I Love Lucy

WE SAW LUCY!!! You know those bones they found some years ago that were really important in the study of evolution?  Turns out it was in Ethiopia, and a couple weeks ago they “brought Lucy home”, put her in the National Museum, and we got to see “her” on Friday! It was weird because Lucy’s someone I’ve heard about since Mrs. Gleason’s class in 7^th grade biology, and “she” was sitting right in front of me.  It’s was one of the biggest discoveries EVER in science, and she’s just chilling in Ethiopia.  Pretty cool.

Our day with Urjii was AWESOME.  She and her brother took us to 2 museums, and then we got to go to their house.  Her mom had spent 4 hours cooking Duro Wat (a traditional chicken dish) that is a lot of Ethiopian’s favorite food.  I’m constantly humbled by how welcoming people are here.  I had spoken with Urjii earlier in the week, and naturally, our conversation turned to food.  I told her that we hadn’t tried Duro Wat (her favorite food) and Brittany and I really liked adventuring, and the next day she had coordinated with Kes Cimdii to invite us over to her home.

In Ethiopia, feeding each other is a sign of affection.  Husband’s feed their wives the first bite of every meal, and from what I’ve gathered, sometimes friends and family members will do the same thing.  So, Brittany and I decided in order to continue in our quest to become Ethiopianized, we had to do the same thing. 

I had no idea she was going to feed
me at the same time...

FIRST CUP OF COFFEE!! 

AND I consider my Ethopianization almost complete because I HAD MY FIRST CUP OF COFFEE!!! Apparently it was really strong, but I had nothing to compare it to.  I put 3 spoonfulls of sugar in (because that’s what I see everyone else doing here) so I think I drank half a cup of sugar, but it definitely didn’t take away from the coffee taste.

The big church

This morning (Sunday) we went to visit an Orthodox church with Mezalu (the Gleason’s housemaid)’s daughter Hewitt.   It’s the oldest Orthodox Church in Ethiopia (Orthodox is the largest religion in Ethiopia) and it was beautiful.  My favorite part was that we had to take our shoes off before we entered the church (I know, super insightful).  

The smaller church, on the same campus

There was a separate door for men and women – they sit apart during the service.  It looked pretty similar to a Catholic church with stained glass and paintings on the walls/ceilings, but apparently there are a couple significant differences between the Catholic church and Orthodox church.  I don’t know enough about either of them to draw any conclusions/make any generalizations, but I really enjoyed seeing the  church.  

Hewitt and I! 

Mezalu, me, Britt, and Hewitt

Mezalu invited us to her house afterwards to eat, where I had the BEST scrambled eggs I’ve ever had, a mysterious looking/tasting cheese, grilled veggies, AND my second cup of coffee.  Our driver also came in to eat with us – his name is Teshale and he rocks.  Photo credit of the 4 of us is to him.

We also got to visit the Burayu clinic on Friday (so yes, we actually did something other than sightseeing).  It was bigger than I expected (I also expected a 1 room deal), but it was still pretty low quality.  Part of a family’s sponsorship funds their trips to this clinic, so we thought we might as well check it out to see what kind of healthcare they had access to.  Things we found out:

-          The biggest need is equipment.  They don’t even have the equipment for an IV.

-          The clinic can diagnose treat HIV and other major STD’s, diagnose and treat TB , birth babies and perform abortions, and give prescription drugs and birth control. There is no place to stay overnight, so women who have babies leave the same day.

-          It is fully funded by the government.  When the government runs out of HIV diagnostic tests, so does the clinic.  They’ve currently been out of stock for about 3 weeks, and while they still have the treatment for HIV, they have no idea when they will get a new set of HIV diagnostic kits.

The Emergency Room, Changing Room, and TB medication combo

-          The emergency room, changing area, and room for taking TB medication is the same.   Brittany asked how they sterilize the room to prevent the spread of TB (it’s super “spreadable”), and the guy pointed to the window.  TB patients stand outside and are handed their TB pills through the window so that they don’t infect any of the patients in the clinic.  The health care officers do not wear masks when delivering the medication.  Doesn’t sound super preventative to me.  There was also a cow tied up outside the window where the patients come.  Berhanu (the manager) offered us fresh milk when we were leaving, but we politely declined.

It was eye opening to see, mainly because it made me realize how advanced healthcare is in other parts of the world.  There were 2 rooms for patient care, 1 for pediatrics (ages 0 -5) and 1 for adults (ages 5 and up).  The waiting room did not have a TV to watch Toy Story in, separate “sick” and “well” rooms, or unlimited magazines as the doctor’s offices that I have grown up do.  Instead, there were benches lined up outside with people waiting to pick up prescriptions, to see a health officer/nurse, or to get treated for HIV.  There was no fresh paper to pull over the bed to sit on, swivel chairs to sit in as you waited between the nurse in the doctor, or drawers with lollipops waiting for you as you left the office (yes, I still go to my pediatrician).  Instead there was a desk, a “bed” for the patient to lie on, and a sink in the back with a bowl full of tubes for blood testing.

So next time I want to complain about healthcare being such a big issue or having to go to my yearly check-up or about how my on-campus health center doesn’t have the most quality doctors or how I have to wait 45 minutes for the dentist to come do a 3 minute check on my teeth, hopefully I’ll remember the Burayu clinic and be grateful that I can receive care that the majority of the rest of the world doesn’t have access to.

Random pictures:

The well where the clinic gets water (and Kes Cimdii pulling it up).  It’s also the first well I’ve ever seen – no wonder there are so many stories about people who get stuck in them and can’t get back up!

Brooklyn's a reindeer!

This is supposed to be a video... in the probable chance that it didn't upload, you get a quality picture of Gomichez.