Excellent day today….we started off with a hot cooked breakfast and then made our way to the Black Lion Hospital. We met with the head of the paediatric ICU and she gave us a tour of both the peds area and the main hospital wards.

When we entered the peds ER/ICU area, there were about six beds in where one bed would go in our hospitals. There was family all around each patient and it was very quiet. We learned that the family does the main nursing of the patients. The diaper changing, the feeding, the bedding changes (that they supply) as well as fetching any and all medical supplies and medications needed. For example, if an IV antibiotic is ordered, the family is given a prescription to go get the bag of saline, the iv tubing, the lock, the gauze, the medication itself…everything that is needed for the pt. Nothing is stocked at or provided by the hospital. NOTHING.

There were large crowds waiting in all areas of the hospital. Some patients or family were actually camping out in the hospital with pieces of cardboard to lay on, their blankets and their pots of food.

When we were going through the peds ER, they were using plastic water bottles, tape and tubing to makeshift Macgyver both saline infused oxygen as well as for CPAP machines. Lee and I stopped at the side of one 30 day old baby girl who had neonatal sepsis. Her father was there as well as a resident who was in charge of her care. Lee and I looked right away and could see she was struggling to breathe. Alynne joined us as she could see something was going on. The little girl was barely breathing and the Dr was tickling her to try and rouse her. Lee asked if he could bag her to assist her ventilation’s, and the resident thought that was a good idea, and so he did. Alynne and I suggested suction cause you could hear the secretions, and the resident again thought that was a good idea, so a suction tubing was removed from a glove that was taped to the side of the bed that the family had brought in for her, and she was suctioned. A minute later she was breathing on her own again…albeit with sats of 91% and near death without a doubt. Had Lee not stopped by her bedside, we are all confident the resident would not have been able to handle things, and she would have died right then and there. I would not be surprised if she has died by now, along with however many of the other extremely sick kids that were there.

We continued our tour and met a patient that was a ten year old boy who was recovering from his third bout of Gillian Barre syndrome, which is either a case for the medical journals or a misdiagnosis multiple times. We then met up with the Chief of the Hospital and she toured us through their critical care area of the adult ER where we followed the Drs doing rounds. There was a 60 yr old woman with Leukemia sepsis getting blood infusions and was being ventilated with one of the four in total the hospital had. The Drs for some reason were keeping her on life support for some totally unknown reason to us as EVERY SINGLE sign of brain death was present. In consultation with two Toronto ER Drs that were there doing a residency and teaching position, the six of us were at a loss as to their treatment plan. We also saw a woman with such ascites in her abdomen I thought she was pregnant at first. It was unbelievable how big her belly was with all the fluid in it. We saw a young msn with cardiomyopathy and kidney failure who was on an epi drip even though he was tachycardic, we got to see a pregnant women get an ultrasound to try and diagnose her shortness of breath because of the risk of an X-ray to the fetus….it was filled with patients as high as you could stack them.

There were BartSimpson posters as well as Tom and Jerry ones in the peds ward, and one that maybe was lost in translation that showed a kid and some tools and said, “Keep on hammering!”

Matt and Kari were there for part of the tour and then went to the University to get their own tour of the dentistry lab they had.

We met up back at the house for lunch and Kari had surprised Alynne for her birthday with some cake she picked up from the bakery on the way home. I had brought some candles from Canada with me, so it was well lit up when she blew them out. We all then had some wet, soapy, rose flavoured birthday cake. No one had seconds. I thought for sure if I hiccuped bubbles would come from my mouth!

After lunch Bisrat’s wife Saggi showed us to how make injera. It is the staple food here made from a grain called teff. It is like a cross between sourdough bread and a crepe. I am going to try and make some when I get home!

I learned that being a professional driver is an occupation here. It takes six months to get your drivers license and costs $6,000 Birr, which is a lot considering 30 Birr a day is most people’s wages. It would explain why the traffic flows so well, considering lines are just a suggestion, and in a city of 3 million there are only four stop lights. It was crazy!!

