Cream teas, crocs and catholic priests
Calum has just left after his two
week trip to Ethiopia, which is means two things; firstly I have lots of
exciting holiday type stuff to write about and secondly I’m on the home leg
with only 6-7 weeks left in Ethiopia.
We spent the first few days of
Calum’s trip here in Haramaya, catching up with friends and enjoying life on
campus. I was also able to take the equipment Calum had bought down to
distribute to the hospital. I have had 3 Life boxes, which are oxygen
saturation monitors designed for resource poor settings donated by Little
Lives, an Edinburgh based children’s charity run by one of my colleagues at
Sick Kids. They help the help to detect hypoxia earlier than clinical signs can
and are especially useful for patients undergoing anaesthetic. Initially I
wanted all three from the paediatric ward but after discussion with the medical
director we decided to put one in the OR, one in “intensive care/ recovery” and
one in paediatrics. I made them promise to reassess how much use they are
getting and redistributed if they are not being used, although whether that
will happen is anyone’s guess. Calum had also brought 24 child/neonatal ambu
bags with masks courtesy of Dr Morrice (also back in Edinburgh) and which will
go into the labour ward paediatric ward and also to some other hospital and
health centers so that the staff should have no excuse not to put into practise
all the brilliant resuscitation skills we’ve taught them. They are desperately
needed – only the week before I found another apnoeic, bradycardic baby on the
neonatal unit. I asked the nurse to get the ambu bag, but she couldn’t find the
usual one so appeared with another old thing but said she didn’t think it
worked. I decided to give it a go but when I squeezed the bag the baby almost
got a mouthful of cockroaches instead of a lungful of air. Needless to say we
abandoned that particular ambu bag pretty quick.
Our original plan had been to
stay in Haramaya for a full week, but then we were invited to the British
Embassy to a garden party to celebrate the jubilee. Since we had been planning
to fly to Addis anyway on the Saturday we decided to bring the flights forward
to Thursday and go to the party that afternoon. It wasn’t so much the patriotic
need to flag wave the attracted me, more the pull of pimms, proper wine and
pastries. However there was to be no cream tea for me as we were bumped off the
flight at the last minute in favour (we think) of the US ambassador who’d been
at Haramaya the day before to open a radio station. Gutted is not the word.
Still we ended up with some extra time in Addis and filled it very nicely by
swimming at the Sheraton in their lovely heated outdoor pool, and spending the
night watching Ethio jazz at the Taitu hotel which was fab.
From Addis we flew to Arba Minch
which is in the South of the country. It’s totally different to any other part
of Ethiopia, set in the heart of the Rift Valley with two great lakes which
almost meet, separated only by the “Bridge of God” a narrow, but mountainous
piece of land which forms the Nechisar national park. On the other side of Arba
Minch from the lakes there are mountains covered in lush vegetation including
enset and banana plants and mango trees. Its very green and tropicl feeling in
comparison to other parts of the country which generally are looking much more
barren at this time of year.
In Arba Minch we stayed with
Father Paddy at the Catholic Mission. It was recommended to us by other
volunteers but I have to admit to being a little apprehensive about it as my
previous impression of the Catholic church has been one of a slightly
intimidating, stuffy, out-of-touch institution. Would they mind that Calum and
are were not yet married? Absolutely not! Father Paddy and Father Dennis are so
hospitable and great company. They (and the fridge full of beer) really make
you feel at home, and I think between them they could definitely convert the
masses. Apart from the great accommodation and food they also generously
provided us with use of the mission’s 4X4 to visit Dorze Village up in the
mountains and Nechisar park, where we saw the biggest crocs ever! (Photos to
follow). They also took us to visit Arba Minch Prison where they do a lot of
development work, improving the inmates accommodation, and health care
services, and providing workshops and equipment to allow them to learn a new
skill and keep occupied while in prison. They were visiting the prison that day
with a group of Irish Musicians on a fund raising visit, and the plan was to
put on a concert. After a couple of tunes though, it was felt the locals didn’t
really get the Irish music and maybe some irish ceilidh dancing would help,
except they only had 3 people and needed 4. Next thing I know I’m being dragged
up to do my first ever Irish ceilidh dancing in a Ethiopian prision cheered on
by 2000 inmates. Thankfully they totally “got” the dancing and were very
enthusiastic in their applause! It was a brilliant experience.
Thats all for now. More photos
later.
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