“Ethiopia” comes from the words “artho” meaning “I burn” and “ops” meaning “faces”. It is the “Land of scorched faces”, aptly so.
We saw many scorched faces; scorched by the relentless sun that burns 13 months of the year (more about that later).
Yes, scorched...but more like burned. Burned by the apathy of government that seems to put its own people at such a low priority. Burned by the wilt and drift and resignation of good souls who try to hold on to any vestige of dignity in such poverty and hopelessness in their daily lives.
Since our time with Rick Hodes, he sends David his latest cases, perhaps a couple a week, seeking new opinions or some viable options for the beleaguered youth he sees in his clinic. Just yesterday David received a new file with x-rays belonging to Melaku, an 18 year old shoe-shine street kid with a terrible tumor. What’s to be done? or in truth: Can anything be done? Already his lungs are full of metastasis. How do you give hope to an 18 year old orphan with a deadly disease? I'll tell you more in my next post.
Our 2 weeks in Ethiopia had many “hiccups”: power outages, internet frustrations, non-functioning Ethiopian telephones, basic food finding, transportation, etc. Nothing was easy. In fact, we mused that it always seemed to take much longer to “prepare” to do something, than it took to “do” the actual deed. As I see it, most of this could be rectified with a collective mentality of “follow-thru”, which seems to be so lacking. I was brought up that if I take on an assignment, I complete it intoto and then I get to “check it off my list”. Now, doesn’t that just feel SO good?! We sensed a cultural disconnect with this kind of thought process: the undertaking of a task, then working the series of steps to its completion. Frequently, we were left waiting and wondering and hoping that some basic and not too complicated dilemma would be seen to its conclusion. It rarely was, without our intervention, and prodding.
Much to my surprise and joy, David found the medical residents to be smart and truly on their game. They will soon be fine neurosurgeons. Let’s hope some are willing to stay and raise the quality of life for their fellow Ethiopians.
We also found the people to be very kindly. We never felt scared or threatened, even when walking on the streets in the evening. Small change could be dropped on a ragged cloth near a blind man or in a pan next to a crippled child; there was no aggression. Perhaps their voices had been silenced over the years since nobody ever seemed to listen anyway.
We had endless frustration with connectivity and sought help from the I.T.(Internet Technology) Dept.in an adjacent building. The instructor acknowledged that he also didn’t have connectivity there but offered to accompany us to the veranda at the hospital. Much to my surprise he made an announcement in Amharic to the 40-50 students (using jumpdrives) on the classroom's computers, then abruptly locked the barred entry doors, leaving everyone locked in without any escape exit. I was horrified and immediately exclaimed: “You can’t do that! What if there’s an emergency?!!” “Of course I can!” he responded, “I do it all the time; that’s the only way we can guarantee security of our equipment”.How can we understand such values?
We prepared to leave Ethiopia, but not Africa. We still had one very important visit – 4 days in Kenya and a chance to see our dear friends, the Mabeyas and our adopted “family”. Ethiopia had been the main course, the substance, the meat and potatoes of our trip, but now we were ready for dessert…and how insanely delicious that would be!
It’s time to visit Kabongo!
Sharon! Kelvin! Veronicah! Moses! Grandma Jane!
How are you, my darling Sweetcakes???? Here we come!!!!!
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One of many slum areas. The government is razing these on 3-day notice. Those with deed for actual plot are eligible for low-interest condo loans. Those without, remain without.
Condos under construction. They provide jobs for Ethiopians and housing for middle class.Those who can afford to pre-buy, get to choose their own kitchen colors!! |
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| A mom and 2 young boys live in this dwelling on the main sidewalk from the hospital to downtown.They keep their puppy safe on a leash. In the evening the boys often sit on low stools and play checkers. When I spoke to the older one, he responded in excellent English and was well-dressed, obviously attending school. |
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| Having grown up in the teeny-tiny town of Stowe Vermont, I was thrilled to find the breadth of knowledge this young man had about it. "Yes", he exclaimed, "I know all Stowe. It is a place in Utah". He had mistaken the "VT" for "UT". |
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| An Ethiopian watch. They keep time according to the Ethiopian-Coptic calendar (not the Gregorian, like most of the rest of the world). Each month has 30 days, and a few extra are added to create a partial 13 month. All days start at sunrise, and one hour later is 1AM . This causes many difficulties since the hospital uses the Gregorian and the University, and many ancillary medical depts. use the Coptic. When David asked for a more recent set of scans on a clinic patient, he was told the ones in his hand had been taken the previous week, even though dated Sept. 2005. |
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| What to do with that "extra" month? Make it a tourist attraction!!!!! |
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Coffin sellers, usually located across the street from hospitals.
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I enjoyed this juxtaposition of two worlds: a cell phone tower including dishes for multi-station TV viewing, and construction of a building using archaic and highly dangerous hand-lashed scaffolding. (OSHA, are you there?)
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