This month we have a new medical student, Daniele. He is this huge guy that plays rugby and he is very genuine, speaks amazing English, and wants to be an Orthopedist. On Daniele’s first day he saw Dr. Claudio drain an abscess (pus below the skin) on an adult. He stepped outside afterwards and woke up face down on the ground surrounded by nurses. He fainted. Cher. What I love is that instead of being all tough guy, he just laughed at himself.
One day I helped Dr. Giorgio perform dressing changes on children. We have a lot of 2nd & 3rd degree burn patients because of children spilling water and bunna (coffee) on themselves. I helped him with those and also to drain abscesses. I amazingly didn’t almost faint like many times before. I think I’m getting used to the conditions here. Praise God.
A word about Giorgio. He has been my buddy here the last month. He is the first person to notice I’m a bit “alone” here. First time in my life I need to know Italian or wear a habit to fit in. No worries though. Anyways, Giorgio, a retired surgeon who is in his 60’s, always makes sure I’m at his side. Well, at the open market a few weeks ago (where I buy my fruits & veggies), Giorgio pulls me aside and puts an aluminum ring on my right hand that he bought for about 25 cents, and has a heart with “LOVE” printed on it. In his broken English, he says, “So you know you are loved”. Such a romantic. Oh, he also calls laying out in the sun “sunshine worship”. He’s just so cute!
In a package my mom sent me mini-Oreos, so before fasting began for my co-workers (no meat or animal products until Easter) I brought them for our daily bunna/shai (coffee/tea) break. They loved the classic American cookie. However, we don’t really have very sweet cakes here, so I don’t think they were used to the sweetness, so they stuck the Oreos in dabbo (bread). I like mine with milk, but whatever floats your boat.
One day at work my right palm itched, and I said, “I’ll be getting money soon”. My co-worker Ashe heard and said, “You believe that too?!” Good to know family beliefs are practiced in Ethiopia too, but here it’s only if the left palm itches.
It’s interesting the fears you overcome without even realizing it. Pretty much every morning in my shower and several times a week around my house, I find spiders, and they seem to be growing in size and scariness each day. After killing one the other day, I thought, “My God, I’ve grown up…” My sister Mandie knows that I classically, instead of killing bugs, put a cup over it, so that someone else will find it later and kill it for me. : ) Stinks living by yourself. Also, a couple nights ago I killed a spider and at least 50 tiny babies burst from it, and I yelled, “My worst nightmare!” Ewww.
Before leaving Wolisso yesterday, we had the opening of our Therapeutic Feeding Unit. There are 2 types of malnourishment: (1) Marasmus = severely underweight children, who have the appearance of old men (what people typically think malnourished children look like). (2) Kwashkor = overweight children due to the lack of proteins in their bodies that causes severe generalized body edema (swelling). Many children in developing countries have pot bellies because they don’t have enough protein to build their abdominal muscles. Malnourished children are our 2nd most common cause for admissions in Pediatrics, so this is a 16 bed unit especially for them. They will be fed the special formulas by mouth or via a nasogastric tube (since most don’t have an appetite) which go in 3 phases, there is an education area for the parents to be taught about nutrition, a play area to help the children gain strength, and a cooking area for the mothers to learn how to cook nutritious meals. It’s fantastic!
Best part of this month: My dad bought his ticket to come to Ethiopia at the beginning of May! Yay!!! His first trip to Africa, he will get to see where I work & what I do, and we will travel to some of the sights around the country! You can be jealous or make a trip out here. :p
Off to Kenya tomorrow!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Sick Days
So, I’m sick again today. I’ve gotten sick more here in the last 3 months than I have in my entire life. However, I can’t help but be thankful during these times. First of all, I get to have empathy for the children here when they are sick. However, I also have several advantages, including a clean house, water, a sanitation system, people who check in on me (at least 5 who are doctors), and, oh, I’m a nurse. Last week I went out to a community that did not even have a water pump and the “well” they had was just a shallow hole in the ground with water that could not even be boiled clean. No wonder the children come in so frequently with horrible stomach parasites and worms.
The second reason I “like” getting sick is that those days I have to force myself to rest and sleep all day. I am constantly tired here from the constant activity from concentrating so much during and so many things to learn and remember each day.
