How did I get here?

Our first week back in Addis proved to be an exciting one. On Monday of that week, Mr. Kim, the General Manager of the hospital, told us we were to be ready on Wednesday at 9:15 AM for an appointment  with His Excellency, the Honorable President Girma Wolde-Giorgis, President of Ethiopia. Whoa!! Back in February I was asked to rewrite a letter to the president, requesting he write a foreword to the thirtieth anniversary memory book of the Myungsung Presbyterian Church in Seoul, Korea, the sponsoring church of the Myungsung Christian Medical Center here in Addis. Little did I know then that Mr. and Mrs. Kim would hand deliver that letter to the President.
    On Tuesday evening we were alerted that plans had changed and we were now to be ready to leave at 4:00 PM. We had errands to run that day, but planned to be back with ample time to carefully dress for our first ever appointment with a President of a country. We were returning to the hospital and at 2:30 were almost back when Don received a phone call from Mr. Kim with another change of plans. We were now to be ready to leave at 3:00 PM. So much for leisurely getting ready for this very important visit!
    Thankfully, I had already chosen what to wear. In the rush of getting ready, I pulled the hem thread so that more than half the hem of my skirt was now hanging down. Fortunately, I had safety pins. I couldn’t help but laugh at myself thinking, “Here I go to see the President with five safety pins holding up my hem.” I had forgotten my jacket had a three-quarter sleeve length and the blouse sleeve came to the wrist. I pushed the sleeves up hoping they would stay in place and not work their way out from under the jacket. My hair was standing on end from being out in the wind and my nail polish was chipped. Nothing to do, but go feeling not quite put together as I had planned for our first ever presidential visit.
    We have driven by the highly guarded grounds of the palace many, many times. It covers acres and acres and the foliage is so dense one cannot see the palace. Absolutely no photographs are allowed to be taken from the street and the area is not open for public tours. We entered through a gate in the high walled fence into this seemingly forbidden palace. It was almost too much to take in.  A pastor Mr. Kim knows, is also an aide to the President. He was waiting for us just inside the gate. We were asked to step outside our vehicle, and Mr. Kim and Don were taken to one guard house and Mrs. Kim and I to another.  Our purses were thoroughly searched and anything that was considered questionable was removed and stored in a locker. I decided if we ever returned here I would bring almost nothing with me.
    We were escorted up the winding driveway to a gigantic and imposing building, truly a palace. On either side of the entrance steps are colossal statues, which I recognized as David. One statue features David holding a lamb in one hand and a staff in the other. The opposite statue has David playing a flute and a lamb lying at his feet. The Star of David is symbolic in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Some of the carpets in the palace feature the Star of David woven into the pattern.
    After going through more security we were ushered into a foyer with ceilings that must reach to heaven. Greeting the guests on arrival is a huge tiger skin rug with a very big mouth, opened wide and baring his teeth. To our left was the reception hall, another enormous room with sitting areas leading to the far end where there is a very high backed chair, looking somewhat like a throne, on which the President sits to receive guests on special occasions. One wall featured a very large tapestry of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, two very important figures in the Ethiopian Orthodox church.
    We were led into a very beautiful side room off the foyer, and it was about then that my emotions were getting the better of me. Don and I were invited to sign a thick guest book that looked like it had been in use for quite some time. The book contained the names of kings, queens, presidents, heads of state, ambassadors and other important dignitaries. Don and I were now adding our name to this impressive list of guests. I was overcome and said to Don, “How did I get here? I am a country girl from Hampton, Florida.”
    We were to wait in this lovely room until the President was ready to see us. The pastor, who is an aide, stayed with us and made us feel very much at ease. Mr. and Mrs. Kim had recently been to a dinner at the palace, so this was nothing new for them. After about twenty minutes we were taken to His Excellency’s office. Very large curtained, French doors opened into his private office, which like everything else we had seen, was gigantic. President Giorgis was seated behind a beautifully carved desk, and as we were introduced he extended his hand to us in greeting. We were then invited to sit around a lovely, low table, which had a top fashioned of a rich burl, with the patina of fine old wood. We were told the base was carved from one piece of wood. After some conversation, three men in formal attire came bearing a tray of exquisite bone china cups, with wide gold bands around the tops. We were offered coffee or tea from lovely silver pots, and a tray of cookies was then brought and passed around.
    Mr. Kim asked that during our visit Don speak to the President of the continuing vision of the Korean hospital and its goal of improving medical care, specifically in the area of Orthopaedics. Don spoke of the effort of MCM hospital to partner with Black Lion, the government hospital, in establishing a residency program, training young Ethiopian doctors who will be able to bring quality Orthopaedic care to the people of Ethiopia. He did a very good job relating this information and I think the President is grateful for MCM and its ministry.
    We found the President to be extremely charming and gracious, probably knowing more about American history than we do. He has spent some time in the states. He is a devotee of Thomas Jefferson, having visited Monticello ten times! On a visit to Texas, the governor gave him a Stetson hat and a pair of boots, which I understand he wears quite frequently. He autographed a picture for us, in which he is wearing his Stetson.
    After an hour long visit we determined it was time to go, but before we left, Mr. Kim requested we be allowed to visit the lion cage. We walked up a short distance from the palace where two very large Abyssinian or black lions were lying. This species of lion has a beautiful, black-tipped mane. We found them sleeping, but they awakened as we approached, looked at us, and opened their enormous mouths, not to roar, but to yawn. We were told these lions are descendants from the family of lions that were kept by Emperor Haile Selassee.

