Long Live The Sar

To start off with the most important news: it rained this morning and so the soccer game was cancelled.  Addisu, Mesfene and I awoke @ 4:30 AM, walked outside, and when we were told the game was off, went back to catch some shut eye.  Oh well, soon enough this jewish pele will be unleashed on an unexpecting Addis.   After a quick breakfast, Rick, Tom, Stuart, and I went to the mission.  As usual, things were hectic/unorganized, but for some reason this really fazed Rick today.  We spent 30 minutes looking for Sister Bridgitta and one of Rick's new Hodkins patients, a beautiful seven year old girl.  Overall things were moving pretty slowly but Rick saw ~10 patients, telling those needing any serious consideration to return tomorrow for his big clinic.  A group of 15 students/teachers from Georgetown Day School visited and Rick gave them a tour of the mission and introduced them to some of his patients.    I finally reunited with...

It's a great feeling to walk into a place and feel like you never left. Flying yesterday went very smoothly overall and I arrived in Addis @ 4:00 AM. Rick's son Duke, Mount Sinai first-year med student Stuart, and rising Middlebury sophomore Tom were waiting to take me back to Rick's. It was such a great feeling to walk into Rick's dark home, open the door to the living room and see 12-15 sleeping children scattered on the furniture, on mattresses, and on the floor; I felt like I had never left. I couldn't sleep so I stayed awake listening to everyone's breathing and then watched Donnie Darko on my ipod. The house came alive around 7:00 AM when all the children got up to go to school, our bedroom suddenly transformed into Grand Central. I joined everyone for breakfast and received very warm greetings from Bewoket, Zewdie, Dirige, Tesh, Dejene, Mohammed and all of Rick's boys. Around 9, Stuart and I went for a walk to find a bank and some coffee/pastrie...

I tried to fly to Ethiopia today, tried being the key word. My plots were foiled by a piece of bureaucratic red tape I like to call the "Nigerian Transit Visa." Apparently one must procure a transit visa from the Nigerian Embassy, a week(s) long process, prior to having a 3-hr layover in the lovely Lagos Airport. I am thrilled that Nigeria is so peaceful and without strife that their government has the time and energy to prevent me from resting in their airport, however, this little bit of African bureaucracy at its best is infuriating. Lesson Learned: NEVER CONNECT THROUGH NIGERIA But as Nanny Rita told me when she dropped me back off at home, things always happen for a reason and so I like to think that some divine being wanted me to stay home tonight so that I could write this pre-departure blog post. It's funny how something as exotic and different as Ethiopia can quickly be reduced from the frightening to the familiar. Preparing for my return to the motherland th...