Day 6

It’s Christmas Eve!! Well here in Ethiopia it is! Which means tomorrow is Christmas. The streets were bustling this morning with all the people putting out goods and food, dressed in their white shawls for church. The dogs run freely around with one another, while the people walk their goats on a leash. Our entire group on the bus to the hospital gets so excited about seeing any animal. People? Meh. Animals? LOVE! They use large cargo carts with horses to carry a lot of their goods around, and casually snatch up chicken by their necks to carry them around. You can imagine the screams from our bus when we thought we were about to witness a slaughter screaming NOOOO! That’s us, the well fed Americans screaming at the skinny Ethiopians to not kill a poor chicken. Well given tomorrow is Christmas and they have been fasting for the last month (which means no meat or dairy) it will be a great day u less you’re a chicken or goat. And let me tell you there is no such thing as obesity in this country. I have not seen even one overweight human being. Dear America.......don’t get me started.

We got to the hospital after quite an exciting bus ride to again round on all of our patients who were doing wonderfully. It’s very exciting to have the opportunity not only to operate but really make an effort to make a sustainable health system for them, that they can take away and practice from. We teach the residents there surgical techniques, have them in the OR with us and provided lectures for them that could provide them with a foundation for the surgical procedures we were doing. Our speech and language team would work with patients, residents and parents to demonstrate exercises and techniques they can continue to improve their swallowing and voice function. Our anesthesia team really was superb as they taught the anesthesiologists at the hospital a lot of different approaches and techniques to difficult situations on airway to even simple techniques to placing a good IV line. It’s amazing how their foundation is so lacking and the importance of really education on these trips. 

Today was lighter as we have to pack up all of our things for our last day of operating. We had some cleft palates and I felt more comfortable as I have gotten more and more experience and opportunity operating. I have some pretty fantastic attendings I model from and they have been superb teachers even for me. It was bittersweet putting everything back into suitcases for the conclusion of trip. We had such an amazing time and felt so welcomed. 

One of my attendings fit in a scar revision for one of the anesthesiology team members of Ethiopia. Many of the people in their country have scars on either side of their temple, or across their forehead. I learned that many people from Tigrai have facial scars for the expression of cultural identity. They receive them when they are about 2 years of age. They can also be done for “eye problems.” Those of which I am not sure what they are. One of their ENT residents also wanted a scar revision to remove the one on his forehead. There have been a lot of cultural and religious turmoil in Ethiopia which makes some of the cultural identity issues come into play. Some of their people also have a tattoo of a crop over their forehead. It is very interesting and beautiful their cultural expression, and how the meanings have changed over the years. I would have to do more research to fully understand it. 

After we got back from the hospital we grabbed a late lunch and decided to go to one of the local markets. The manager of the restaurant liked us so much from last night he offered to walk us there…which is about a 20 minute walk. 1. I am glad  he was there we would have never found it and 2. it has its dangerous parts (I wouldn’t walk along alone) but as a huge group we were fine. I mean I know I don’t stand out at all! haha. Well the walk was an interesting one passing lots of goats and sheep they have on their leashes, and people carrying their live chickens home for Christmas. 2 small girls came up to us wanting to shake our hands and take pictures, they were the sweetest little things. The market was packed, and has all sorts of goods, textiles, food you name it. We were quite a sight for them. Our restaurant friend, who goes by Brite (I may be spelling that wrong) informed me that coffee is a large part of Ethiopian culture, where they drink it throughout the day 5-6 times. I mean…that’s not too far off from Americans. Although Im a one cup a day kind of girl. The one thing you notice when you are walking around here is how tired you get. The altitude of Mekelle is 7900, so I guess I can’t say my lack of working out while here is the issue. 

He was a very proud gentleman, speaking so highly of his city of Mekelle and his people. He continued to ask me if his city was much like the one I like in New York City. In some ways with the amount of people walking around and body streets I suppose. He would point out different places to eat or go to and comment on how beautiful and nice the city in which he lived was. It made me think how appreciative I am and should continue to strive to be to live in the United States. A lot of times we look at the negative parts of our day like sitting in traffic, getting the wrong cup of coffee made, having a bad day at work. And here was a gentleman who lives in a very very poor city. Where these is no such thing as hot showers, and people work very hard to maintain a lifestyle. Where they walk everywhere, don’t have access to clean clothes, or different types of cuisines. Where a free pair of scrubs that have been worn off my back is such an incredible gift to them, where at home I’ll get easily annoyed if I can’t get the right size for the day. Even putting my contact lenses in my eyes in the morning I am so fortunate to be able to have that capability to wake up and see clearly. The people are incredible and I encourage anyone if they can travel to somewhere like this in the world and give back. It really makes me realize why I love being a doctor and why I really want to continue to do things like medical missions in my career. I admire the attendings I have gone with and the organization Healing the Children who do such an outstanding job. 

After we got back to the hotel we washed up before heading to dinner. It was the first time we went out after 8pm in the night, but as a large group stayed close and safe. The restaurant was outdoors and known for their pizza. So it was pizza night. And although it’s no NY pizza it held its own…..that or I am desperate for something other than injera. The dinner was outdoors and a lot of fun. Our last night as an entire group together and with our team physician here in Mekelle. He again is truly a phenomenal person, taking a year out to live in Ethiopia and provide this education and medical aid to their country and region. Our crew is sure to be back. The night was once again filled with laughing so hard we hurt, drinks and just overall a lot of fun. We probably can be heard for miles, even over the hyenas. Well tomorrow is an early day as we venture onto somewhere new…..where to next? Tune in