    The office of the President is largely symbolic, but yet extremely important. He attends to state business, receives many heads of states and is often seen at important functions. He is elected by Parliament. The power of the nation rests largely in the office of Prime Minister. National elections will be held this year on May 23, and the incumbent Prime Minister will once again be seeking office.
    It was an incredible experience and hard not to be awed by the surroundings of the palace and by His Excellency, the Honorable President Grima Wolde-Giorgis, and the position he holds. It is my guess the President is a very approachable official, but nevertheless, the question remained with me, “How did I get here?”

-- Barb

Return to Addis

We arrived back in Addis on the evening of April 3, the night before Easter Sunday. What a wonderful welcome from six of our friends and a driver! We retrieved our bags and with the help of a friend sailed through customs with no problems. This doesn’t always happen so we felt very fortunate.

    Mr. Kim is a New York Yankees fan. He was happy to receive some softball equipment I bought at a second-hand store in Orlando.
    Our friends, Dr. John and Suzy Heinbockle, and their children Lewis and Rachel, arrived a few hours after we did. Don and I finally got into bed about 2:00 AM. We all were up on Sunday morning in time to attend the Easter service at the International Evangelical Church. We took the Heinbockles to the Hilton for a lovely poolside, Easter Brunch, and were entertained by traditional Ethiopian music and dance. We made a short grocery store run and then returned to our apartments to crash.
    Suzy and children stayed a week and then went back to the States for the kids to begin school following their spring break. John stayed on another week, working in the hospital. John renewed friendship with Dr. Laura Fitzpatrick at a dinner at Antica restaurant and did some work with her project of training nurse anesthetists. We enjoyed having John around, eating meals with us, and relating the day’s happenings. He was a tremendous help to Don, not only in the operating room, but in helping to sort and inventory Orthopaedic  equipment and instruments that were stored away in a warehouse.
    We had a very busy first week back in Addis. Between our schedules and the Heinbockle visit, we were able to transition back into life here. We had a wonderful few weeks in Orlando seeing our family and friends, but each time we leave it is very hard to say goodbye. However, we do love being in Addis and were happy to return to work and our friends here who make us feel such a part of the community. (See slideshow in sidebar.)

