Arriving after two “red-eye” flights, the line up for exchanging
$US20 for a visa was expected; the absence of my luggage was not. Just as I was
giving up hope in the disorganized chaos, a complete stranger brought my bag to
me. A brief ride to the hotel, a quick check-in and an all-day sleep -
horizontally.
Meet the others – David Zakus, Susan Jacoby, Vince Salyers –
in the evening for a meal at the Beer Garden Inn next door to the Harmony, home of the "Blondies".
Weather – a lovely 25 – 28 during the day and a 16 to 20 at night.
Tuesday: Getting acquainted with the teachers and their
roles. Watching them work with the participants – instructor midwives who are
increasing their skills as instructors.
That night, I woke at midnight with a burning forehead
followed by chills. I did not have a thermometer but I am quite convinced that
I had a fever – the “fever dreams” were also present. I alternately threw my
covers off and pulled them back, sweat and drank copious amounts of water,
finally awakening at 6:30 am. Although I felt like a wet dishcloth and just as
stinky, I went for breakfast and spent the day, Wednesday, at the workshop
site: I was given a tour of St Paul’s Hospital by a person who called himself a
“nurse practitioner”. I had a cough and a mild headache all day so if there is
an outbreak of the flu at the hospital, I would be blamed.
Thursday: We attended
the Ethiopian Public Health Association conference – held in the
architecturally imposing African Union buildings. We had lunch off site, coffee
in a little coffee shop and went back to our hotel.
On Friday, much as I would have liked to keep up the pace,
my greatest need was to sleep which I did all day.
On Saturday morning, we heard David do a presentation and in
the afternoon, we did a round of the “Mercado” arguably the largest market in
Africa.
Sunday we booked the day with Fikeray and he brought his family to go
to the volcano resort. I needed my cane for the hills – flustered by the rush
to the car and too many things to carry, I left my iphone on one of the terraces.
Monday: Toured two urban clinics that refer to SPH. Sat at
the back of the classroom. Ate with the participants.
There are always people walking on the road – there are no
sidewalks. A steady stream of workers and shoppers, tradespeople and hawkers winds
out of the slums and suburbs and into the city centre in the morning and back
again in the evening.
Tuesday: To Fiche with Enoch Pambour, research assistant to
the project, and Josee (?) who is vaguely associated with the project. Enoch
and I decide to take the hotel that he can afford. It doesn’t have any running
water – each room gets a pail a day for washing and flushing. Bed - clean, frayed
sheets, extremely firm mattress. There is a restaurant across the road for breakfast, lunch
and dinner and there’s a bar scene associated with the hotel. Fiche - 120 km or so North of Addis Ababa - is very
cool at night – it’s an elevated desert. Wearing a t-shirt, undershirt, manteau
and two pair of pants, I'm chilled to the bone.
Wednesday: One of the most miserable nights that I have
spent anywhere – it was cold, the bed was hard, I didn’t have a light in my
room, and at 4:00 am, the diesel truck parked under my window started spewing
smelly stuff at me. I started coughing the next morning.
Thursday: And coughed
and coughed and coughed. Through travels in bajaj’s, visiting the hospital and
the health clinics and the zonal health office for the area under Enoch’s
research interest.
The upside of electricity is obvious -
lights, plug-in chargers, elevators however, the upside of having no
electricity is no endless music blaring, especially over the three competing
sound systems that I can hear from my room (thanks for the invention of ear
plugs, I could sleep). T-V advertising in the restaurant/pub:
Mercedes cars, gorgeous clothes, education and careers – seems that you can
have all those glamorous things if you have an IUD!
Friday – Reviewed some of the data that we had about the
hospital by returning and meeting with
the CEO and the Medical Director. Fikraye arrived at about 2:00 pm and drove
back to Addis Ababa for a meeting, inexplicably held in the Hilton beer garden
(was it to get us over any thoughts that we were being royally treated at the
Harmony?). The second set of teachers has arrived to continue the
course while Vince and Susan leave – Debbie Duran-Snell and Heather McLellan,
Roger Turnell and Khalid Aziz.
Saturday – Visit the home of Abebech, Asfah’s sister. Got
taken by the taxi driver who, when I told him that I was paying too much,
offered to re-negotiate the fare. I declined saying that “a deal was a deal”. My friend’s family
doesn't speak English - how awkward but there is one English speaking
(high-school) daughter.
I went to a movie upon return – “Endless Love”. It is only 5
Birr for a big bag of popcorn; admission is 60 Birr – about $0.75 for the
evening.
Sunday – Went to the closest church, a cathedral, and sat in
the chanting, incense-waving service amidst hundreds, maybe over a thousand people.
Monday – I can't seem to tear my enjeera (bread) with only my
right hand. Hand washing is extremely perfunctory but everyone at the table
does it. Ethiopians make sure that “ferengi” wash their hands.
Tuesday – Sit down newborn mortality rounds in the hospital
with Roger, two cases being presented by pediatric residents in the first year
of their program. Met with Dr. Lia, Vice Provost, with Drs Turnell, Aziz and
where we discussed the future of SPH as a referral centre – where would women
stay, how to increase capacity to receive and refer-back patients,
Wednesday – Met John Guilfoyle at his hotel a mere ten
minutes away. Walked – it was a delightful stroll through back streets and past
walled and gated yards. John is involved in a fascinating SOGC project teaching
a version of ALARM-I to health care administrators!
Started having stomach cramps at midnight, explosive watery
diarrhea started about an hour later and continued until 5:00 am.
Thursday – Fikerye identified the culprit; the rewarmed
lunch that we’d had the previous day. Of course, this was the one day during
which I was teaching “Community Assessment”. The students did role plays,
debriefed, received feedback and used the scenarios to both analyze the
resources available to them and develop new ways to use them.
Friday – Dr. Lia was extremely generous with her time in the
morning and frank in discussions. In the afternoon, we went to the CPAR
offices, returning to the Harmony by public taxi. David chaired a debriefing
session in the hotel lobby.
Saturday – Zacharias, nephew of Asfah and of Abebech, took
me shopping at the little basement “mall” at the end of our street. With him by
my side, I was able to fend off some of the frenetic behavior.
Everything packs and I am ready for the trip home. At the
airport, there is great gathering of security staff over a brass cross that I
bought at the market for Bill. The guy who sold it declared that it was an
“antique” but his price was inconsistent with antique prices. The security guys
did all sorts of tests on it before they let me take it. I was certainly glad
to be early at the airport.
