So, an exciting 9 days with a myriad of sights, sounds and not least smells! After a flight that makes Ryan Air look like business class we arrived in Addis and were whisked off to a hotel on the out skirts which was suprisingly quiet but backed on to a school full of international football hopefuls, if their break was any thing to go by. Curiously the inflight information on the screens of the telly are in French and the Ethiopian Airline logos on the side of the aircraft are stuck on which makes me wonder if we are flying in old and possibly borderline airworthy Air France stock. one worries that it has fallen off the back of some galliclorryAfter a whirlwind trip around Addis including pick up an English Oromo dictioary we had a tolerable meal in the hotel which was Ethiopian in origin and included my first though regrettably probably not last taste of Injura. It looks like a dirty grey flannel or a soggy flattened crumpet. It is not as nice as a crumpet and I have never eaten a flannel but I can imagine. Next day we were picked up distressingly early in a battered and already full ancient land cruiser and having also stuffed in our luggage we had a 13 hour journey to Gimbie West Wollega, far off the tourist track but the route was suprisingly full of people, goats, cows, donkeys and marauding baboons-the only visible wild life. We stopped briefly for Ethiopian breakfast-broken up beefburger, omlette and injura and lunch looking strangely similar. Sadly this was the start of a gastric disturbance that stays-what will the microbiology show. This however is more than you need to know. Inevitably the landcruiser broke down with a burnt out clutch, so we were towed the last few miles by a truck with a by now also extremely stressed clutch and then carried our luggage to our new accomodation, which we share with a fellow volunteer. The truck is not seen again but seems to have been involved in a crash in the past and have a lot of problems bar the engine, and it was absurdly expensive. The accomodation is dire and unloved. There is strong forensic evidence that the drawers in the strange wardrobe in my small single room have been quartered by a murine visitor who has left its calling card and I do hope that it is n longer in residence! I understand however that they come in in the rainy season which happily is not now, but this does say something about the thoroughness of the cleaning between residents. Having heard about bed bugs and having looked at the rather thin grey nature of the sheets provided I have opted to sleep in my sheet liner on top of the bed and spray for mosquitoes instead. Happily not bitten during stay by either those flying in or those crawling through. Although I have bought gloves for use on the wards a pair is pressed into service to takle the bathroom, particularly the shower tray. I did not believe it was really yellow with rust spots when I first saw it and it is now white and yellow with rust spots so I can bring myself to stand in it. The shower curtain is hanging drunkenly too but that is fixable. The hinges of the loo seat are another area of concern but have gone unnoticed by tennants past too. There is however a daily lady what does so perhaps things can be improved.
Next day we set off for our first ward round and what a scene confronts us, with all the sights (and smells) of Africa. Patients wear their own clothes in bed and have probably been wearing them for sometime and this is obvious. Our main focus is obstetrics and although there is no such thing as the obsteric inpatient there is a mixture of those who have survived to tell the tale with their baby and sadly those who have survived, just, but without their babies. Hearbreakingly there are also those who will survive but their babies wont so they just sit their with them till they die. The ward round is a strangely veterinary affair as communication is difficult through interpretors, who interpret longish questions in a few grunts to be returned by half nods and shy smiles. The normal or near normal deliveries seem fine but those having Caesars fare badly both in terms of infection and poor obstetric out come. The ward staff do drug rounds, a lttle haphazardly but any caring is done by the family if any who also bring in food etc.
Even communication with the Ethiopian doctor is a little sporadic as he speaks Amharic and all the local patients peak Oromo so all rely on translators. We will need to speak Oromo....
It is a crowded ward that is difficult to keep clean and one suspects that the cleaning is a little episodic and those episodes are not frequent. As this is a public blog I will spare you the details but if you want more and have the stomack do comment....!
It is however not all bad, mothers and babies are rescued and some who would otherwise die of complications, such as uterine rupture have the opportunity for timely intervention and a reasonable out come, but those who come late do not. The real national problem though is not those who come but those who do not..what happens to them in their Kebelles or villages we do not know but i suspect that it is not good.
All this should be compulsory viewing for the National Childbirth Trust. More will follow together with photos and maybe even a you tube video for those with a keen interest.