The last reason, is that in the moments when I feel alert enough I do a lot of reading. A couple of weeks ago when I was sick I finished reading Seven Story Mountain by Thomas Merton and now I am reading Eat, Love, Pray by Elizabeth Gilbert Both show that the most unlikely of people can have the richest spiritual lives, that meditation is difficult but essential for actually listening to God, and when you are in confusion & it feels like your heart is breaking out of your chest, be patient. Only by being broken can we be made open to God and have peace. The least we can do, as Deacon Leo says, (and as you reminded me, Austin) is to just show up and leave the rest to God. He can’t do anything if we don’t give him the time to do so.
Today I also bought my plane ticket to go to Kenya next month. I will be visiting 3 other CMMB volunteers. It will be good to take a break, see what kind of work they are doing there, and be able to speak fast, slang-filled American English for 2 whole weeks! Speaking “special English” (slow & simple) gets wearing after awhile.
The second reason I “like” getting sick is that those days I have to force myself to rest and sleep all day. I am constantly tired here from the constant activity from concentrating so much during and so many things to learn and remember each day.
The last reason, is that in the moments when I feel alert enough I do a lot of reading. A couple of weeks ago when I was sick I finished reading Seven Story Mountain by Thomas Merton and now I am reading Eat, Love, Pray by Elizabeth Gilbert Both show that the most unlikely of people can have the richest spiritual lives, that meditation is difficult but essential for actually listening to God, and when you are in confusion & it feels like your heart is breaking out of your chest, be patient. Only by being broken can we be made open to God and have peace. The least we can do, as Deacon Leo says, (and as you reminded me, Austin) is to just show up and leave the rest to God. He can’t do anything if we don’t give him the time to do so.
Today I also bought my plane ticket to go to Kenya next month. I will be visiting 3 other CMMB volunteers. It will be good to take a break, see what kind of work they are doing there, and be able to speak fast, slang-filled American English for 2 whole weeks! Speaking “special English” (slow & simple) gets wearing after awhile.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Highs (aka good times)
Having to laugh to ease the worries of a child’s parents after their child just peed on me when I was assessing her. For most of these kids I’m the first white person they have seen (I frequently have patients less than 2 weeks old), so many of them think I am the Ghost of Death. I would be scared too.
Being randomly told by my male Ethiopian friend Benguma that I’m “not too fat”. Considering most Ethiopians are underweight, I won’t take too much offence (and they will comment on everything: if you look tired, don’t like your new haircut, if you have a zit…), especially since a couple minutes later he asked me, “Am I too fat?” Ohhh, he’s like a teenage girl searching for compliments! “No, Benguma, you’re not too fat. You’re perfect.” “A perfect 10?” “Yes, a perfect 10”.
Seeing the look of joy and pleasure when I taught Dr. Corrado (my Pediatric MD English student) the English word “nap”. He uses it frequently now. Also, “I couldn’t sleep a wink last night” (a phrase he learned from his English book that he used to impress me. Cher babe).
Being invited to go to a monastery 3 hours away on horrendous, bumpy, so fun road out in the country by 5 visiting Italians (I’m accepted despite being an American! Yay!). Then while there, laying out under the stars with my friend Gorgia discussing our faith and how glorious God is.
Favorite Ethiopian custom that my friend Zafi told me about: On the day of the Epiphany, Eastern Orthodox men will throw a lemon at a girl they thinks is cute (aka that they would potentially want to marry). Only one lemon per man (I asked). They try to hit her heart. If she likes him, she keeps it and then they start dating. However, for me, all I can imagine is a boy running up to a girl and spiking a giant lemon at her chest in dodge ball fashion. I thought it was hilarious but sweet. It is moreso practiced just in the country now, and since they can’t afford lemons they throw a small pebble (or a giant rock! : p hehehe).
Abba Bogali and I were having a conversation about how some English words are similar. Abba: “Hat, hot, & hut. Sharp & shark. A lot of sharks are eating our people these days.” Me: “What?!” (surprise from the statement and also that we don’t border an ocean) Abba: “The Ethiopian Airline plane crashed into the Mediterranean Sea. 35 Ethiopians died and are being eaten by sharks.” (On Monday a flight from Lebanon to Ethiopia crashed) Me: “Abba! That’s terrible!”
