Eating in an italian restaurant with jazz music in an intimate setting,not quite sure where we were...music food friends and setting and the world around disappears.
Talking with a Phillipino gentleman at breakfast ,he is contracted by a Connecticut company to maintain Ethiopian airline planes-he was talking about his adult kids all fry successful,engineer doctor and nurse,counting his blessings with his kids and how well they've done even though he came from a poor background in the phillipines...he had tears in his eyes...I could only nodd and think of my own kids....
Holding a farmers elbow as straight as possible while we made a half cast for nighttime and watching his face holding back reacting to the obvious pain I was inflicting...all to make his arm better...not one complaint
An older lady with a wrist fracture getting a treatment and as I come closer to observe the student therapist she sees me and gets up and bows her head...greetings like this are common...out of respect,...men greet each other with a hand shake with right hands and shoukdserd come together and touch ...like half a hug...women and men also do a kiss on the cheeks...right left and right again...3 times total
A mother is holding her baby on her back in a slanged shawl while tending to a 5 year old with a hip to foot cast ...lying beside her with his head in her lap waiting in the sun for the clinic to begin
We are headed home with our driver from the university we slow down to allow a man walking on his hands and dragging his contracted flexed legs to cross the street and the Ethiopian Dr
Makes the sign of a cross on himself and mumbles a quick prayer
An eighteen year old comes to the oath clinic for help...his endosarcoma on the forearm has regrown and is the size of a football he shows the Drs and then quickly hides it from view embarrassed
A24 year old women comes to clinic with an enlargement near her pelvis?..another tumor and the Ethiopian Dr explains it would be to hard to remove and has more than likely spread...chemotherapy radiation...not affordable by this family...she covers her face with her head scarf and cries quietly in the room full of patients and chaos
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Friday, March 16, 2012
Impressions
Food is a way of life here
They have adopted Italian,Mediterranean and Indian cuisine here
The meal is traditionally family style where everyones hand is in the same circular serving platter
Intimate and yummy I have to say
They serve the traditional foods on a crepe like item called injera
Veggie and meats are served and the injera is torn off bit by bit and used to scoop up the side dishes
And then there is coffee which originated here...mmmmmmm good stuf not bother and they have a special coffee ceremony,smells great
We went to a special cultural center with dance performances to represent some of the nearly 80 groups of Ethiopians in this country
They happened to perform from the area we lived...Dese ....drum beats,different stringed instruments and an Ethiopian jazz music that's tantalizing ....makes you wanna move!
Bread and cakes are everywhere,,,,and by the way we are in the middle of lent so everyone is fasting that is they are only eating veggies till Easter so in most restaurants they have fasting and non fasting dishes,,,including their coffee and pasta!
Oh and yes the beer hear is good,Castle Saint George...and mainly south African wine for me ...the Ethiopian wine is a bit too sweet for me
More to come ...
They have adopted Italian,Mediterranean and Indian cuisine here
The meal is traditionally family style where everyones hand is in the same circular serving platter
Intimate and yummy I have to say
They serve the traditional foods on a crepe like item called injera
Veggie and meats are served and the injera is torn off bit by bit and used to scoop up the side dishes
And then there is coffee which originated here...mmmmmmm good stuf not bother and they have a special coffee ceremony,smells great
We went to a special cultural center with dance performances to represent some of the nearly 80 groups of Ethiopians in this country
They happened to perform from the area we lived...Dese ....drum beats,different stringed instruments and an Ethiopian jazz music that's tantalizing ....makes you wanna move!
Bread and cakes are everywhere,,,,and by the way we are in the middle of lent so everyone is fasting that is they are only eating veggies till Easter so in most restaurants they have fasting and non fasting dishes,,,including their coffee and pasta!
Oh and yes the beer hear is good,Castle Saint George...and mainly south African wine for me ...the Ethiopian wine is a bit too sweet for me
More to come ...
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Week #2
Back to teaching seeing pts and mentoring
The therapy at black lion hospital is very new and the drs aren't quite sure how to use them
The administration and the students are trying to make difference,
We just need to establish their critical thinking and assessment skills so they can represent themselves
Oour part was the emphasis on the hand wrist and elbow...so much to learn and understand and the therapists are a bit laid back but smart and quick.
They see about 10 patients a day and are gone by 3:30 they also have their own private pts much like the drs here
The plan is to eventually have an occupational therapy dept as well
It will be slow but a great endeavor in an area that can really benefit
We see all kinds of oath pts here usually trauma
The therapy at black lion hospital is very new and the drs aren't quite sure how to use them
The administration and the students are trying to make difference,
We just need to establish their critical thinking and assessment skills so they can represent themselves
Oour part was the emphasis on the hand wrist and elbow...so much to learn and understand and the therapists are a bit laid back but smart and quick.
They see about 10 patients a day and are gone by 3:30 they also have their own private pts much like the drs here
The plan is to eventually have an occupational therapy dept as well
It will be slow but a great endeavor in an area that can really benefit
We see all kinds of oath pts here usually trauma
Saturday, March 10, 2012
TGIF
So a week long of claaes,observation and seeing patients.
Exploring the area near the university and the apt but now off tp Gondar where there are UNICEF preserved sites of kings castles and churches from the1400's
The Gohar hotel is on a mountain top and is an amazing place of stone ,wood and vies that have no end...mountains,trees,city below
Things I'm most noticing up here ,how precious our nature really is when you preserve and kern the native plants birds and environment
Eagles,hawks and vultures,yes vultures are flying over us as we sit and wait for the African sunset
Being out of the city is refreshing just as it is at home,enjoying Gods creation at it's best
So addis has a pop of about 6 million...it's crowded and noisy and the air is polluted but you will still here over all of it the church prayers,the cock crowing and the water truck gooong by
I can see that Mom and Dad had a place very similar to India in many ways
Can't wait to post all the pics....