-- Barb

Guests

Al and Shari Newman from Portland, Oregon, spent two weeks with us.  Al is in a large orthopaedic group in Oregon and formerly headed up a sports medicine department at Utah.  Shari is in real estate and is an accomplished photographer. There was no shortage of subject matter around this place!  Al served us well with his expertise in general orthopaedics and was able to do our first arthroscopy of the knee. Al helped us with our new Sign nails, as well as with out- patient care. He also brought us some much needed arthroscopy equipment. They got around the town exploring and out of the city to see some historic sites. We all enjoyed having them with us and their contribution to MCM, and we look forward to their return to our campus in the future.
    Josh Langford and Brad Cantrell, his brother-in-law, arrived February 10. Josh is a young trauma surgeon from Orlando, Florida. He does a lot of pelvic and acetabular fractures and does a great deal of work in limb salvage. We had a case waiting for him. The patient had a road trauma accident a year ago and was advised amputation. He refused and after long surgeries and skin grafting, Josh did a bone transport using Taylor frames. He also helped with some other complicated cases salvaging the extremity as well as general trauma. When he wasn’t working, the Norwegian neurosurgeons took them mountain climbing. It took him 3 days to recover! Brad attends the University of North Florida and enjoys astronomy. I learned about a lot of things over my head I never dreamed about!
    The day after Josh and Brad arrived, Stan Topple and his wife Mia arrived from North Carolina. Their plane was to arrive from Istanbul, at 1:30 AM but was delayed till 3:30 (I slept in the car in the parking lot!). At this point we had four American Orthopaedic Surgeons on campus at one time. It was a historic moment.
    Stan was a missionary orthopaedic surgeon to South Korea for 22 years. He met Mia there as she was a missionary dermatologist from Norway. He says that together they are “skin and bones!" They are fluent in Korean, which thrills the Korean staff. They also spent many years in Kenya, serving Eastern Africa. Stan’s extensive experience, wisdom and gentle manner have been an inspiration to us. We would like to keep them, but they are headed to Australia before returning to Montreat, NC.
    Al and Shari, Josh and Brad, and Stan and Mia have been an enormous boost to the orthopaedic project at MCM. Before them Em and Glen Barden endeared themselves to us here. All in all we have made some significant strides in this short time. They all visited and lectured the staff and residents at Black Lion. They helped establish a meaningful line of communication with Dr. Woubellem and her staff at Black Lion. As a result of these combined efforts we will be a part of the University of Addis Ababa teaching program of orthopaedic residents and will have the residents on site this spring.
    Our new CT scanner was installed and inaugurated this week as well as our new C-arm in the OR. Construction has started on the new intensive care unit. We have been given the go-ahead for a dedicated orthopaedic suite with staff  in the surgical theater! Trauma patients will no longer be delayed. Each of the visiting consultants has had a part in these noteworthy changes. Many, many thank--now you must consider a longer commitment to teach these young Ethiopians.
    Dr. Dan Vestal (Coordinator Cooperative Baptist Fellowship) and Becky Smith (consultant) are in country now with David Harding, Ben and Kelly Taylor of Water is Life's well-drilling project--to bring clean potable water to under-served areas. They have spent several days with us and explored developing relationships in  the U.S. to further our orthopaedic project. They will return to Addis Ababa to wrap up their visit.
    We moved into our new apartment several weeks ago. The building is new and there are a lot of rough spots that had to be resolved (no power, no water, no internet, plumbing leaks). The internet has been down 80-90% of the time and this makes communicating difficult. However, slowly most of these things are being resolved and Barbara is enjoying a complete kitchen. Of course we brought her little Italian oven with us from the old guest house and she’s happy about that. Decorating and getting new furniture has been fun as well as time consuming.
    Barbara and I leave next Saturday morning (2:30 AM) for the states. I will attend the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons annual meeting in New Orleans, and do some chores at home before returning to Addis Ababa, around the first of April.
    (See slideshow in the sidebar. Also, see the Links section near the bottom of the sidebar.)