Being randomly told by my male Ethiopian friend Benguma that I’m “not too fat”. Considering most Ethiopians are underweight, I won’t take too much offence (and they will comment on everything: if you look tired, don’t like your new haircut, if you have a zit…), especially since a couple minutes later he asked me, “Am I too fat?” Ohhh, he’s like a teenage girl searching for compliments! “No, Benguma, you’re not too fat. You’re perfect.” “A perfect 10?” “Yes, a perfect 10”.
Seeing the look of joy and pleasure when I taught Dr. Corrado (my Pediatric MD English student) the English word “nap”. He uses it frequently now. Also, “I couldn’t sleep a wink last night” (a phrase he learned from his English book that he used to impress me. Cher babe).
Being invited to go to a monastery 3 hours away on horrendous, bumpy, so fun road out in the country by 5 visiting Italians (I’m accepted despite being an American! Yay!). Then while there, laying out under the stars with my friend Gorgia discussing our faith and how glorious God is.
Favorite Ethiopian custom that my friend Zafi told me about: On the day of the Epiphany, Eastern Orthodox men will throw a lemon at a girl they thinks is cute (aka that they would potentially want to marry). Only one lemon per man (I asked). They try to hit her heart. If she likes him, she keeps it and then they start dating. However, for me, all I can imagine is a boy running up to a girl and spiking a giant lemon at her chest in dodge ball fashion. I thought it was hilarious but sweet. It is moreso practiced just in the country now, and since they can’t afford lemons they throw a small pebble (or a giant rock! : p hehehe).
Abba Bogali and I were having a conversation about how some English words are similar. Abba: “Hat, hot, & hut. Sharp & shark. A lot of sharks are eating our people these days.” Me: “What?!” (surprise from the statement and also that we don’t border an ocean) Abba: “The Ethiopian Airline plane crashed into the Mediterranean Sea. 35 Ethiopians died and are being eaten by sharks.” (On Monday a flight from Lebanon to Ethiopia crashed) Me: “Abba! That’s terrible!”
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Christmas in a Bag
Last night I received an old school camp suitcase full of many precious gifts. THANK YOU!!! To everyone that contributed and made it possible, especially Marion (who lugged the bag to & from Ethiopia), my parents & Mandie (who retrieved & dropped off the bag, and collected all the things I “needed”). You all are so good to me. I will send more personal notes later, but it seriously was just so amazing. THANK YOU! Best distant Christmas ever!
Ok, life in Wolisso, Ethiopia. I am now working in Mother & Children Health with Children Under 5. I really like this area since I get to see all the children rather than just the ones that are admitted. Our greatest challenge is parents waiting too long to bring their children to the hospital. Typically they bring them to the traditional medicine “doctor” first or just wait too long as the disease (mainly diarrhea which causes dehydration & malnutrition, respiratory infections, & fever) progresses. One of the drugs I hate that these “doctors” give is a leaf that is actually made into medicine that is used in surgery to slow down the bowels or lungs when surgery needs to be performed on those areas. However, they use it to decrease respirations when a child is breathing rapidly. In the past 2 weeks we have had to admit several children and also one died due to this “treatment”. More than a little frustrating, but it is so good when children do come to the hospital, because then we can truly treat them.
As for malnutrition, I am really impressed with the nutrition program & supplements we have here. Instead of sending these children to the Pediatric Ward, this month we will be opening a Nutrition Feeding Center to treat these children and also teach the parents how to prevent malnutrition. Dr. Gaetano (the Italian Medical Director) even started a program where for about $100 you can pay for one of these children to go through the nutrition program.
For (foreigner) New Year’s Eve we just had a traditional Italian meal of homemade pizza and money making lentels. The next day Fra, the 2 daughters, and I went to Negash Lodge, a very nice hotel that makes Wolisso known because of its hot springs pool. The greatest part of the day: Fra getting attacked by a monkey when she tried to take a picture of it with its baby.