At the medical clinic today I got to do something I’ve never done before. There was a girl with molluscum contagiousum. I know it sounds like a Harry Potter spell, but they are a viral infection that looks like a cross between a wart and a whitehead. The cure is to leave them alone, but most kids pick and scratch at them, and then they spread everywhere. The other cure is to take a scalpel and scrape the head off until you see the gluey pus underneath and then squeeze them till a big ball erupts and then wash them. They will dry off and go away then too. It was harder than I thought it would be to cut the skin by scraping and avoid sliding into this girl’s face.

Nail polish Gate three
This time at the Kirkos centre, I gave the bag of polishes to the older girls and had them paint their own nails. I was wondering if I would get them back at the end, but I did and wasn’t subjected to needing a stick to be kind.

For supper tonight we went to the Yod Abssynia Restaurant for traditional Ethiopian food. One of the graduates from the Canadian Humanitarian programs was playing there as a musician and so we chose that night to go. The videos we took of the traditional dancing were very similar to the dances that children did, but with definitely more fervor! Our supper was the traditional plate of food, but in the middle was a ?vulture egg drowning in a very spicy sauce that was thought to be spiced with cobra venom. Our driver’s ate that, we did not … lol. It was a non fasting supersized celebration meal they called it, with sizzling goat chunks (which Alynne loved, but I couldn’t bring myself to eat) and lamb entrails. I didn’t eat much for supper other than the chick pea and bean dishes. I have definitely been spoiled with my Alberta beef.

Our song of the trip was one called Malemequoi by an Ethiopian artist. I decided to go out on a limb and see if the band could play it for us. Not only did they, they got all their dancers dressed up in the correct costumes, and let me co-perform it. The video is funny, but I think my resume now can say professional dancer (no pole required).

Their dancing like I said before is very different than ours. The do full body twerking, as well as moonwalk pushups 2.0 as seen in the videos. I can’t post these here yet though.

Off to bed after a long day!

The Ethiopians have a company here called Ethiofoam. You guessed it, they make foam mattress. It is so firm, it must be made from the lava rocks that spewed from the volcano that erupted a few years ago down the road from where we are staying it is so dense. I think they must be endorsed by chiropractors as a money making investment. ‘Nuff said about that.

There are a number of very interesting birds here I will need to research when I get back for I have never seen them. We did get to see vultures though, but not able to get clear pictures as they seem to startle easily. Maybe because they have never seen white people before either and they think we are ghosts and that frightens them…lol

Our friend The Henchman had the pleasure of having a bone ripped from his skull today which will no doubt improve his disposition. Ha! Time will tell.

We had French toast for breakfast that was…um…interesting. While there were good intentions, I can see this trip being a bit of a weight loss plan in action.

Today we did some painting of the classrooms to bring them back to looking clean and fresh again. I managed to get paint in my hair but we completed it in good time with all the help we had. Alynne helped rub paint off the bum of my pants with baby wipes as I somehow bumped into a paintbrush.

We learned that the key I had been toting around for the room as the key master could be not only used to keep people out, but to lock people in too!!! Three of us left the room, and so I locked the door behind us pocketing the key. We joined the group and we were waiting for Dick to join us before we started our next activity and he wasn’t coming…and wasn’t coming…until Bisrat came to ask me if I had the key as Dick must have been in the bathroom when we left and locked the door, making him a prisoner in his own room!

Alynne, Lee and I have decided there is merit in having my sister rent a minivan to come get us in so we don’t need to risk having bugs in my van that could cause a problem for not only our family, but for my carpool friends and anyone else who rides with me in the week following our return. We have been advised to keep our bags outside or in the freezer for a few days to kill whatever may come back with us. Seems like a good idea given the number of bugs I have run across to far in this first week.

