We just finished eating  a huge dinner of Nachos when Andres says "that was so good. I will remember this for the rest of my life.".
HA SO CUTE!

3-18-2012

Today we made the trip back to Addis.

This time was a bit more interesting because we were going without Sophie, and none of us speak Amharic.

It ended up being a really good trip.

We had a lot of room in the van to stretch out and sleep and had time to chat.

Our drivers were really great too and did their best to make us comfortable.

At one point during the trip this huge black hornet type thing flew into the window and thought it would be a fun idea to hang out by me.

It concerned Audra and I so much that we were trying to figure out what to do when the driver and driver's passenger figured out what was going on.

They pulled over onto the side of the road and had us all get out while they found and took care of the huge hornet thing.

I still have no idea if these huge hornets are really any sort of threat or not, but I do know that they are really scary.

Around lunch time they also stopped off at a really nice sort of tourist oasis for "tea time".

Doug, Audra and I sat around a table on a grassy lawn under the shade of many trees and drank tea and coffee.

We even had some real nice bathrooms to use.

On the trip to Soddo we had to make a pit stop and use a very dirty squaty potty. 

Meanwhile our drivers went across the street to get some lunch.

When they left us there sitting under the trees, they made sure to even leave the van keys with us.

It was such a comforting gesture.

Hey, you are a pretty lady!

You know you have been in a foreign country a while when the sight of other white people makes you freak out and actually point.

That happened during our drive back to Addis.

We passed a van that had a few white people in it and I , No joke, pointed at them and very excitedly proclaimed to Doug and Audra that there were white people in that van.

I remember things like that happening in Ecuador too.

Andres and I would be on the metro and I would see another white person and get ALLLLLLLLLL excited.

Anyways, when we returned to Addis we went and met up with everyone and ate lunch.

It was a down day for all of us so we relaxed, and enjoyed our lunches and didn't rush to get anywhere.

After lunch we all squeezed into the Shannon's van and drove off for the nearest ice cream/smoothie place.

I honestly don't remember the rest of the day, but I am sure it was spent relaxing, eating, chatting, and resting.

My allergies were still really really bothering me.

3-17-2012

This morning Doug and I were up and out by 6:30am to go to clinic with Dr.Mary.

The drive took us about an hour and a half. 

We drove a while on a main road then turned off and took dirt roads into the middle of nowhere.

We pulled up to what was essentially an old shed that was emptied out. 

Out side stood a long line of people hoping to b seen, along with some curious onlookers.

Once we parked the Land Cruiser and got filled in on our tasks for the day

Mary  had everyone pull up their sleeves to expose their upper arms. 

She went down the line and depending on arm size, decided who would be seen.

Her reasoning is this, if a person has enough money to feed themselves properly, they can afford health care; if a person is visibly malnourished they cannot afford health care and get priority at clinic. 

She hands out a total of 30 cards that means she will see you. 

My job was to follow behind her and make a mark with blue sharpie on the hand of anyone  that received a card.

This kept people from selling their cards to people around them.

Doug and I then went down the line and took down the patients names and chief complaints before sending them in to see Dr.Mary.

It seemed like a small task to be doing, but it helped Dr.Mary very much.

After we finished triaging patients I shadowed Dr.Mary and did urine tests and such for her.

Once all the patients were seen, we set up a small pharmacy and I helped hand out medications and take money.

It is amazing the blessing Dr.Mary is to these people.

The medication she provides to them is at such a low cost it is amazing. 

Could you imagine paying like than 15cents US to get Malaria treatment?

Bahahaha apparently this is what the nearest toilet looked like.

So great-full that I didn't have to use it.

The drive back to Sophie's house was so dusty and dry.

By the time we arrived back my allergies were going crazy.

I talked with Andres for a few minutes before going to bed.

Today is our 9 month anniversary together. 

Pretty cool!

I really love that boy!  

3-16-2012
This morning we helped Dr.Mary with  a project.


She was taking photos for the newest edition of the Village Medical Manual.
She would make marks on our skin in certain places like the locations of certain veins or bones or what not.

She would then take pictures of these marks.
 She also took pictures of us pulling traction on a leg, or holding a pelvic sling in place. Cool stuff.