Ok, life in Wolisso, Ethiopia. I am now working in Mother & Children Health with Children Under 5. I really like this area since I get to see all the children rather than just the ones that are admitted. Our greatest challenge is parents waiting too long to bring their children to the hospital. Typically they bring them to the traditional medicine “doctor” first or just wait too long as the disease (mainly diarrhea which causes dehydration & malnutrition, respiratory infections, & fever) progresses. One of the drugs I hate that these “doctors” give is a leaf that is actually made into medicine that is used in surgery to slow down the bowels or lungs when surgery needs to be performed on those areas. However, they use it to decrease respirations when a child is breathing rapidly. In the past 2 weeks we have had to admit several children and also one died due to this “treatment”. More than a little frustrating, but it is so good when children do come to the hospital, because then we can truly treat them.
As for malnutrition, I am really impressed with the nutrition program & supplements we have here. Instead of sending these children to the Pediatric Ward, this month we will be opening a Nutrition Feeding Center to treat these children and also teach the parents how to prevent malnutrition. Dr. Gaetano (the Italian Medical Director) even started a program where for about $100 you can pay for one of these children to go through the nutrition program.
For (foreigner) New Year’s Eve we just had a traditional Italian meal of homemade pizza and money making lentels. The next day Fra, the 2 daughters, and I went to Negash Lodge, a very nice hotel that makes Wolisso known because of its hot springs pool. The greatest part of the day: Fra getting attacked by a monkey when she tried to take a picture of it with its baby.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Farenji Christmas
Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great Christmas with friends and family! Christmas was a little different for me this year. First of all, only the few farenji’s (foreigners) left here celebrated Christmas on December 25. Most of the Italian volunteers went home for the holidays. Ethiopian Christmas is on January 7th. The liturgical calendar, along with the date, time, and year are all different here. However, Abba Bugali was kind enough to have an “early” Christmas Mass for us. We did Midnight Mass at 8PM. All the foreigners came and many many locals too! The Sisters asked me to read the first reading, which I was so happy to do. Afterwards we had a feast at the Sisters’ house. There were about 20 of us, including the head doctors & their families. We all brought something, and (of course) I brought chocolate cake for dessert. Baking here has been very experimental due to the ingredients being very different from America and also with the metric system. After the meal, we picked names and everyone gave someone a gift that the Sisters had prepared. We all received a nice towel, a very essential gift.
Christmas was relaxing, as it should be. I took the day off from work, and I watched “Home Alone” and made sugar cookies for my co-workers. At 10AM is our bunna (coffee)/shai (tea) break, so I brought it to them then. However, I forgot that Eastern Orthodox Christians and some Catholics fast (eggs, butter, meat) on Wednesdays & Fridays. Opps! I need to learn what type of fasting desserts I can make.
Speaking of work, I switched to the Children Under 5 area a couple of weeks ago. It is an outpatient department where children are able to be diagnosed, get labs & medications, and be admitted to the hospital, if needed. Every child over 1.5 years & their parents are offered a free HIV test too. My main job is doing this test (which requires pricking a finger) and recording the results. Yay for finally doing something with HIV! I also help put in IV’s and give medications when a child is admitted. I really dislike putting IV’s in children as young as 1 week old, but this area will give me an opportunity to see the typical diseases in the area and to hopefully eventually be able to assess, diagnose, & treat children with these diseases. I have a lot to learn with just that, and then also the language and remembering pediatrics in general. However, the staff and the nursing students who are doing clinical are very nice and very willing to help me.
Outside of work, life is good & as always busy. I am still going to Mass and running every chance I get. Now I am also involved in a lay ministry. Dr. Gaetano, his wife Zama, Abba Bugali, and I meet every Thursday evening to discuss a spiritual book we read during the week. My favorite part is how diverse the group is. We are composed of an Italian, Tanzanian, Ethiopian, and American, and also a married couple, Religious, and single (lady).
Almost every day I eat lunch & dinner with my friend Francesca from Torino, who is working on her dissertation to be a Public Health MD. She is attempting to teach me Italian and to cook. Both are going slowly, but we have hope I will succeed. I am also staying busy with many trips to Addis lately and also accepting invitations from my local friends to visit their homes. Last weekend I went to one of my co-workers neice’s Baptism in Addis and I spent all day at her sister’s home to continue the celebration with a feast. Both were very lovely and her family is fantastic.
