Long Live The Sar

http://www.kare11.com/sports /prep/prep_article.aspx ?storyid=268335 (story adapted from email by Rick Hodes) In summer, 1994, Rick Hodes was in Goma, Zaire and stopped his pickup truck late one afternoon as he drove out of Kibumba Refugee Camp to pick up a small kid covered with blood who had been hit by a hit-and-run driver. Contrary to what is reported in the Minneapolis story, it was Dr. Dawit Welday and Rick who picked up Taka. They drove to the Israeli field hospital where Taka had the first of many operations to save his life and reconstruct his skull. When they closed the hospital months later, he moved into Rick's personal tent. Every night, he'd shake Rick at 3AM, Rick would open the flaps and Taka would go out and pee. JDC funded him to come to the states for his surgery, which was arranged by Dr. Andre-Jacques Neucy of NYU. "I vividly recall writing a letter saying he is allergic to all eggs, so that the Kenyan authorities would not require him to show proof of...

I have been relaxing for the last 3 weeks or so, taking it very, very, very easy (including blogging). I hope to pick it back up once I get back to GSO, but I am currently vacationing in Southampton, NY (not too shabby). But driving by the Hampton Coffee shop I was overwhelmed by the smell of coffee being roasted and a flood of memories came back - coffee ceremony, macchiatos while rain pounded the tin roof, Abebe, and a million other images. Funny how a smell triggers these intense memories. On another note, saw this editorial on Foreign Policy's website discussing how African countries that don't have oil or other major natural resources may be better off in the long run "Sudden cash flows in unprepared countries, he says, lead to unsustainable public consumption, rising inflation, soaring inequality, trade protectionism, and a real danger of civil war." Ethiopia doesn't have to worry about any major sudden cashflows but they most certainly fit into the ...

It's funny how 5 days in the USA will erase any memory of the world outside of this little bubble. I still find it hard to believe that there aren't beggars on every corner, my house is the size of my hotel, and everyone around me is faranji . The latest news coming from Ethiopia is good, bad, and weird. After sentencing 38 main opposition party leaders to life in prison on monday for their role in inciting election violence in 2005, the government reversed the court's orders and released all 38 convicted ( link ). Continuing their (justifiable) crusade against Ethiopia, the NY Times is running an article about how the gov. is blocking food aid from reaching the rebel region near Somalia - sounds like the famines of the 1970's all over again ( see Mengistu ). Will keep updating on this but things look like they are slowly slipping out of control...hopefully PM Zenawi can right the ship. In news from my fellow americans still in Addis - Meningocele man had succes...

A great last few days and only 1 more to go! Saturday we had Rick's regular saturday clinic. Lots of spine patients (TB and Scoliosis), heart problems (mitral/aortic stenosis/regurg), a case of Dermato Fibrosarcoma Protuberans, and one case of Lympho-Epithelial Carcinoma. Lunch consisted of a fried tortilla filled with lentils (11 cents on the street) and soft-serve ice cream from a fancy italian restaurant near the mission...best ice cream in addis. On the walk home we ducked into a "gym" off the main road. The sign for the gym should have been an omen of what was to come (faded, cartoonish, and nearly hidden), and maybe the treacherous staircase/mud slide down the hill was a warning, but the gym consisted of a shipping-container-sized room full of guys, benches, free weights, and an unspeakable stench. Not interested in embarrasing anyone with the size of my muscles, I kept my shirt on but did notice that the weights used for bench pressing consisted of a metal bar...

Nearly every day someone asks me if I'm sad to be leaving Addis in 4 days, and I always have mixed feelings. One month was a perfect introduction time for getting acquainted with the city. My hesitation lies in the fact that I'm not sure how much of my love for the place is for the place itself, and how much of it is for the mystery that is Ethiopia. It is not easy for a culture to seem as disjointed, inefficient, and quasi-modern and so trying to figure out how it got this way, and how it works at all, is a daily fascination. I have loved my last 4 weeks here but even now, I am unsure how much of it is my love for the city and how much of it is my love for the adventure and the mystery of Ethiopia. I am excited to get home and spend some time just sitting and relaxing and relfecting (and not having to deal with beggars every 10 seconds), but I will miss it here. The pace of life, the kindness of the people, the friends I've made, the exchange rate, and my friends at...

The Jewish Federation mission trip arrived in Ethiopia yesterday. I was lucky enough to be invited to have dinner with them @ the Sheraton Hotel - delcious - and got to reunite with some greensboro folks. Great evening. Also got to tag along while Rick gave a tour of the JDC clinic in Addis; it was my first visit to that clinic. It is a small, well-staffed, clean clinic that is definitely one of the nicer medical facilities I've seen here. They are in a tough spot right now because they are charged with medically evaluating and treating anyone who has an open immigration file with the Israeli Embassy; all of the Falash Mura in Addis have been denied immigration by Israel. But the clinic still treats them and their role in the future is hazy as to whether or not they'll continue to see these people or how they will transition to their new role. It was also interesting to watch the 50+ gathered Ethiopians play their political games - they were all wearing their kippahs when the ...

I've been meaning to write a post on this topic for a while, but it's a daunting subject. Expect revisions to come! To understand the practice of medicine in Ethiopia, you first have to understand the country's condition. My take - Ethiopia has been in the dark for the last 30 years and is now trying to match modern innovations with the old technology/infrastructure. This feeling is prevalent everywhere in the country, from the Mission, to the internet cafes, to the hospitals, and the banks. They build 10 story buildings, but the scaffolding is made from tree branches 20 feet long nailed together, not a single one thicker than my arm, and some as crooked as a question mark; it sways in the wind and it's amazing that it stands up at all. Internet cafes are everywhere with brand new computers, but internet no faster than 40 kbps (slower than old dial-up). Government officials drive brand new Cadillac Escalades but there are holes in the street 2 feet deep. MRI's...