Mary is a really brilliant, good woman and it was such an honor to be asked to help her with this huge project.

We then ate lunch before heading into town with one of the local girls.
Her name is Seganish (that is  obviously not how you spell her name, but it is how it sounds.).
Seganish works for Sophie a few days a week as a house keeper.

We walked to the nearest road which took about 15-20 minutes.
We then took a bajaj (which is a small cart sort of thing that goes all over.)

All 4 of us piled into the tiny vehicle and headed farther into town.
I am not going to lie, there were a number of hills that I am still surprised we were able to get to the top of in the tiny vehicle.
Once we got into town we stopped by the Christian hospital to check in with Sophie who was studying.
Seganish then took us out to find a hardware store.
Doug had agreed to help Sophie out with some plumbing problems she was having.
He had no idea how hard it would be to find the parts he needed.

We walked around town looking.
At one point a young boy told us that he knew where the store was that we were looking for so he would guide us there.
We followed him quite a ways, and down a big hill before he admitted to us that he did not know where the place was.
Luckily, at the same place that the boy told us this, there was a friend of Sophies right within earshot that knew where we wanted to go and offered to take us.
We had to walk back up the same hill.
We walked into the first store and they didn't have the needed parts so they sent us on to the next store.

Once in that store they did not have the part and sent us to the next store.
The 3rd store did not have the piece but told us to go up the road back to the first one we had been in.
We then gave up and decided to go buy food and head home.
We stopped at a roof-top restaurant to order our take away food.
We also made a stop to buy some mangos.

The mangos in Ethiopia are amazing!
SO fresh and juicy.
Just amazing.
We then found a Bejaj that was willing to take us all the way back to Sophie's house, which required it to do some major off-roading. 
We were so tired by the time we got back that we just laid around while we waited for our food to warm up in the oven.
Dinner was amazing; Pasta, Chiro (ground up chic peas with spices. SO AMAZING!), and Injera.
I ate my fill and then some.

It was an amazing ending to a long day.
I slept like a baby!

3-15-2012

Spent the day with some of the girls that Dr. Mary teaches English to.

They girls started arriving at Sophie's house before 8am.

We had  about 7 girls in the morning, then in the afternoon we had 5.

We took time reading Narnia with them. Doug or I would read a few pages, then pass the book onto one of the girls. We also sat around asking each other questions.

"what do you want to be when you grow up?", Doug or I would ask.

"A doctor."

"An engineer."

"a teacher."

They then taught us some games. 

These girls do a lot of jumping rope.

They have a long rope made of pieces of old fabric tied together into  a huge loop.

They play a game with this loop where two girls stand facing each other but a few feet apart from each other and they put the rope around their hips so that they are standing inside of the loop. The other girls then jump from outside the loop into it. 

It seems simple until they start doing these crazy spins into it, and hopping on only one foot. 

I played with these girls and found it difficult and my legs are twice the length of some of these girls. 

The rope was hip level for some of these girls yet they jumped over it like it was nothing. 

Oh yeah, and they were WEARING SKIRTS!!!!!

They also would twist the rope so they could jump rope how I grew up doing it.

We had an hour or so between spending time with the first group and the second group of girls.

I talked with Andres a bit during that time.

After the second group of girls left we ate dinner then sorted bags of medications and drank tea.

:]

"I think that possibly, maybe, I'm falling for you.."

3-14-2012

This morning, almost immediately after breakfast, we (Audra, Doug, Sophie and I) left Addis.

We took a 5 hour van drive to Sodo. 

We saw a lot of the beautiful Ethiopian country side along with many little towns and villages.

Upon arriving at Sophies house we took advantage of all the great fresh fruit around and  made smoothies right away and sat around chatting. 

We then went to see Dr. Mary a few hours later. 

As we walked to Dr. Mary's house Sophie pointed out different places in the community. 

We also met some of Dr. Mary's English students who were outside jumping rope.

They are such sweet girls.  

We talked with Dr.Mary about the plans she had made for us over the week.

Audra is going to clinic tomorrow and Doug and I will spend some time with the English students.