Life is very good, and I pray the Lord will continue to let me be His hands and that He will use me in ways I haven’t even dreamed of. Thank you for your letters and e-mails. I will do my best to write each one of you back. Sorry if there is a delay. I love you!
My favorite song over the last few weeks: “All I Want for Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey, dedicated to Mandie and the ladies of the Church Hall Penthouse Freshman year at UGA. ; )
Christmas was relaxing, as it should be. I took the day off from work, and I watched “Home Alone” and made sugar cookies for my co-workers. At 10AM is our bunna (coffee)/shai (tea) break, so I brought it to them then. However, I forgot that Eastern Orthodox Christians and some Catholics fast (eggs, butter, meat) on Wednesdays & Fridays. Opps! I need to learn what type of fasting desserts I can make.
Speaking of work, I switched to the Children Under 5 area a couple of weeks ago. It is an outpatient department where children are able to be diagnosed, get labs & medications, and be admitted to the hospital, if needed. Every child over 1.5 years & their parents are offered a free HIV test too. My main job is doing this test (which requires pricking a finger) and recording the results. Yay for finally doing something with HIV! I also help put in IV’s and give medications when a child is admitted. I really dislike putting IV’s in children as young as 1 week old, but this area will give me an opportunity to see the typical diseases in the area and to hopefully eventually be able to assess, diagnose, & treat children with these diseases. I have a lot to learn with just that, and then also the language and remembering pediatrics in general. However, the staff and the nursing students who are doing clinical are very nice and very willing to help me.
Outside of work, life is good & as always busy. I am still going to Mass and running every chance I get. Now I am also involved in a lay ministry. Dr. Gaetano, his wife Zama, Abba Bugali, and I meet every Thursday evening to discuss a spiritual book we read during the week. My favorite part is how diverse the group is. We are composed of an Italian, Tanzanian, Ethiopian, and American, and also a married couple, Religious, and single (lady).
Almost every day I eat lunch & dinner with my friend Francesca from Torino, who is working on her dissertation to be a Public Health MD. She is attempting to teach me Italian and to cook. Both are going slowly, but we have hope I will succeed. I am also staying busy with many trips to Addis lately and also accepting invitations from my local friends to visit their homes. Last weekend I went to one of my co-workers neice’s Baptism in Addis and I spent all day at her sister’s home to continue the celebration with a feast. Both were very lovely and her family is fantastic.
Life is very good, and I pray the Lord will continue to let me be His hands and that He will use me in ways I haven’t even dreamed of. Thank you for your letters and e-mails. I will do my best to write each one of you back. Sorry if there is a delay. I love you!
My favorite song over the last few weeks: “All I Want for Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey, dedicated to Mandie and the ladies of the Church Hall Penthouse Freshman year at UGA. ; )
Friday, December 4, 2009
A Wonderful Thanksgiving!
Hello everyone! Although Ethiopians do not celebrate (American) Thanksgiving, this was definitely one of the best Thanksgiving weekends I’ve ever had. After working on the orthopedic ward in the morning, I then spent the rest of the day traveling from Wolisso to one of the Missionary of Charities homes on the outskirts of Addis Ababa. The following day I went to Mass with the Sisters and spent the morning & afternoon helping a volunteer from Barcelona (Rosa) feed malnourished children. We helped feed 20 babies up to 1 ½ years old that live in the clinic. Sadly some are unable to eat without vomiting, so I helped feed those children via nasogastric tubes. The majority of the time was spent feeding the 3 infants Rosa is responsible for. I fed one of the 1 ½ month old premature twins who weighs just under 3.5 pounds. My first time feeding a baby and this little guy was mine!
Later that afternoon I took 2 buses and a taxi to get to Marion’s house for a Thanksgiving dinner. One of the many great things that are great about Ethiopia is the large amount of organic vegetables. Marion, some of her coworkers, and I made a not so traditional (but amazing!) dinner of carrots, green beans, zucchini, okra, tomatoes, salad, garlic bread, mashed potatoes, and a delicious roast (no turkeys here) for dinner. Chef Marion did most of the cooking and I am amazed at her skills. She even brought canned pumpkin from America, so we got to have pumpkin pie and strawberries with cream (that we whipped for an hour) for dessert! Mmmm. Marion makes beautiful necklaces out of stones from Ethiopia that she sells at local bazaars, so the next day some of her friends and I helped complete necklaces she designed. This girl is severely talented! On Sunday at the main cathedral in Addis, they strangely had a 2 ½ hour long Thanksgiving Mass outside. What a glorious weekend!
