Desta Mender

Yesterday I met the amazing Dr Catherine Hamlin at church. I knew that she went to that church, but since we had been attending, she and I hadn’t been there on the same Sundays yet.

Dr Hamlin was with the Bennetts. Mark is the CEO of the Fistula Hospitals, and Annette, his wife, is the head of the midwifery school. We were talking with Mark at first, then Annette and Dr Hamlin came over and introduced themselves.

Dr Hamlin just put out her hand and said “I’m Catherine Hamlin”. She was humble, gracious and completely without airs and graces. She was very interested to hear that it is my plan to come and help with the embroidery group.

After church, we went with some friends out to Desta Mender. This is the long term facility for patients of the fistula hospital, whose wounds have not been able to be completely cured. At Desta Mender, they teach them how to look after their health, and also teach life skills to help the girls.

In the last year or so, Rae Newman, a lovely lady from Australia (who I have also had the delight to meet) trained some of the residents, and they opened a cafe at Desta Mender. She did a great job, because her staff do a great job.

We had lunch at Juniper Cafe, and enjoyed really delicious pies and salad. The salad dressing was a little heavy-handed on the garlic, and I feel like I will be breathing garlic until we get home to Australia…, but it was so lovely out there. There is a dam with ducks, and you overlook the surrounding countryside, which is very pretty.

We finished off our lunch with the delicious tasting, but 1cm high pavlova that John and I had made. It did rise up to about 5cm in the oven, but as it cooled it dropped down to about 1cm high. Oh well. It tasted great!
You can also buy the pies as takeaway, so we came home with 6 frozen pies to enjoy another day. We came home feeling extremely tired, but having had a wonderful time.