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.

Sorry I have not posted anything about Ethiopia as of yet.
I have been fighting off a sinus infection since returning home and have thus been un-able to process and put together a story worth telling.
Please just be patient with me.
:]

First Day working

I got an email asking me to come in, by the time I read the email I had little more than an hour before I needed to leave my house.
A bus ride, a metro ride and a very sunny walk later and I was there.
The public transportation here is really affordable, clean and nice.
Once you learn that buses can arrive anywhere within 10-15 minutes of their scheduled times, it is not too bad. 
I didn't work long, but it was easy.
I cannot believe how well this job pays.
I was doing this job for around minimum wage for 3 years and now I am making 4 times that to do the same job.
I snapped pics right outside of the gym as we walked back to the metro station.
I thought it was an interesting new part of Dubai.
We take the metro or drive through this area, but never walk around it.

 

When we finally arrived home I made Bacon Baked potatoes.

Andres requested it and what my boy wants, my boy gets.

hahaha

They turned out alright.

I need to experiment with them a bit, but they are a pretty brilliant idea.

That is all for now. 

Ciao!