Life at St. Luke’s has been very good. I am still working on the orthopedic ward. Slowly I am learning Amharic and the nurses now feel comfortable enough with me do dressing changes on my own (our main duty). Although I can’t say much to the patients, wound care has allowed me to be in close contact with them, which I love. My favorite is doing wound care on the children (ranging from age 4-15). They are so nice and I think they enjoy the attention I give them. One of my favorites is a so cute 5 year old boy who literally has his tibia sticking out of his lower leg. He still climbs around everywhere though! The only orthopedic surgeons we have are the ones that volunteer short term from Italy, and unfortunately we have not had one for the last week and a ½. I’m really looking forward to his poor little leg being fixed.
Sadly, a couple weeks ago when we were running, my dear running partner, Kiera fell and broke her wrist. She is in a cast for 40 days, so now I am running with Abba Bugali (St. Luke’s priest & chaplain) and a 27 year old Fantahun, whose name means “you may become a portion”. He is a friend of mine that works in the Ortho OR and he is a really good athlete. You will literally see him win Boston one day. I impressed him the first day we went running (for a foreigner, I’m sure), so eventually he wants to work me up to running up mountains…we’ll see.
Life here is certainly a learning experience, but one that I am learning to truly enjoy. Thank you for your support and love. It is essential and I’m grateful for it.
What I’m listening to now: Seven Stories Up
(Andy Rocker, my dear friend, thank you for helping me get pumped up in the morning while I’m getting ready to start my day. Oh, by the way, CONGRATULATIONS!)
Later that afternoon I took 2 buses and a taxi to get to Marion’s house for a Thanksgiving dinner. One of the many great things that are great about Ethiopia is the large amount of organic vegetables. Marion, some of her coworkers, and I made a not so traditional (but amazing!) dinner of carrots, green beans, zucchini, okra, tomatoes, salad, garlic bread, mashed potatoes, and a delicious roast (no turkeys here) for dinner. Chef Marion did most of the cooking and I am amazed at her skills. She even brought canned pumpkin from America, so we got to have pumpkin pie and strawberries with cream (that we whipped for an hour) for dessert! Mmmm. Marion makes beautiful necklaces out of stones from Ethiopia that she sells at local bazaars, so the next day some of her friends and I helped complete necklaces she designed. This girl is severely talented! On Sunday at the main cathedral in Addis, they strangely had a 2 ½ hour long Thanksgiving Mass outside. What a glorious weekend!
Life at St. Luke’s has been very good. I am still working on the orthopedic ward. Slowly I am learning Amharic and the nurses now feel comfortable enough with me do dressing changes on my own (our main duty). Although I can’t say much to the patients, wound care has allowed me to be in close contact with them, which I love. My favorite is doing wound care on the children (ranging from age 4-15). They are so nice and I think they enjoy the attention I give them. One of my favorites is a so cute 5 year old boy who literally has his tibia sticking out of his lower leg. He still climbs around everywhere though! The only orthopedic surgeons we have are the ones that volunteer short term from Italy, and unfortunately we have not had one for the last week and a ½. I’m really looking forward to his poor little leg being fixed.
Sadly, a couple weeks ago when we were running, my dear running partner, Kiera fell and broke her wrist. She is in a cast for 40 days, so now I am running with Abba Bugali (St. Luke’s priest & chaplain) and a 27 year old Fantahun, whose name means “you may become a portion”. He is a friend of mine that works in the Ortho OR and he is a really good athlete. You will literally see him win Boston one day. I impressed him the first day we went running (for a foreigner, I’m sure), so eventually he wants to work me up to running up mountains…we’ll see.
Life here is certainly a learning experience, but one that I am learning to truly enjoy. Thank you for your support and love. It is essential and I’m grateful for it.
What I’m listening to now: Seven Stories Up
(Andy Rocker, my dear friend, thank you for helping me get pumped up in the morning while I’m getting ready to start my day. Oh, by the way, CONGRATULATIONS!)
