Long Live The Sar

I thought I'd be writing this post from ethiopia, but unfortunately US Air had other plans. Weather problems all up and down the east coast meant that my flight to JFK was cancelled and I had to change my separate ticket to Addis on British Airways. After 2 hrs. on the phone w/BA I have the privilege of trying again tomorrow morning, which means that hopefully I'll be in Addis by 2:30 AM June 15...but we'll see.

My brother told me today that I should write about what I am expecting to see during my time in Ethiopia...so here goes... I honestly don't know what to expect. In an email I got from Dr. Rick Hodes (who I will be working under), he told me about how he sends certain kids to Ghana for special operations, but the hospital there occasionally loses power for 30+ min. during an operation and the generators only run to power the ventilators so the doctors either operate by flashlight or they wait until the power returns. I am not expecting the clinic to have dirt floors (but it might) and I am expecting to see many flies and other flying insects inside the clinic. I don't know how much medical work I will be doing (I hope a good amount) but I am sure that whatever I do see will be unlike anything I could imagine here. I recently finished reading "Just Here Trying To Save A Few Lives" by Pamela Grim , M.D. It was a quick, easy, interesting read that was your typical ER...

It's Sunday morning (2 AM) and I am busy trying to tie up my loose ends here in Greensboro before heading off to Africa. I am going to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for 5 weeks to work in the Mother Theresa Mission Clinic. Hopefully I will get to help out with caring for the patients, playing with the orphans, and whatever else the nuns need help with. In all honesty, I have absolutely no clue what I'm getting myself into. In my mind I imagine Ethiopia to be somewhere in between the Belgian Princess's B&B lodge my family stayed in during our first night on safari in Tanzania in 2002-3, and pictures of refugee camps in Zaire (now DRC) following the Rwandan Genocide in '94. So somewhere in between these two extremes, I imagine Addis falls. During my gap year (now two years ago, '05-06) I traveled the globe, hitting 3 continents, 5 countries, 1 ski resort, and 1 chinese lady on a moped. I lived in the Hamptons and I slept on the muddy floor of a chinese hut with 3 pigs...