Then on Friday we will be helping Dr. Mary take pictures for the new edition of her Village Medical Manual.

 Saturday Doug and I will go to Clinic with Dr. Mary and do whatever is asked of us.

For dinner Audra and Sophie make chicken enchiladas.

It sounds like a simple task, but you must realize how hard many ingredients are to find in Ethiopia. 

They managed to pull together a great meal.

One of Sophie's friends also ate dinner with us. 

When Sophie was in Addis she went out one night to "buy a puppy for a friend".

Her friend had asked if she would buy him a black, male puppy that would get big.

It took Sophie two trips out and about to find the perfect pup.

A super fluffy dark brown colored puppy that the Shannon children fell in love with instantly. 

As soon as Sophie arrived to the Shannon's house she set out to bathe the puppy.

She was finishing up with the puppy's bath when we all headed to the table to eat dinner.

In walks Holly and tell the group of us that she just had to be the bearer of bad news.

She had to reveal the truth to Sophie that said puppy was not a male puppy but actually a female puppy.

We all laughed so hard when we heard this. 

He was so adamant about it being a male puppy and his Nurse friend couldn't tell if it was a girl or boy. 

hahaha

Sophie just laughed and said "I am much better when it comes to people.".

The friend fell in love with the puppy when he saw her, even though she was not what he expected. 

He named it leah, after the story of Leah in the Bible. 

You know how Leah was not Jacob was expecting.  

Any way....... he picked up the puppy the night we ate enchiladas. 

He also had to give her an alcohol bath to kill the many flees that were bothering her.

After dinner I talked online with Andres for a few minutes, which made me miss him like crazy!

It also made me feel like the worst person in the world for leaving him. 

Ethiopia

3-12-12


I was terribly homesick this day.

For years I had all these grandiose plans.

I would go through medic training; somehow develop a significantly braver personality, and use this new knowledge teamed with new personality to save the world.

It never dawned on me that there were practice laws, stigmas, language and cultural barriers, stomach bugs and personal short comings.

Here I am in Ethiopia and I find myself less brave now than when I was 6.

Maybe these grandiose illusions are  what leads truly un-important and insignificant people like me to try huge things.

Today we played with the babies in the Day Care all morning. 

I watched the oldest group of babies go over their Amharic and English alphabet.

Then I spend a good amount of time in the baby room holding baby after baby.

We then ate a lunch of lentil soup before going over physical exams with the Shannons and Ruth (the Day Cares nurse who is the sweetest woman.).

It is simple stuff, but I sure do love it. 

I love hands on medical stuff.

3-13-12

Today had a much better feel to it. 

We headed to the Day Care right after breakfast.

I spent my morning in a different room of the Day Care.

 I bonded with the children in this room so quickly.

I brought my stethoscope into the room and the children got so excited when I listened to their heart.

A number of them gathered around me where i sat and watched me listen to their friends hearts.

They got very excited when I let them listen to my heart.

I spent hours in this room just playing with these babies.

One of the little girls was feeling extra brave with me and decided to show me her ear.

The back part of her earring had become terribly infected.

Just touching near the spot made her scream.

Right away I stopped being playful Hanna and went into medic mode.

I felt so bad having to pull the earring out of her ear and clean it all the while she cried and screamed for her Mom.

Poor thing!

All the bonding I had done with this girl now meant nothing.

I could not get her to come near me no matter how I tried.

This strange talking white girl plays with her for a few hours then attacks her ear.

We then ate lunch (something with lentils) and headed to the Shannon's house to go over IMCI.

I got so tired while going over IMCI.

After we went though following the protocols we did some case studies.

Much of the team went on a walk after and I stayed behind to pack for Soddo.

I got to do some bonding with the 3 younger Shannon children during this time.

It was funny how quickly they went from kind of quiet and reserved to 110MPH. 

Dinner was full of laughs and stories. 

I was also very blessed with being able to take a hot shower before bed. 

It's the little things.

 

Ethiopia

3-11-2012

Today we ate a delicious breakfast before heading to church.

It was really nice to be in a church again. 

Sophie met up with us all at church.

