Story Time from Ethiopia

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!

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.

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!”

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.