-- Don

Follow-up on Child with Ischemic Contracture (Jan. 13 Post)

Dr. Barden operated on the little girl's arm, releasing the scar tissue. She now has much improved position of her hand and fingers. As healing occurs, she will then be able to stretch her hand, and we anticipate almost normal range of motion.

-- Don

Em & Glen Barden

Em and Glen Barden left on KLM for Amsterdam last night. They should be in the states heading to their home in Lakeland, Florida, as I write. They spent two weeks with us here in Addis Ababa at the Korean hospital. Glen is a hand surgeon, and it took a week before we got into any hand surgery, but when we did Glen did some fine stuff. Unexpectedly the first week was a course for Sign Nail certification followed by the Ethiopian Society of Orthopaedics & Traumatology 4th annual meeting at the Ghion Hotel. Glen, Dr. Hailu, and I attended and made many new friends. Em shared her experiences and strengths. Their gentle and sweet personalities endeared them to the staff, patients, and the many new international friends. We thank them for giving of their time and sharing of their experiences and hopes with us, and we all would gladly welcome them back in the future. (See slideshow in sidebar.)

-- Don

Timkat, January 19

Timkat is the celebration of Epiphany in Ethiopia. It is big national holiday, and thousands fill the churches, Meskel Square, and other sites around Addis. Mid-morning we took a taxi to Janmeda, a large military training field on the northern side of the city. There were thousands streaming into the grounds. For the most part, the men, women, and children were dressed in their fancy white clothes. Sermons were preached, followed by parading the Ark of the Covenant replicas under colorful large umbrellas. Masses of people were in this field, milling about with their families and friends. It was a time of celebration.
    Em, Glen, Barbara and I left to reconnect with our taxi driver; he never responded as a recording on his cell indicated he had turned his phone off. Not surprising as this is common when they don’t want to be bothered. We hired another taxi, and Mr. Lee from MCM picked us up at Friendship Shopping Center and took us to the Rainbow Korean Restaurant. I saw Mrs. Park, the restaurant proprietor in the clinic the other day, and she had invited us to her restaurant. It was down some unpaved side streets, lined with vegetable and fruit stands, a surprising bustling area of agricultural products, and tucked in there was this cozy, delightful restaurant. We were joined by Mr.& Mrs. Kim, the Koning twins and Einar. The food was magnificent. We will certainly be back. This meal was a “thank you” by Mrs. Park for attending to her medical needs. And Thank You Mrs.Park for the wonderful meal! (See slideshow in sidebar.)

-- Don

Excursion to Wenchi Crater Lake, January 17

A last minute phone call put the Bardens and ourselves in one of two SUVs. Sven Kiplisund and Joey Johnson joined us, with Einar driving and Peer, Gru, and the Koning twins, 11 adventurers in all. We headed to Ambo, 110 kilometers from Addis, with decent paved roads. We stopped at a restaurant for coffee and then arrived at the Wenchi Crater Lake in early afternoon. We had to stop and tend to one of the cars when it overheated at the high altitude. This is Oromo tribal country, and our Amharic speakers could not communicate verbally. We parked and climbed up 50 or so meters to reach the rim of the crater. As we peered over the rim with each ascending step, it was breath-taking to look down into the crater and see the lake with islands in miniature from this height. It had an ethereal feeling in the stillness of the afternoon. The paths around us were flush with fragrant wild oregano. It was well worth the lengthy drive for these moments of visual and olfactory stimulation.
    Our car had cooled and decided to behave for the time being. We loaded up and drove on unpaved roads without incident to Negash Lodge in Wolliso. The road was under construction, and we had to wind through some unpaved and rough village streets, but then came upon this inviting lodge compound with bougainvillea and other horticultural delights. We had an incredible lunch on the veranda and then headed for home. The second car just went dead about 50 kilometers from Addis, in a small village. The mechanically minded members of our group could not diagnose the problem nor could anyone get the beast to advance one meter further. Villagers came from everywhere and were perplexed to see our men pushing the car to the side of the road (that’s a woman’s job!). After some discussion with the village elders, the car was left, and all 11 of us piled into the remaining car! It was cozy and cramped, but we were all happy to have had a wonderful day of sightseeing and adventure and were joyous of a safe return home together. (See slideshow in sidebar.)