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
My New Home
First of all, sorry for how late this update is. It’s been very busy here and the dial up internet is flakey. When I first arrived to the capital, Addis Ababa I spent a couple days with Marion McNabb. While in Addis I had my first tastes of the culture through going to a local restaurant for injera (a type of spongey flat bread that you use to pick up either meat or a some sort of vegetarian mixture) and the deliciously famous Ethiopian coffee, as well as a tour by a taxi driver around the city. After my 2 days I was picked up and driven two hours to my new home in Wolisso, Ethiopia at St. Luke’s.
A little background info: St. Luke Catholic Hospital and College of Nursing School is owned by the Ethiopian Catholic Church and started providing services on January 1, 2001. Currently it is the only hospital in the Southwest Shoa zone and the population served by the hospital is 1.23 million. The hospital has 169 beds total in 7 different one floor wards (maternity, pediatric, gynecological, medical, orthopedic, ophthalmology, & surgical), along with it’s own pharmacy and blood bank (both very rare here). The hospital is run by both Ethiopians and foreigners (Mostly Italians. They have a medical volunteer program that brings Italian doctors and medical students of many different fields for weeks or months at a time.) There are also Sisters here from many different orders and countries (currently 1 each from Ireland, the Philipines, & America, and 2 from Argentina).
The St. Luke compound consists of the hospital, nursing college, dorms for the students, the Sister’s living quarters, and the volunteers’/permanent staff homes. My living situation is quite nice. I live in a one bedroom flat with my own bathroom, living room, and kitchen. I live next door to Kiera, an Italian public health doctor. Two doors down is the Medical Director (Dr. Gaetano, Italian), his wife (Zama, Tanzanian), and their 2 year old daughter (Angela, cutest baby alive). The building next to me is the Guest House for the Italian volunteers. The compound is beautiful, especially at this time of the year right after the rainy season. Flowers are everywhere! The most popular being roses of various colors. We are at about 6,000 feet so it is cool at night and warm during the day.
Currently, I am working on the Orthopedic ward. It is helping me to see what “Ethiopian nursing” looks like, which is similar in many ways, but also very different from what they lack. For example we have to cut & fold all the gauze, clean the equipment before it is sterilized, there are only about 10 or less different medications we give, and (what kills me most) we don’t give pain medication before wound care. It’s partially cultural and also from the limited supply. We have children in our ward…I won’t go into any more detail than that.
Orthopedics has also been very beneficial in helping me to learn the 2 local languages, Oromifa & Amharic. Both are similar to Arabic so they are quite difficult to learn, even for foreigners who have been here for months or even years. My vocab consists of greetings and what to say when helping with wound care (thank you, good morning, how are you, yes, no, enough, more, small, scissors, forceps, do you have pain, I’m sorry). Not very much to make a conversation, but the common ground language for everyone is broken English. I am very thankful to have 2 Americans here with me, Sr. Elaine and Dr. Ken. Trying to learn 3 languages (Oromifa, Amharic, & Italian) has been quite tiring.
Here is my schedule Monday-Friday:
5:50AM: Wake up
6-6:30AM: Run with Kiera & Claudio (2 Italian MDs)
8AM-5PM: Work on the Orthopedic ward
1PM-2PM: Lunch with the Italians at the guest house
6PM: Mass (in English, except for Thursdays it’s in Ge’ez)
7PM: Dinner (either make food & eat in or go out to local restaurants with people)
8-10PM: Lizzy’s free time-> read, e-mail, talk/watch movies in English with Ken (we both need our non-language barrier time), visit with the Italians at the Guest House
10PM: Bedtime!
Weekends are random. Last week I went to a Medical Mission Sister community 1 hour away for their 40th year celebration. It consisted of a 2 hour Ethiopian Rite Mass in Amharic, 3 hours of many many speakers (in Amharic), and a community meal with traditional foods (one is raw ground beef…I have not tried it). This weekend I spent time setting up my apartment, doing chores, going to the market with some of the Italians to get local fruits & vegetables, and I went to the pool with a couple of the Sisters. The next couple of weekends I’ll be in Addis, so it is good to have a nice relaxing weekend.
