Doctor, Doctor, Give me the News
We ride to RaDO’s office with Yiberta and meet Michelle’s co-workers. They’re all very lovely and kind. RaDO stands for Rehabilitation and Development Organization. The organization was founded to provide physical rehabilitation to people with disabilities. They set up rehabilitation facilities in several Ethiopian hospitals, providng both the equipment and trained personnel. Government-run hospitals in Ethiopia did not have rehabilitation services until RaDO started their program. RaDO soon expanded into providing prostethics for people injured by landmines. Recipients of prostethics include refugees from the Sudan and Eritrea where wars have been fought for years.
Eventually, RaDO created a landmine education program for people living in or near war zones. Many of these landmines and explosive devices aren’t buried, as most people suspect. They’re often found lying on the ground, near water sources and in open fields. When an adult or child finds them, they often do not recognize it as an explosive. Some are made inside wooden boxes or metal containers, looking like delightful play-things to children. Plus, metal is hard to find in the rural areas and many people pick up the devices so they can re-use the metal.
RaDO has produced brochures using illustrated warnings, with big, red arrows pointing to the dangerous devices in each scene. There are no words in the brochures or on the posters, for many of the rural people are illiterate. RaDO has several cloth posters they put up during training and these posters are painted with the various types of bombs. After meeting the people at RaDO, and learning more about what they do, Michelle and I go to lunch at a nearby restaurant.
The “diner” is really just a nice-sized room made of plywood with a tin roof and tables and chairs. A TV plays a local channel. We wash our hands in a large sink outside then take a table inside. Michelle orders Tywat for me, a beef stew poured over Injera. A guy at a nearby table is eating a soup that looks delicious so Michelle orders the soup, as a change to her usual lunch. The soup is yellowish (saffron?) with potatoes. When they place the bowl in front of Michelle, I notice a row of small, regular white dots protruding from the soup, some with sharp edges. Looking closer, I realize they are teeth and I tell Michelle. But she doesn’t hear me. When I ask her if they are teeth, she puts her spoon into the soup and elevates what looks like a lower jawbone, split down the middle, with the teeth explosed from the back of the jaw to the front. She eats the soup and potatoes but does not touch the jaw. We later learn it's from a sheep.
A RaDO driver drops me at the VSO office, where Tracy writes a letter authorizing me to use their medical care services. I walk the half mile to the hospital and am impressed with their efficiency. They are not friendly, but they build a file on me and I'm sitting with the doctor very quickly. He is about my age and earned his medical degree in Poland. Though his English isn’t that good, and I know no Amharic, we’re able to talk. He asks me about the U.S. and my volunteer work. I tell him my complaint is a sinus infection and I simply need antibiotics. I have a headache and feel awful, tired. He doesn’t look at my sinuses or my throat or ears. Simply writes out three perscriptions. I’m feeling better already knowing healing pills are so close at hand.
When I get to the pharmacy window, just down the hall, they pass through the tiny window a bottle of antihistamine (which I avoid at all costs), claritin and panadol, a pain reliever like Advil in the states. I’m so disappointed to see the antihistamine and feel deflated there are no antibiotics. Damn!!
I walk back to the VSO office, feeling worse by the minute, and take the medicine right away, hoping it will help. I save the antihistamine for bedtime because it always knocks me out. That evening, Michelle and I meet up with other VSO folks at Pizza Del Roma. The pizza is good. Jimmy is from Uganda and volunteering in Addis. Jeanta is on the VSO staff. She’s originally from Britain but lived in Canada before coming to Ethiopia. Jeanta has given notice of her departure and she’ll return to Canada in October. Jimmy has brought a friend, Betty, who works at the Tanzania Embassy in Addis.