-- Don

Mobile Clinic Day

Saturday the 16th was designated as mobile clinic day. Seven doctors (neurosurgeons, orthopaedists, vascular surgeons, etc.) participated, along with many nurses and non-medical people, including translators. A bus picked us up at the guest house, drove for about 45 minutes to the periphery of the city, and deposited us at a local church in a poor neighborhood. The church house was a rather large structure built out of mud with a tin roof and gravel-rock floor. Tables, each with a bare-bulb lamp, were set up around the periphery of the interior. It was quite dark in the building as there were no windows. Some of our group would triage the patients outside, and a hostess would direct them to the docs at the various tables. We saw over 400 patients and prescribed medications after the most primitive of diagnostic techniques. These were poor people with no financial means to obtain medical care. I gained a new perspective on the patients in this doctor/patients relationship. These folks were struggling to survive from one day to the next. They didn’t ask for my medical credentials or certifications. In their world, that was a meaningless abstraction. To these folks the important thing was that someone was there to care for them, whether it met the “standard of care” or not. They were appreciative. It was a tiring day. Reflecting on the bus ride home I had a feeling of disappointment in that we did not provide the latest and best diagnostic and therapeutic medicine; however, I was reaffirmed knowing this group of volunteers had offered the fundamental tenet of medicine, that of comforting and caring for your patient and fellow man. (See slideshow in sidebar.)

-- Don

Settled In

We are settled in our old apartment, again. Barbara has made it cozy with her personal touches and has been using her little Italian oven. Last night she had a dinner party for five with candlelight and a wonderfully prepared “home cooking” meal. It was a delicious meatloaf. Someone (Laura Fitzpatrick) asked if she brought the meat with her from home! Can’t you see Barbara going through security at the airport with a pig under her left arm and a turkey under her right arm!
    Em and Glen Barden arrived on the 9th. They are from Lakeland, and Glen is a hand surgeon who teaches at the University of South Florida. He has seen some interesting cases; for example, a four year-old girl who fractured her forearm several months ago, and the family took her to a local bone healer who wrapped her arm with sticks and banana leaves. The circulation was cut off to her hand and she now has a Volkman’s ischemic contracture. The wrist and hand are flexed, and she cannot open her hand to hold anything. It is useless. Glen will operate on her next week. We are thankful that he and Em have come to share when there is such need as this.
    We received our Sign nails, and all is in order. My colleague, Dr. Hailu, registered Dr. Barden, me, and himself for a Sign conference at Black Lion hospital led by Dr.Yiheyis. We have been there daily, and the next few days we’ll be at the annual meeting of the Ethiopian Orthopaedic Society here at the Ghion hotel. This is not what I had planned for Glen, but he’s a trooper and enjoys meeting new friends from a different culture. Em and Barbara have made their contributions in non-medical ways.
    Dr Richard Koenig (surgeon) from Portland, Oregon, came with a bundle of supplies, and his twin brother from Holland arrived last night. They have been very supportive of the mission work here. They have arranged for the mobile-clinic vehicle to go out this Saturday to a rural area where Glen, myself and our wives signed up to spend 10 hours seeing 500-700 patients! I’ll report on that next week--after I recover!