This blog is much too long, but I will try to write more consistently so they will be shorter. Love and miss you all! Thank you so much for all the encouraging e-mails! To send a letter, it costs 98 cents and you need to write “Par Avion” on the envelope (you can also get stickers w/ this on it for free at the Post Office). Small, envelope packages only (for now).
CD I’ve been listening to most here: Chris Tomlin, Hello Love
A little background info: St. Luke Catholic Hospital and College of Nursing School is owned by the Ethiopian Catholic Church and started providing services on January 1, 2001. Currently it is the only hospital in the Southwest Shoa zone and the population served by the hospital is 1.23 million. The hospital has 169 beds total in 7 different one floor wards (maternity, pediatric, gynecological, medical, orthopedic, ophthalmology, & surgical), along with it’s own pharmacy and blood bank (both very rare here). The hospital is run by both Ethiopians and foreigners (Mostly Italians. They have a medical volunteer program that brings Italian doctors and medical students of many different fields for weeks or months at a time.) There are also Sisters here from many different orders and countries (currently 1 each from Ireland, the Philipines, & America, and 2 from Argentina).
The St. Luke compound consists of the hospital, nursing college, dorms for the students, the Sister’s living quarters, and the volunteers’/permanent staff homes. My living situation is quite nice. I live in a one bedroom flat with my own bathroom, living room, and kitchen. I live next door to Kiera, an Italian public health doctor. Two doors down is the Medical Director (Dr. Gaetano, Italian), his wife (Zama, Tanzanian), and their 2 year old daughter (Angela, cutest baby alive). The building next to me is the Guest House for the Italian volunteers. The compound is beautiful, especially at this time of the year right after the rainy season. Flowers are everywhere! The most popular being roses of various colors. We are at about 6,000 feet so it is cool at night and warm during the day.
Currently, I am working on the Orthopedic ward. It is helping me to see what “Ethiopian nursing” looks like, which is similar in many ways, but also very different from what they lack. For example we have to cut & fold all the gauze, clean the equipment before it is sterilized, there are only about 10 or less different medications we give, and (what kills me most) we don’t give pain medication before wound care. It’s partially cultural and also from the limited supply. We have children in our ward…I won’t go into any more detail than that.
Orthopedics has also been very beneficial in helping me to learn the 2 local languages, Oromifa & Amharic. Both are similar to Arabic so they are quite difficult to learn, even for foreigners who have been here for months or even years. My vocab consists of greetings and what to say when helping with wound care (thank you, good morning, how are you, yes, no, enough, more, small, scissors, forceps, do you have pain, I’m sorry). Not very much to make a conversation, but the common ground language for everyone is broken English. I am very thankful to have 2 Americans here with me, Sr. Elaine and Dr. Ken. Trying to learn 3 languages (Oromifa, Amharic, & Italian) has been quite tiring.
Here is my schedule Monday-Friday:
5:50AM: Wake up
6-6:30AM: Run with Kiera & Claudio (2 Italian MDs)
8AM-5PM: Work on the Orthopedic ward
1PM-2PM: Lunch with the Italians at the guest house
6PM: Mass (in English, except for Thursdays it’s in Ge’ez)
7PM: Dinner (either make food & eat in or go out to local restaurants with people)
8-10PM: Lizzy’s free time-> read, e-mail, talk/watch movies in English with Ken (we both need our non-language barrier time), visit with the Italians at the Guest House
10PM: Bedtime!
Weekends are random. Last week I went to a Medical Mission Sister community 1 hour away for their 40th year celebration. It consisted of a 2 hour Ethiopian Rite Mass in Amharic, 3 hours of many many speakers (in Amharic), and a community meal with traditional foods (one is raw ground beef…I have not tried it). This weekend I spent time setting up my apartment, doing chores, going to the market with some of the Italians to get local fruits & vegetables, and I went to the pool with a couple of the Sisters. The next couple of weekends I’ll be in Addis, so it is good to have a nice relaxing weekend.
This blog is much too long, but I will try to write more consistently so they will be shorter. Love and miss you all! Thank you so much for all the encouraging e-mails! To send a letter, it costs 98 cents and you need to write “Par Avion” on the envelope (you can also get stickers w/ this on it for free at the Post Office). Small, envelope packages only (for now).
CD I’ve been listening to most here: Chris Tomlin, Hello Love
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