Before bedtime, I take the antihistamine and am reminded why I never take them!! They cause my head to stuff up and I cannot breathe. Not only am I weak from feeling so badly, I now can’t breathe or sleep. It’s cold in Addis and Michelle has given up her very comfortable bed to me. She’s sleeping in the next room on the living room chair cushions and a sleeping bag. She and I argue over the sleeping arrangement but I soon become too sick to raise my voice and have no energy to fight with her. Tonight I’m extremely grateful to Michelle for this cozy bed and the warm blankets.
Eventually, RaDO created a landmine education program for people living in or near war zones. Many of these landmines and explosive devices aren’t buried, as most people suspect. They’re often found lying on the ground, near water sources and in open fields. When an adult or child finds them, they often do not recognize it as an explosive. Some are made inside wooden boxes or metal containers, looking like delightful play-things to children. Plus, metal is hard to find in the rural areas and many people pick up the devices so they can re-use the metal.
RaDO has produced brochures using illustrated warnings, with big, red arrows pointing to the dangerous devices in each scene. There are no words in the brochures or on the posters, for many of the rural people are illiterate. RaDO has several cloth posters they put up during training and these posters are painted with the various types of bombs. After meeting the people at RaDO, and learning more about what they do, Michelle and I go to lunch at a nearby restaurant.
The “diner” is really just a nice-sized room made of plywood with a tin roof and tables and chairs. A TV plays a local channel. We wash our hands in a large sink outside then take a table inside. Michelle orders Tywat for me, a beef stew poured over Injera. A guy at a nearby table is eating a soup that looks delicious so Michelle orders the soup, as a change to her usual lunch. The soup is yellowish (saffron?) with potatoes. When they place the bowl in front of Michelle, I notice a row of small, regular white dots protruding from the soup, some with sharp edges. Looking closer, I realize they are teeth and I tell Michelle. But she doesn’t hear me. When I ask her if they are teeth, she puts her spoon into the soup and elevates what looks like a lower jawbone, split down the middle, with the teeth explosed from the back of the jaw to the front. She eats the soup and potatoes but does not touch the jaw. We later learn it's from a sheep.
A RaDO driver drops me at the VSO office, where Tracy writes a letter authorizing me to use their medical care services. I walk the half mile to the hospital and am impressed with their efficiency. They are not friendly, but they build a file on me and I'm sitting with the doctor very quickly. He is about my age and earned his medical degree in Poland. Though his English isn’t that good, and I know no Amharic, we’re able to talk. He asks me about the U.S. and my volunteer work. I tell him my complaint is a sinus infection and I simply need antibiotics. I have a headache and feel awful, tired. He doesn’t look at my sinuses or my throat or ears. Simply writes out three perscriptions. I’m feeling better already knowing healing pills are so close at hand.
When I get to the pharmacy window, just down the hall, they pass through the tiny window a bottle of antihistamine (which I avoid at all costs), claritin and panadol, a pain reliever like Advil in the states. I’m so disappointed to see the antihistamine and feel deflated there are no antibiotics. Damn!!
I walk back to the VSO office, feeling worse by the minute, and take the medicine right away, hoping it will help. I save the antihistamine for bedtime because it always knocks me out. That evening, Michelle and I meet up with other VSO folks at Pizza Del Roma. The pizza is good. Jimmy is from Uganda and volunteering in Addis. Jeanta is on the VSO staff. She’s originally from Britain but lived in Canada before coming to Ethiopia. Jeanta has given notice of her departure and she’ll return to Canada in October. Jimmy has brought a friend, Betty, who works at the Tanzania Embassy in Addis.
Before bedtime, I take the antihistamine and am reminded why I never take them!! They cause my head to stuff up and I cannot breathe. Not only am I weak from feeling so badly, I now can’t breathe or sleep. It’s cold in Addis and Michelle has given up her very comfortable bed to me. She’s sleeping in the next room on the living room chair cushions and a sleeping bag. She and I argue over the sleeping arrangement but I soon become too sick to raise my voice and have no energy to fight with her. Tonight I’m extremely grateful to Michelle for this cozy bed and the warm blankets.
posted by Cindi at 2:39 PM
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