Long Live The Sar

Tenastellegn Addis! Has it really been 6.5 years since I was last here? It must be because while so much of the city is comfortably recognizable, the daily reality of 2018 Addis is full of new surprises, challenges, and landscapes. In the summer of 2011 I had just finished my first year of medical school, was excited to show off my knowledge to my mentor, Rick Hodes, still couldn't tell the difference between a systolic or diastolic murmur (I think I finally can now?) and had only the slightest inkling of how much medicine I didn't know. Now, 78 months, 2 degrees, 83% of a residency, a marriage, and a dog later, I'm back. I will be in Addis from January 1-28, 2018 as part of Emory's Global Health Residency Scholars Program working with and learning from the Emergency Medicine residents at Addis Ababa University and Black Lion Hospital . For those worried that I am cockier than before, don't worry, I am now acutely aware of just how much medicine I still don...

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...