So, I realized that in my last blog, I wasn't very descriptive of the place or the culture. It's a lot to take in when you first get here, and it has taken me a while to get a bit of a grip on being here. I've traveled enough, but I'm still shocked by the stark contrast between life in developing countries and life in North America.
The city of Addis Ababa has a population of about 4 million. It's up in the mountains and it's quite lush and treed. There is green grass and flowers outside of the pavement and concrete high traffic areas. The air is quite a lot cleaner than Calcutta. Since I've been here, we've had rain at least twice a day. They are reaching the end of the rainy season, so it should end soon. The rain comes suddenly and very hard. One minute, it could be clear skies, the next, torrential rain. The other volunteers have been complaining that their clothes don't dry after they wash them. The thing is, there's no way to save them from the rain because you never know when it's going to hit! Thankfully, thus far, I haven't had to do laundry. It's going to be a real pain when I do because I'll have a lot to do, but I'm stubborn and I'm hoping the rains will end soon.
The sisters have a few communities here in the city. The one that I'm staying at is in an area of the city called Sidist Kilo. It is a very large compound, but very full. There is a building that has handicapped children (no babies). A building that has women, and then another building with men. There is a large kitchen area, two large laundry areas and an area for dispensary and outpatient treatments. Then there is the chapel and the house where the sisters life as well. It's all very tight. There is a courtyard where the men sit out during the day, and a road that leads through the middle of it all. There is a perpetual game of soccer going on the road from sun up to sun down. Whenever you walk by, to get to our room, you risk getting hit by the ball. Yesterday, the ball came right for me, so I played with it a bit and then took a shot on goal. They thought it was hillarious! Girls here don't play sports and this morning when I walked by they were still laughing and pointing. There are about 500 patients in the compound, plus staff.
Across the street there is another compound where they have an orphanage. There are infants, handicapped babies and children, and moms and babies (some that have come here to give birth, some that have come because their babies are malnourished). I'm not sure how many kids are there, but it seems like a lot. I'm still discovering new areas whenever I go there.
This weekend was a bit of an exception because Saturday was Ethiopian New Year. They are celebrating the year 2003. Good news is, I"m only 24 years old!! ha ha They have a different calendar, AND a different clock. I'm still not sure I have it right, but I'm pretty shure that it works this way: sun comes up @ about 6am, in Ethiopian time, that is 12 o'clock. Once the sun has been up for one hour, it us one o'clock. Until 6pm when the sun goes down and then it is 12 o'clock and an hour after the sun is down, it's one o'clock again. Very confusing! So, we've had to be clear when talking to others about which clock to use. So, Saturday me and a couple other volunteers went over to the orphanage, and because it was a holiday, no one was working. So, we basically played with the kids all day. It was fun, but the kids are really poorly behaved and not used to following directions (and of course you have a language barrier on top of that). So, it was challenging at times, but we kept them relatively busy.
Sunday was a holiday here as well, so we knew there wasn't going to be much work to do. I met up with a group from Malta and we went to another part of the city called Asco. The sisters have a compound there which is HUGE! It's an orphanage for kids with HIV-AIDS. Its mostly been funded by donations from Israel. It's absolutely gorgeous. They have so much more room, and the kids are really happy there. They have 320 children there aged new born to 18. They have a hospital - clinic area where they assess everyone, and keep the ones that are really sick. They even have a really nice lab, with what looks to me like newer equipment. Then they have two big dorms, one for the girls and one for the boys, and then a smaller dorm for the older boys. They have a school and a LARGE area for the kids to play. The sisters said they receive medication from the government for treatment for the children aged 0 to 13 years. It's SUPPOSED (by WHO standards) to be until 18 years, but the Ethiopian government has seen such a high mortality, that they're trying to cut costs. The sisters have been trying to fight it, but it's a lot of work. They have had really good success treating the kids. A lot of the children there have good enough CD4 counts that they don't require medication. Their mortality rate has been very low. They have only lost one child in the past two years. They are actually just working on a new program for the children who reach 18 years old, but aren't done their schooling (because they didn't come to the sisters when they were young). So, they have a place for them to stay until they are done school and can find work to support themselves. It was a fun day with the kids and getting to see a little bit more of Addis.
I think I said in my last blog, that I'll be going to Dire Dawa. I'm not sure when that's actually going to materialize. Until I have a ticket in my hand, it's really hard to know. Everything is really casual here. Time has very little meaning. Until then, I'll be working with the patients here. Today I spent all morning doing dressings in the men's home. Everything from EXTREME bed sores, ostomies, botched skin graftings, foot and leg ulcers to minor cuts and bumps. It's very interesting, and unreal how people live with these wounds! The extreme mal nutrition makes healing very difficult.
I can't read my last post, the computers here are unreal slow. I hope I haven't repeated myself too much. My time is up. Not sure when I'll get to blog again. I'll keep you posted on my journey.
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