Sophie is a nurse who lives in Soddo Ethiopia and works with Dr.Mary in rural clinic settings.

Dr.Mary and Sophie had been to Boise last summer and did an intensive course with the medics.

I audited one of the days so had briefly met Sophie and had the privilege of hearing Dr.Mary teach.

Sophie informed us that Dr.Mary was excited for us to come to Soddo because she had some things planned for us.

I wish you could all meet Dr.Mary. If you knew her then you would know that to hear she was excited for us to come to Soddo was surprising news.

Dr.Mary is brilliant really, but she can be abrasive and is very particular, but really a good woman.

We  plan on leaving on Wed and staying until Sat. or Sun.

After church we returned to the Shannon's house for lunch before heading to the daycare to do some teaching.

Imagine more than 30 moms seated on the floor on mats in a small room for hours on end listening as we talked to them through translators. 

The mothers also chose to keep their children with them through the teachings which made things very un-predictable. 

Jen taught about diarrhea and dehydration to the moms.

This included a skit, and breaking into small groups to make ORS (oral re-hydration solutions.

Audra then taught quickly on wound care before we ran out of time.

I found it very hard to talk to these women in a small group setting. 

Here I am a white girl that has no idea what it is like to be a mother let alone while living such a hard lifestyle.

Some of these mothers are also younger than me, and here I am trying to tell them how to take care of their children.

It was a very hard thing for me.

I just truly hope that the mothers were able to take something out of the teaching and hopefully their children will benefit from it. 

 

 

WAIT WAIT WAIT!!!

Before I go on with my journal pages on Ethiopia I feel I owe you all more of an explanation.

The plan for this trip was different than most trips for the Medic program.

The Shannons invited us to Ethiopia because they run a Daycare in the slums of Addis.

They have educated backgrounds in many areas but nothing medical. 

With 60 or so children in their care daily and many mothers that also interact daily with them they felt it might be golden to learn some basic medical protocols.

Knowing when it is time to be worried about a child and when it is better to trust the child to recover naturally.

So our main purpose in going was to teach the Shannon family and also do some training with a daycare staff and some teachings with the Day Care mothers.

The main ministry of the medic program is usually house to house visits in a community. 

This gives us a very real way of connecting with people in these communities and countries.

Due to local stigmas and such we were not able to do these visits leaving us a bit more downtime. 

Hopefully this will help you understand why this trip was so different than Ecuador, and why I came back with different thoughts than any other trip.

Ethiopia

3-9-12

I think when I arrive home I will write "oh the Places you will go" on my backpack.

Hagan had no idea how much life was left in his back pack when he gave it up. 

I sat next to a super cute lady on the plane.

She was working in Dubai as a house keeper for two years and was finally going back home to Ethiopia.

She was so excited that as we were landing she was squirming around and would grab my arm and squeeze it with excitement.

She was so sweet!

When she asked me what I was going to Ethiopia for I told her I was going to visit friends.

She then said "Wow, you must really love your friends".

I didn't mention that I had yet to meet these friends, but yeah I do love them a lot.

I made it through customs with no problems.

Even got a phone number from a guy in the baggage claim area. 

Bahaha!

Jerry Shannon met us at the airport.

We went straight to the Shannon's house and met Christy.

They are a very warm and welcoming family.

We were so blessed.

We had warm beds and a toilet with a seat instead of a squaty potty.

It was late by the time we arrived at the Shannon's so we went to bed almost immediately.

3-10-12

Today was spent resting and planning. 

At lunch I got so nauseous that I could not eat.

After maybe 3 attempts at eating I just went straight to bed.

I blame my anti-malaria medication for this. 

The same thing happened to me in Ecuador.

Once I woke up we went for a walk around the community.

The Shannons live in a slums community within Addis called Kore.

AS we walked around the community countless children came out to talk with us.

Many grabbed our hands and walked on with us even thought they had no idea where we were going.

One held onto my hand until we were almost back to the Shannon's house. Jerry had to tell the child to go home.

We ate dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant that night.  We met up with the administrative staff of the daycare for dinner.

I ate Tibs with injera.

It was so delicious, but spicy. 

Almost too spicy.... just almost.