and consulting, but I want to try and convey these experiences as I think they contribute to a holistic understanding of what was happening at the clinics.

When a patient comes in they come for their initial consult with one of the doctors. This is where they explain their symptoms and the doctors will either prescribe drugs for them or send them to the eye clinic, dental clinic, surgery, etc… I sat for a few afternoons with the doctors as they saw patients. A few of the times I took blood pressures for the doctors as a token way of helping out. It was very interesting to see how the doctors treated the patients. It seemed like their Christian compass was left at home and their mass-production health care compass replaced it. I don’t know if this was good or bad. I enjoyed interacting with the patients and making them smile. We saw many patients with malaria, arthritis, tumors, hernias, and other general sicknesses. It was very interesting to be a part of the diagnosing and prescribing mechanism at the consulting center.

In surgery I was allowed to help by handing some of the tools to the surgeon while she was operating. I was in the surgery theater for two hernia surgeries. On average, the doctors were doing 20-30 surgeries daily and providing some concrete relief to these people who had so little.

Overall, I had a good experience in Nigeria. My time in Africa was great because I got to see things that most people will never get to see. It would be easy to come back from this trip depressed about the condition of the people and their suffering, but I have realized that I should be thankful for what I do have and I understand that I must do something to alleviate the suffering that the people experience daily. Currently, I am trying to find a way that I can practically support the people who are doing great work in Africa.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have learned something and that you have been able to see that God cares about all people. It is our responsibility to act in line with the character of God and advocate for these people who have no one else.

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…”James 1:27a

Uganda– Beauty, Redemption and Suffering

 

I have been dreading the time when I would have to process the things I saw in Uganda. In Uganda, I was confronted with the greatest suffering and beauty that I have ever been privileged to see. I took basic notes in my journal while I was there because I understood, in the moment, that I was seeing things that few people will
ever get to see. I realize that I have been given a heavy responsibility and that I must not only tell the stories that I was allowed to be a part of, but I must rally people to do something about the ongoing suffering to which we have turned a blind eye.

We arrived in Uganda (four hours late) to meet up with Monsignor Matthew Ojara. Before we arrived in Kampala we had a shady salesman board our bus and begin to pawn off some of his herbal medicines which supposedly cured malaria. Ashley told the lady next to us that if she got malaria she shouldn’t take the shady medicine, but the lady didn’t seem to believe her. It was a fitting introduction to Uganda and the people’s desire to believe in something good.

(This is me and Monsignor Matthew.)

After we met up with Matthew we went to a priest’s retreat center in Kampala and took showers while he had the car checked out. He had just driven 500km (310 miles) from Kitgum the day before to pick us up becasue he didn’t want us to take public transportation up to Kitgum. During our time in Uganda he would continually prove to be one of the most generous and Christ-like people I have ever met. After showering we went into the city and had one of the scariest moments of the trip. We changed some money at the bank and as we were driving off I couldn’t find my passport. For two minutes I frantically searched the car for my passport before discovering that it was in my back pocket all along. That night we drove from Kampala to Gulu, which was 400 km because Matthew had to meet with the Arch Bishop in the morning. On our way to Gulu we stopped every 30 minutes to see people that Matthew knew along the way. He seemed to know people everywhere as we drove north. One notable stop was when we pulled off to get some tea/milk and watched a 30 minute dance show with young people selling vegetable oil.

The next morning we woke up to go and meet with the Arch Bishop, Jean-Baptiste Odama.He talked to us about the need for education among the children who have recently returned from the bush where they were child soldiers. Along with Matthew Ojara, he is endorsing the Acholi Education Initiative (AEI) which provides scholarships for war affected children. The Acholi people are the main tribe who live in Northern Uganda. AEI believes that they should encourage education as a mechanism for sustainable development for the people in Northern Uganda and in particular war affected youth. They are providing scholarships for children to get education who otherwise would be stuck in IDP (Internally Displaced People) camps. Here is a link to the Arch Bishop exhorting us to give as well as the woman who runs the Acholi Education Initiative explaining what they do. My friend Ariah is in the process of creating a website for the AEI so that you can give scholarships for war affected youth to get an education. www.acholieducation.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also visited a hospital in Gulu which didn’t have any radiological services. They are in dire need of medical equipment so they can accurately treat the people. In many ways their medicine is a lot of guess work becasue they cannot run the tests that are needed.

While we were walking in the hospital Matthew mentioned that the Veterinary services in America were 10 times nicer than the hospitals in Uganda. If anyone is interested in donating medical equipment I will give you the contact information for the hospital. Here is a picture of people waiting to get into the hospital.