Back to Addis tomorrow for a full tour and then back to teaching
Have some exciting exploring to do ....
Exploring the area near the university and the apt but now off tp Gondar where there are UNICEF preserved sites of kings castles and churches from the1400's
The Gohar hotel is on a mountain top and is an amazing place of stone ,wood and vies that have no end...mountains,trees,city below
Things I'm most noticing up here ,how precious our nature really is when you preserve and kern the native plants birds and environment
Eagles,hawks and vultures,yes vultures are flying over us as we sit and wait for the African sunset
Being out of the city is refreshing just as it is at home,enjoying Gods creation at it's best
So addis has a pop of about 6 million...it's crowded and noisy and the air is polluted but you will still here over all of it the church prayers,the cock crowing and the water truck gooong by
I can see that Mom and Dad had a place very similar to India in many ways
Can't wait to post all the pics....
Back to Addis tomorrow for a full tour and then back to teaching
Have some exciting exploring to do ....
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Culture and people
Ethiopians are very quiet spoken and polite.
Patients here remind me of those in Haiti....grateful for what you can do,respectful of your expertise and always smiling...
Met other volunteers to teach from around the world....in depts of surgery,radiology,nursing and therapy.....
Much to do ...many hands needed to help...
Patients here remind me of those in Haiti....grateful for what you can do,respectful of your expertise and always smiling...
Met other volunteers to teach from around the world....in depts of surgery,radiology,nursing and therapy.....
Much to do ...many hands needed to help...
Landed
Landed safe and after obtaining a $20 visa at the airport....I sailed through custms no problem,very organized set up.
I was picked up by an assigned driver and taken to the apt...to meet with the couple that was to also be volunteering.I have been honored to be paired with A Physical Therapist who is a Hand therapist and her husband,a hand surgeon.
We spent our first day exloring our apt and neighbourhood
We shopped for groceries and ate out the first night...our first meal was italian...a big cuisine here...and guess what! I ate Lasagna that was just like Mom's...this must be where she got all her recipes for her italian pizza's and pasta's...Italian influence came here long ago through Mousalini...
The climate and culture is much like India but less humidity..and a very pleasant breeze,we are after all at 8000 ft.
I haven't had much time to explore the city outside of Addis University and the Black Lion hospital
We also visited ALERT the Leprosy hospital, where a famous hand surgeon named Brand came to learn and teach about the hands and set up a therapy center for them
I am in awe of the patients and therapists I saw there...and hope to go there again...
At the Black Lion hospital we see patients and teach the BSc PT's for their Doctoral program-our prt is the hand and wrist and elbow
I love it here and feel very welcome...apparently everyone thinks I look ethiopian,without a straightener for my hair ,I would agree.Anyway they are always suprised to here I was born here and that I am back...
more later.....more about the population and the culture....
I was picked up by an assigned driver and taken to the apt...to meet with the couple that was to also be volunteering.I have been honored to be paired with A Physical Therapist who is a Hand therapist and her husband,a hand surgeon.
We spent our first day exloring our apt and neighbourhood
We shopped for groceries and ate out the first night...our first meal was italian...a big cuisine here...and guess what! I ate Lasagna that was just like Mom's...this must be where she got all her recipes for her italian pizza's and pasta's...Italian influence came here long ago through Mousalini...
The climate and culture is much like India but less humidity..and a very pleasant breeze,we are after all at 8000 ft.
I haven't had much time to explore the city outside of Addis University and the Black Lion hospital
We also visited ALERT the Leprosy hospital, where a famous hand surgeon named Brand came to learn and teach about the hands and set up a therapy center for them
I am in awe of the patients and therapists I saw there...and hope to go there again...
At the Black Lion hospital we see patients and teach the BSc PT's for their Doctoral program-our prt is the hand and wrist and elbow
I love it here and feel very welcome...apparently everyone thinks I look ethiopian,without a straightener for my hair ,I would agree.Anyway they are always suprised to here I was born here and that I am back...
more later.....more about the population and the culture....
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Facebook
March 1,2012
So the journey to Addis Ababa Ethiopia begins.....I was born from my Indian Parents,C.O. and Mary while they were teaching in Addis. I lived the first 5 years of my life in Addis and left for Canada on my 5th birthday.
Now as part of my top ten things to do...I have the privelege to go back and give back.
I am an Occupational Therapist and as a member of Health Volunteers Overseas,I am part of a program to set up Physical Therapy Schools around the world. I am volunteering with another Occupational Therapist who is a certified hand therapist teach about the hand and wrist. Class time as well as clinics will fill the days with the PT students who are getting their Doctarate degree. I hope to share my knowlegde of evaluation, tests and treatment as well as my interest and specialty in Lymphedema. I am grateful to Sharp ,my employer in San Diego which has given me Humanitarian leave to do this project .
When I saw the opportunity I knew I could help and be part of this trip....I want to see the Addis I have seen so many times in pictures and in the dreams of during my childhood.
I leave San Diego,March 2 2012 ,fly to DC Washington and then fly a direct 15 hour flt to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,Africa.... 46 years after I left.
Thanks for all the prayers , good wishes and donations from friends , family and coworkers!
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