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.
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