That afternoon/night we spent time with some of the priests in Gulu. They were so accommodating and kind to us even when we questioned the idea that women were not allowed to be priests. I don’t know if you can picture this, but every night Kendra, Ashley and I were sitting down to eat with 5-10 priests who were extremely educated and devoted to development. It seems like we would be out of place, but we were treated as if we were honored guests. As I sat and listened to their stories I realized that the last 19 years of war have affected every part of Acholi culture and every person in Northern Uganda; all of these priests have seen people they loved sacrificed to the anguish of war.

Snapshots of Redemption

Father Peter is a rambunctious and fun loving priest in Gulu. When we first met him we noticed that his hand had some kind of deformity and we would later find out that he had been shot 9 times in an ambush in 2004. The two people who were riding with him were shot and killed instantly. He told of another time when he was hiding in his parish and he stood for over 12 hours through the night praying that he wouldn’t be killed. Tragically, five other people were killed in the church while he was trying to avoid the same fate. These people are deeply scarred by the wounds of this 19 year civil war. Even in the midst of this suffering Father Peter has a great faith and his joy for life is contagious. Here is a video clip of my interview with Father Peter.

(This is Peter and Father Peter. See if you can tell which is which?)

Later that night I was talking with Monsignor Matthew and he was telling us about some of the stories of redemption that are happening in Acholi land. There was a young boy who had been abducted and forced to kill as a child soldier. Some of the tactics for training the soldiers are to have them kill victims without using anything but their teeth. These kids would literally bite someone to death. Another tactic is to bash in the brains of the victims and then force the child soldier trainees to lick the brains of the deceased. After killing someone in this gruesome manner, shooting someone would seem like nothing. Anyway, this particular child escaped from the bush to return home to his mother. Upon his return, the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) sent more soldiers out to look for him and they came to his mothers house. The boy was hiding in his mothers house, but he could see the other soldiers enter the house and he knew them as his friends. He watched them as they killed his mother and left the house. A few years later he was in a rehabilitation center for ex-child soldiers when he spotted the boy who had killed his mother. In front of the whole group he walked to the boy and told him that he knew he killed his mother and that he forgave him. They both broke into uncontrollable sobbing as they embraced. Matthew tells the story here.

Acholi Cleansing Ceremony

The tradition of the Acholi – the Ugandans worst affected by the LRA terror – is to resolve disputes by talking around the fire and then performing an age-old purification and reconciliation ritual.

The elaborate ceremony called “mato oput” – which in Acholi means “to drink a bitter potion from the leaves of the oput tree” -involves a series of symbolic acts to restore unity between the injured and offending parties. Prodigal sons and daughters can receive forgiveness and be welcomed back into their communities.

“Mato oput involves the man or woman accepting responsibility for their actions and repenting for their crimes against their brothers and sisters,” said the Anglican bishop of the northern town of Kitgum, the Right Reverend Baker Ochola, a passionate advocate of the local peace-making route. “They then ask for forgiveness of their community and pay reparations – sometimes in the form of a goat or a cow – to those they have wronged. Finally they rejoin their community without cruelty or victimization.”

The mato oput ceremony is conducted by a council of elders. The guilty party crushes a raw egg over his or her head to symbolize a new beginning and then steps over an “opobo”, a bamboo stick, to represent a leap from the past to the present. At the climax of the rite, both the guilty and the wronged parties drink a pungent brew made from the leaves of the oput tree to show that they acknowledge the bitterness of the past and promise never to taste it again.

These are some of the snapshots of redemption that is happening amidst the incredible suffering of the people. It is beautiful. Beauty amidst the suffering.

IDP Camp (Internally Displaced People)

(These kids had probably never seen a white person before)

IDP’s are people who are refugees in their own country. They don’t receive the international aid benefits of those who leave their country due to violence because they are still in their own country. There are over 1.5 million IDP’s in Northern Uganda living in temporary camps which are absent of clean water, medical care, or adequate education (150 students to one teacher). As we drove north from Gulu to Kitgum we saw countless IDP camps and houses that had been destroyed in the war. In fact, we couldn’t pick out the houses except to see where there were Mango trees. Matthew said that everywhere there was a Mango tree that there used to be a home. Imagine a whole country of Mango trees and no houses except in the camps. The houses in the camps are made out of mud with palm fronds for a roof. We stayed in the Oryang camp near Kitgum. We walked into the camp carrying mattresses and mosquito nets for our night in the camp. I felt so guilty at the basic comforts that I had to bring with me into the camp. In a lot of ways I wanted to sleep on the mud with the people, but I also wanted that mattress. I wish I didn’t, but I did. Here is a link to the welcome that we received as we walked into the camp.

