Corinthian letters

‘And if thou hast not love, thou hast not anything, you are but a sounding brass or tinkling bell’, which is how I think that letter to the Corinthians runs, and is perhaps the epitaph of the departing hospital administrator. Though it could of course equally apply to your correspondent but he at least recognises himself as a ‘sounding off brass’ if nothing else.
So we have the changing of the guard. St Paul after a lengthy if muted send off (we buggered off to Green bar B at 18.30 but it went on to 20.30 with speeches and Ethiopian delicacies) is off back to the good old US of A via Norway and is to be replaced by Austin (of statement beard fame). Austin is now moving into the CEO house next door and will hopefully be adopting the orphan deer. He is now in a partnership with Becky (are you keeping up) the Adventist with strong views on alcohol so we may see some more puritanical changes in these parts. However responsibility has seen the statement beard being replaced by designer stubble and a more normal hair style and my reading of the community is that they look forward to the change. So what will Paul’s epitaph be, given that he was thrown into the lion’s den at a time of crisis and with little experience to deal with it. He has given the hospital a reasonably secure electricity supply which for night time operations is a bonus and he has (for which he is not popular) made big staff changes. Is the hospital a better place for his tenure, on balance yes, it was I believe in dire straits before he arrived. But the delivery of much medical care remains in the hands of the very poorly trained on the dubious grounds that some medical training is better than none, but not realising the reality that it can actually be more dangerous. Certainly there is the handing out of antibiotics in profusion when you do not know what you are treating. The most common medical diagnosis in these parts is pneumonia, that well known chest condition of the tropics. His relationship with our sponsoring organisation remains unhappy and the loss of maternity funding means that the staff remain uncertain in their jobs. His legacy is thus mixed as indeed is the future of the hospital but I suspect, despite protestations to the contrary, the hospital is a little better than its government competitor down the road. He does however irresistibly remind me of Kaa (thanks Karen L.) and if he has a future in the first world he would make a good CEO of a hospital in the U.K. or USA or even an academic administrator. New arrivals include a Dutch missionary doctor (predictably and no they would not listen or read Karen’s wise words on how to do it) his registration is hopelessly bogged down in the Ethiopian administrative system and his wife a midwife who are now housed in the surgeon’s house though eyeing ours. He drank Ethiopian coffee which is a good sign (Adventists do not do coffee I believe) and one hopes that missionary zeal will be tempered with some medical good sense but too early as yet to say. We did not stay long enough at the ‘hail and farewell’ to chat to him and I know not whether we were really missed. Today is an Adventist rest day and yesterday the hymn singing coming from next door was lusty. We were invited to that and temptingly mango ice cream but had to decline as it was unlikely that the invitation included increasingly unwashed orphan boys with remarkably smelly feet whom we were entertaining with spaghetti and spam and tomato source followed by monsters inc. (this was not as much of a hit as Shrek and we only have the trailer to Shrek 2). Even the orphans declined to sit next to Lalisa’s feet and we ended up soaking them in Moulton Brown Shampoo for the whole of the film and the bucket is still pretty nasty and his socks…..information you would rather not know.
Continuing the biblical theme there is a ‘star in the east’ as there is a move to pull out of Gimbie where ‘our work is done’ and head to the pasturalist communities of the east which appear to be poorly provided for despite being a relatively easy commute to Addis so there was a move to follow that star at least by two wise persons if not kings and certainly not the desire of Queens, so off they set on a mission. Star following in the modern parlance is called ‘needs assessment’ and this is what was planned, i.e. a jolly to Awash(beauty spot withnice lodge, waterfalls etc.) and beyond, but was not to be as the appropriate ‘permissions’ had not been obtained, this is after all Ethiopia not Galilee, so the two wise persons are now hold up in Addis, one bored in a grubby hotel and the other on a family visit, their camel master on his per deum in an adventist hostel awaiting the arrival of the angel Gabriel on a flying visit. In terms of nee d there is really no need for an assessment ‘Gold and hold the frankincense and Myrrh’ though the latter two might be useful for the feet round here. In terms of ‘Gold’ well spent a little sad as the trip of star following was ill planned and thus came to naught. Presumably cost of stay in Addis met by charity.
The Angel Gabriel and the bringers of Danegeld in the shape of the Danish team re- arrive next week on a ‘visit’ suspiciously similar to that of the Adventist’ of last week, and were unsurprisingly as communication is not the watch word totally unprepared for the changes. Given that relationships with ‘St Paul’ had reached a record low, that particular meeting was not me thinks on the agenda but now there is a flurry of e mails wanting us to set up getting to know you meetings – Karen as Mary Poppins or the U.N. however the question of course is whether the ‘geld’ will go East or West. We are scheduled in for a meeting on Tuesday evening sans local organiser – paranoid times. Given that most of these meetings revolve around communication (or lack of it) there is little shuttling due.
Gee I am glad we have our car despite the costs and the grief as communication about travel and places in cars etc. reaches all times complexity and yes some have to take the bus and sit in really bad bench seats – all jealousy and bad feeling, and sadly probably unnecessary, yes communication again!
Despite protestations to the contrary there is no doubt to me that the poor and needy of Gimbie and Environs are not being catered for here unless moribund or with 1000 odd birr to spend (and some do, the coffee is picked) as unlike the first few months there is often little activity apart from the multiparous middle classes dropping their sprogs and then sitting around for a couple of days in their private sheets or the occasional nearly dead arriving with some ancient birth fund voucher which seems to get them a nearly free Caesarean section.
For those of you who are following the cancer of the cervix project the word is out and patients are beginning to come in, despite the best efforts of the lower echelons of the hospital to charge them, and despite my writing over the admission slip that the project pays. Equally distressing, the communication gap is such that operable cases with medical problems in which we start treatment (blood pressure tablets) disappear and do not reappear but will probably do so when they are beyond help – with limited funding I am loathe to admit them to the ward for a week. Soon off on a mass screening project so we will see. A difficulty unforeseen is the clinical diagnosis of cancer which I thought would be relatively straight forward but is complicated by such issues as previously undefined and undefinable vaginal surgery and my Ethiopian colleagues desire to operate on every fibroid that comes through the door ,by calling them cancer – sorry but we have limited funds.
So, we live in uncertain times and the forces of political correctness bear as ever down, trying to ensure, that the unpalatable vision of truth is wrapped in soft soap and that no one is ever upset by the vision of the world as maybe it really is.
Here endeth the lesson, but is it teaching or learning?