-- Don

Journey Back to Addis Ababa, January 6, 2010

As readers may have noticed from our Christmas Newsletter post, we returned to our home in Orlando for a few weeks to enjoy the holidays with our children and spend time with our friends.
    Our journey back to Addis Ababa began at 4:30 AM, January 6, as we left our Orlando home for the airport. We were having unseasonably cold weather for Orlando, temperature about 31 F, which made for a very frosty send off. Our friends, Dr. Tom Allerton and Jake Dominey came to help us get to the airport. Kim, our daughter, came to see us. She brought her van over the night before, and we loaded our four pieces of luggage and two large boxes we were asked to bring. With the van and the car we were off to the airport.
    We were concerned about the amount of luggage we had as we were certainly over the limit and were expecting to pay $600 for extra luggage. The organization sending the boxes had given us a check to cover the anticipated fees. A skycap helped us unload, and Don told him why we were going to Ethiopia; he asked us to wait outside while he got his supervisor. Shortly, the supervisor appeared and asked for our passports and tickets. He left us standing in the cold morning air while he went to speak with a manager about our mission. After some time he returned and said the fees had been waived, tagged our luggage, gave us our boarding passes and gate number; we could hardly believe our miracle. The lines inside were exceedingly long, so we were most fortunate for a curbside check in. The security lines were also long, but we moved quickly through and now had a two-hour wait for our 8:00 AM departure. We had no complaints, however, as we were grateful for the ease with which we were able to check in.
    Our next good fortune came at O’Hare airport in Chicago when I asked for boarding passes for the Frankfort to Addis leg of the trip. I was given those passes and then handed two more. Not knowing why, I asked, “What are these for?”, and was told we were being bumped up to business class!! He got no arguments from me!! Don could hardly believe it when I told him what had happened. It was a wonderful flight, and as this was the longest part of the journey, we enjoyed the great seats and service.
    Our journey from Frankfort got off to a late start. We had to wait in the airplane for over an hour for a tour group that arrived late for their connecting flight. They came on board and after some time the captain told us we were now waiting for a gentleman to leave the plane who had decided he didn’t want to take this flight, and his checked baggage had to be located and off-loaded. This was a bit unsettling as I wondered if this passenger knew something the rest of us did not. With such heightened security I was hoping the flight attendants would really search around where he had been seated. At this point the entire plane load could have gladly given him a piece of their minds.
    Because of our late departure from Frankfort we arrived in Addis over an hour late. Our luggage was very slow being unloaded, and after about 45 minutes our last three pieces appeared. Now to get through customs. All our baggage was required to through the security machines and the piece with medical equipment opened. Don had to leave that at the airport, and Mr. Kim, the hospital administrator who came to meet us, said someone from the hospital would retrieve it later. We certainly hope so as it is wonderful equipment.
    It was good to see Mr. Kim and others who came to help us with transportation. They were a very welcome sight; I was once again reminded of how kind everyone has been to us. Soon after we arrived in our apartment, others began to come to offer greetings and gifts of food. These gestures were special touches, especially since we were leaving some very dear ones back in Florida. It was so wonderful to be home and visit with family and friends, but so hard to say goodbye again.
    And if I needed any more reassurance about coming back to Addis, I received it on Wednesday morning, Christmas Day in Addis. Jeeon, the eight year-old next door, knocked on our door about 9:00 AM and gave me such a huge hug and began to jump up and down in our little hallway. I have never been greeted with such excitement that would cause someone to jump up and down. She certainly “made my day.” Her sister, Heeon, soon joined us and juice and peanut butter crackers were offered, followed by Jeeon reading me a book. I was really tired with jet lag, but these little girls helped brighten my day and gave me some renewed energy to tackle unpacking and reorganizing our apartment.
    Lunch time in the dining room brought more special greetings from Korean hospital staff and the Ethiopian ladies who help prepare our food. After lunch, Mr. Kim took us to see the new apartments, but we think it will be sometime before they are ready to move in. The Internet connection is not installed, appliances aren’t in place, and the closet has no bars for hanging clothes. We are quite fine and comfortable in our present apartment, so are happy to wait until all is ready.
    In the evening Mr. Kim took us for a quick trip to the grocery store and then to get pizza and soup. A good ending to our first day back in Addis, January 7, Christmas Day for the Ethiopians. (See slideshow in sidebar.)

-- Barb