(This is a picture of the camp as the sun was rising)

At night they had another ceremony to welcome us to the camp. They lit a fire and the whole community sat around and told stories, sang and danced together. It was the first time they burned the traditional Acholi fires of celebration and fellowship since the war started. This was a significant moment and a return towards the peace that they knew before the war. Although we had nothing to give them, knowing that for the first time they had reason to celebrate had so much meaning. To have visitors from the states signified that outsiders felt safe enough to be there, and I really think it restored some piece of dignity as a community. This night was so humbling as I realized that there was little I could do for these people. Here is a clip of a young boy telling a story around the fire.

(As we were sitting around the fire I snapped a picture. This picture is a feeble attempt to capture the moment.)

On our way out of the camps the next morning we stopped at a camp that had been abandoned. I show you this picture becasue it represents the hope that the people will be able to return to their homes in safety.

I have never seen the poverty and malnutrition that I saw in the camps. I am still blown away by the poverty that I saw and I feel paralyzed by my inability to provide help.

(This was a common sight in the camps. Kids who are literally starving to death and have no medical care.)

The next day we drove to Luwero, which is about 70 km’s north of Kampala. We spent the night with my buddy Chris Vogt and his wife Rebecca and their newly conceived, but unborn baby. It was great to see them in Uganda. We also met up with one of Ashley’s friends from Taylor and we all spent the night in Luwero. The next morning we had lunch with Monsignor and then boarded our plane to leave for Nigeria. While at the airport in Entebbe we saw the plane that was hijacked in the Idi Ammin era.

These are the two girls I traveled with for the month. I am really grateful for their flexibility and their care for those who are so often overlooked.

Uganda was abhorrent and beautiful at the same time; it was hopeful and hopeless simultaneously. I am not sure how, but I think Uganda changed my life.

 

 

 

Kenya

In my attempt to chronicle the last several months, I have decided to use a lot of pictures to convey the meaning that I experienced while in Africa.

Average Per Capita Income in Kenya — approximately $2,400 USD annually

First let me introduce you to my travel buddies… (Kendra, Helen, Ashley)

We flew into Kenya on June 11th after experiencing a missed flight from New York due to missing passports. Fortunately, it didn’t cost us any time and we arrived in Nairobi the next morning to meet our wonderful host Helen Tak. The day we arrived in Nairobi there was an explosion in the city and we had no idea what was happening. It turned out that a suicide bomber had detonated a bomb in the city. We had many phone calls from Helen’s friends checking on our travel route. Welcome to Africa!

We drove south to Ewaso Ng’iro where we would spend the next week with Helen at CMF’s hospital/training center in southern Kenya. On our first day we loaded up into a Land Rover and drove for several hours into the bush to do an AIDS outreach. We had no idea what was going to happen or what we would be responsible to do while we were there. Once we arrived they told us that we would be speaking to 600 migrant workers about HIV and AIDS. After planning for this talk we ended up speaking to 150 men rather than the 600 aforementioned. In many ways this typifies T.I.A (This is Africa). While at the camp we spoke to the men and told them that they should only have sex with their wives since polygamy is the norm in their culture. Women are treated as objects and men take as many wives as they can afford. We encouraged them to get tested and to our surprise almost all of the men wanted to be tested for HIV. Here are some pictures from the drive to the bush and from the camp which we would later find our was called Satan Camp. It was called Satan camp becasue of the rampant sexual promiscuity that takes place in the camp.

This was the view from the window of the car as we drove into the bush.

Here we are talking to the men at “Satan Camp.”

This is our truck stuck in the mud…

We spent the next few days working in the clinic, going on outreaches into the bush, and visiting local hospitals. Ashley and Kendra are both in Medical school so we were aiming to learn about the health care system in Africa and attempt to do something productive while we were there. According to John, the leader of the clinic, the biggest problem they have is the lack of clean water. He said that the people who come in sick are often as a result of drinking dirty water. The ability to have clean water is a huge obstacle to development in Ewaso Ng’iro. John said that a bore hole (well) would cost about 15,000 USD. Does anyone know anything about drilling wells efficiently?

