Last week I travelled to Addis Ababa for the VSO leaver’s
conference. This is a one day work shop held to inform anyone whose placement
ends in the next 6 months about the procedures and paperwork necessary before
you leave. There’s quite a lot to do but it all seems fairly straightforward
and I still have at least two full months to get everything finished off.
The workshop also gives you a chance to reflect on the highs
and lows of volunteering and what you have achieved in your placement. It was
interesting to hear everybody’s stories, good and bad. It seems that although
most people have had many challenges and frustrations along the way, no one has
regretted making the decision to volunteer with VSO. For me it has been a
brilliant year and I am so pleased to have had the opportunity to do it. It has
been incredibly tough at times, especially at the start when I really missed
Calum and had no permanent accommodation which made getting settled so
difficult. However I know that if I hadn’t come to Ethiopia I would have always
wondered what it would have been like and wished I’d been able to find out. I
have also learnt a huge amount. Not just about paediatrics in Africa (which
is an entirely different job to
paediatrics in the UK in every way imaginable) but also about things that have
never been part of my job before, like writing project proposals, preparing and
managing budgets, running training courses, and implementing changes and new
protocols. I have had a huge amount of teaching experience and have discovered
that I actually quite like it and maybe medical education is something I’d like
to explore more when I get home. So on the whole a year well spent. There is
still sooooo much to do here though, and I will never be able to change all the
things I would like. The good news is that there may be someone following in my
footsteps so hopefully a new volunteer will help keep up the momentum.
After the leaver’s conference Susan and I headed West of
Addis to the town of Ambo. We had a brilliant night out on the town and then
went to visit Wenchi crater with a whole gang of VSO vols. Wenchi crater is an
extinct volcano with a fresh water lake, and it’s absolutely beautiful. We
walked the 1 ½ hours down to the crater lake then took a boat to the island in
the middle on which there is a monastery. Afterwards we rode horses back up to
to summit where our minibus was. It was so lovely to get our in the country
side and there was hardly any hassle so it was a really relaxing way to spend the
day. Photos to follow......
No comments:
Post a Comment