I saw my first banana tree with a banana flower and it was beautiful! Can’t wait to show you the picture of it!

Supper was the mais corn, potatoes and a meat that could have been ox, goat, sheep or hyena….not quite sure which. I did learn however the reason that bulls are castrated. I always thought it was for reproductive control. Turns out it is to reduce the testosterone in the animals as that hormone makes meat tough and stringy. Married to a farmer and I had no idea!

Off to bed. Be well.

Well, we are less than an hour in the air before we land in Ethiopia. It has been 11 hours and 50 minutes in the air. We have been fed three times, I have watched several movies, napped, stretched my legs and now sit here contemplating my navel.

We are half way around the world. Half. Way. Around. All we needed to do to accomplish this was step on a plane. I was asleep before we took off and awoke some time later shocked at how smooth it was. Nothing like a King Air 200 let me tell you.

Surprisingly, even though I didn’t have an emergency aisle seat, there was more leg room than I expected and luckily the chair reclined a bit which helped. The food has been lovely, but the bathroom has not. At the beginning of the flight it was fine, and we have had no turbulence, so I cannot understand why there is garbage everywhere and urine on the floor. People can be gross, no matter where you are in the world. I wondered why the airline gave us all socks, and the prevailing thought it that it is so you can put them on and since they are yellow, you wont notice the urine soaked in them….then when you land you can put your shoes back on and have clean feet.

During one of my stretching sessions and water breaks in the rear galley, I spoke with several people who have been to Africa many, many times before and they have all said it isn’t somewhere that you only go to once. Malawi is being portrayed as both beautiful and lovely to go see. There hasn’t been much feedback about Ethiopia, which has my spider senses tingling.

I asked one man what advice he would have for me, given this is my first time being here, and the nature of the work we are here to do, and after a few moments pause for thought, he said, “Just watch, look, listen and learn. Don’t come with the attitude that you are going to fix everything and everybody, and that your way is the best way to do things. I am ashamed to admit it took me several years to learn that. Don’t make my same mistakes. You will love it, AND you will come back.”

I am obviously still without any reality of this place as I type this, and I can’t help but wonder as I look around the plane, what the stories are of all these people around me. If we are headed into such abject poverty, how are all the people who are on this plane making it? Surely not everyone on this plane is visiting. Some must be coming back home. What are their stories??

The need to stow my tray table and return my seat to an upright position has arrived, so I will bid you adieu and check in again once we have gotten settled.

Be well.

If any of you would like any clarification on a post…leave it in the comments and I will reply.

We arrived at Addis Ababa and went through the security/immigration/customs section of the airport before we collected our bags, and each of us had a different immigration form. Some were in English, some were in French and no two were alike. When we went through and got our passports stamped, there wasn’t anyone who wanted to collect our forms after we figured out how to fill them in! Lol

Waiting for us were our two drivers, Ketama and Gaetu who expertly navigated through the three lane roads that were being driven four cars wide. There are roundabouts galore, horns tooting, pollution so thick you could chew it at times, cars burning bunker oil and pedestrians who knew that they didn’t have the right of way. There were herds of goats spray painted with pink paint to mark them for their owners in lieu of branding. The goats have ears and tails that perk up and the sheep have ears and tail that flop down. These herds are usually contained along the more major roads, however, along with the horses that have been abandoned once they are too nag-like and need more care than they are worth investing in anymore, they roam the streets finally in charge of their own destiny.

We arrived at the home we are staying at after a twenty minute drive to be greeted with a lovely two story stucco house with marble floors and red hardwood. There was an immediate nap mandated, and three hours later I was roused. The rule of outside and inside shoes to reduce the transmission of e-Coli etc due to the lack of sanitation here was instituted right away. We quickly unpacked and sorted our donation bags and then set about inventorying all the medical and dental supplies so that we have greater ability to dispense what is needed when the time comes. Soon enough it was ten o’clock and everyone hit the hay!