In southern Kenya there is a people group called the Masai. This is a very primitive group of people who are slowly stepping into the developing world, but with a lot of reticence. The educated Masai will only take one wife, but overall women are still treated as less than cattle. Here are some pictures of the people. Oh yeah, they think it is cool to stretch their ear lobes out… See the picture?

On Friday the 15th of June we went to the Narok district hospital. This is where a person would typically go when a local clinic couldnt do anything to help them. For most of the people in a large radius this is the best medical care they will ever receive. Most of this state run hospital has been built and expanded from private donations. I got some numbers becasue I have seen the extravagance of church buildings in America and I thought it would be instructive to see what a rather modest amount of money can do in Kenya. An organization called Operation Eye Universal has donated enough money to put in 50 wells in the area surrounding the hospital. This is the kind of practical help that can be given to the people of Africa.

$200, 000 USD was donated and with this money the hospital built and supplied equipment for a Surgery center, extended the men’s ward, and added an operating theatre. For such a modest amount of money they are able to add significant capacity and technology to their hospital. This district hospital had capacity for 100 in-patients, but often it would double as they would put two patients to a bed. They averaged 300 out-patients daily. Most of the people who were in the beds were essentially waiting to die.

After spending time at the hospital we went home to cook dinner. Kendra decided that she would like to kill a chicken and cook it for dinner. Generally, if you want to kill a chicken it should take about one chop, but she had a little more trouble. We eventually killed the chicken and cooked and ate it. It wasnt the best chicken I have ever had, but once you chewed it long enough you could swallow it. Here is a link to the video of Kendra killing the Chicken. Here is the end result of her work.

From Ewaso Ng’iro we took a bus to Nairobi where we met up with our friend Greg Matney. I would post a picture, but I dont have one yet. We hung out all day and at Ethiopian food while realizing that we have a lot of similar interests in development and micro-enterprise. It was great to connect with him again. We also briefly entered a slum called Kibera (over a million people) where Constant Gardener was filmed. The next morning we went to another slum called Mathare. Mathare has been victimized with arbitrary killing becasue a group called the Mungiki is trying to create instability in an election year. They think that instability will get a new president elected and they are probably right. Anyway, we entered Mathare in the wake of some of these killings along with the police retaliatory actions. We visited an organization called Mathare Child Development Center. They work with street kids by providing them with education and minimal health care. They are providing education for kids who otherwise would not be able to get any education. They also seem to provide hope in the midst of a seemingly hopeless slum life. They have over 400 children in primary school and 68 in secondary (high) school.
After visiting the project we asked if we could go into the slum and see some of the houses. The conditions were not suprising. They all lived in small houses made of sheet metal. They had live wires hanging around the slum and the alley between all of the houses was used as a bathroom. You can see how the lack of sanitation and infrastructure is a developmental nightmare…

Mathare Statistics
-500,000 people
-Live on less that $1 a day (extreme poverty).

This is the alley/bathroom between the “houses”

I dont think a lot of the kids in the slum had ever seen a Muzungu (foreigner). Throngs of kids would jump up and down yelling Muzungu as we walked through the slum. It was hard not to feel like a poverty tourist, but I have to take solace in the fact that I am going to do something aobut their poverty.

From Nairobi we took an all night bus to Kisumu. Kendra and I couldnt sleep so we sat and talked as Ashley snored the night away. This was the begining of two nights with virtually no sleep for me. We arrived in Kisumu at 5:30 AM and were greeted by the Compassion worker. He was supposed to take us to meet my sponsored child later that morning. Unfortunately, he had the wrong people and he had to make some last minute calls to one of the former compassion employees to take us around for the day. It worked out that he was the pastor of a church and we met some of the other missionaries. One of them was a guy named Daniel. He is from Canada and he was so generous to invite us to his house for dinner that night and to swim in their pool. It was so good that we all connected becasue otherwise we would have been sitting at the bus stop waiting for our but to Uganda for a long time. Here is a link to their blog where they better explain the story…

We went with Tobias, the pastor, to the Compassion project site. There I met Nehema Ijusa and her family. We spent the day touring the facilities, eating lunch, playing soccer, and talking. It was really nice to put a face to this child I have been sponsoring for five years. I dont have any pictures from this right now, but I should be able to put some up later in the week. It was a little awkward becasue I dont know what to talk about with a 10 year old who has grown up in Africa. I felt honored to be a part of her life and to know that she wants to be the first woman senator in Kenya. I was really nervous and I think that took away from the experience. I am so glad that I got to meet her, but I wish I could contribute more to her life.

We hung out with Daniel and his wife Lindsay and their two kids for the rest of the afternoon and they dropped us off for our bus. They were so generous and they saved us from having a really long night sitting at a bus stop. We are extremely grateful for how things got mixed up with our compassion guy. We got to the bus stop at 12:30 to wait for our 1 AM bus. Being a good American, I assumed that the bus would arrive at 1 AM like it said on the ticket, but we ended up waiting until 4:30 AM for the bus to arrive. TIA. I had told our contact in Uganda that we would arrive at 8 AM like the ticket said and he was there waiting for us 3-4 hours early. He later told me that he couldnt believe the bus would arrive at 8 and he was right. We took another night bus and crossed into the Uganda border at Busia early in the morning….

Uganda to come next…..

You can find me in Africa… or blogging

I will be updating a blog with pictures and thoughts from my time in Africa at

www.xanga.com/peteramico

This will be a good place to keep up with me

Second Semester Cumulative Vocabulary Test!

These are the words that could be on your Test on Monday

Expulsion,

Maxim,

Disinterred,

Ignominious,

Indignation,

Cannibalism,

Stupefied,

Vanity,

Tumult,

Thwart.

Ensconced,

Laborious,

Enmity,

Vivacious,

Apathy,

Acute,

Parasitical,

Cryptic,

Indefatigable,

Tractable

Veneer,

Remorse,

Recluse,

Spurious,

Florid,

Irascible,

Pinioned,

Reprimand,

Bland,

Connived

Volition,

Expunge,

Aridity,

Temerity,

Feral,

Ruefully,

Furtive,

Infantile,

Squalid,

Brevity

Cleaved,

Vigil,

Aberration,

Caricatures,

Quelled,

Inordinately,

Analagous,

Provocation,

Guileless,

Obstreperous.

Obliquely,

Myopic,

Curtness,

Ominous,

Venerable,

Acquiescence,

Uncouth,

Formidable,

Elucidate,

Eccentric

Assuaged,

Impotent,

Taciturn,

Impudent,

Entailment,

Tranquility,

Contemptuous,

Diminutive,

Disapprobation,

Amiable.

 

Job 1-2

In chapters 1-2 of Job

What can we learn about humanity?

What can we learn about God?

What can we learn about relationships?

What can we learn about Job and his family?

POST this on your own blog!

Animal Farm Ideas… Due Thursday April 12th

So far in Animal Farm we have seen the danger of a world where mindless control takes hold. When the animals trust the pigs to take care of them because they are the “brain workers” disaster results. This is dangerous and can lead to mass injustice. The point Orwell is trying to make is that this is happening all over the world and we must do something to stop it.

Discuss an area of your life where you feel like you are subjected to the “pigs” and you are mindlessly following. If you cant think of something from your own life think of someone you know who is mindlessly following the leaders because they are the leaders. After you discuss this problem suggest a solution. POST THIS ON YOUR OWN BLOG!!!

Also, Comment on three others blogs with thoughtful comments. I dont want any ridiculing of other people’s ideas.

Trial Reflections

You have an hour today (Monday March 19th) to post your thoughts on the trial. I want you to give thoughtful feedback on what you liked and what you didn’t like about the trial we held last week. After you have posted a thoughtful post on your blog I want you to comment on at least 4 other blogs in the class. These are also required to be thoughtful.

This is a collaborative exercise and it will be much better as you comment back and forth. We are looking to move beyond the world of “you write I give you feedback” to a world where “you write and everyone gives you feedback”. We are all experts who have  input to give, thus we must listen to the voice of others. Do not disregard the voice of your classmates because they have a lot of insight.

Begin writing….

Any Questions About The Trial??

Hey everyone!

I know some of you have lingering questions about the trial, but you don’t want to ask them. Leave a comment on here because I am sure you are not the only one who has questions and I will do my best to answer them quickly.

I am a nice teacher

#1 There will be no blog post this week. However, if you have skipped one of the blog entries or have been asked to re-do your entry this is your chance to make it up. In the future, no student will be allowed to makeup a blog. However, this time I am giving you a break. Check your grades and if you have a zero for one of the blogs make it up and then let me know that you want me to re-check your grade for that blog. I will not give full credit, but I will give 75% if you do the work. I hope this helps….

#2 I have decided that each student needs to bring in 5 dollars to help pay for the lunch we are having on March 16th after out trial. If you are reading this you need to bring it in before the end of this week (by February 22nd).

Something to be thinking about:

Why is Scout the narrator of the book? -Leave a COMMENT, not a post (sorry my mistake) explaining why you think she is the narrator.