The Little I've learned So Far

As I have written in other posts, I am continually amazed at how strong and supportive communities appear to be here.  Just last night Daniel told me about a young child that was brought in after being bitten by a baboon. I haven’t seen any baboons around our area so I asked where they came from.  Turns out they were from Angola, nothing less then a twelve hour walk.  So what means is that about twenty or so friends and family members made a stretcher and took turns carrying this kid up and down windey roads, barefoot, without water, Powerbars, Gatoraid, or really anything that you or I would bring on even a leisurely hike.  Just to give you a sense of how difficult this must have been, when we went to this area for outreach there were points where I wasn’t sure our “super-duper can get over anything tank” Landcruiser would make it. 

So why I am telling you all this? 
Unfortunately I found out recently that someone in my family was diagnosed with a pretty rare tumor.  At first they thought it was in the lung which would require opening up the chest to remove it but after a second opinoin it was actually found to be on the pericardium. A tumor on the pericardium is extremely rare, so much so that they have no idea what the chances are of it being benign or malignant. On the flip side, it means that the surgery no longer involves opening the chest (which is pretty invasive and difficult) but can be done thropscopically, which allows for a much easier recovery.  

Obviously being a zillion miles, time zones and without good cell or internet connection makes this a pretty difficult situation. I can’t be at the doctor’s appointments or able to give good moral support.  At the most recent appointment with a highly respected surgen he said that because the surgery no longer requires opening the chest it wasn’t necessary for family to come in from overseas.  No, this would be routine, in and out in a day or two with a recovery time of up to two weeks. And as it goes in the US, If she needs some help afterwards making food, getting to a follow-up appointment, filling a prescription.....well, hiring someone is always a possibility. 

Perhaps being here for four months has had a stronger impact on me then I first thought because his response seems just absurd to me.  At our clinic when we transport patients to bigger hospital we have to fight with families because they all want to come with.  I’ve seen patient’s families wait patiently for days and weeks by their loved one’s bed with little more to do then stare at the walls (no wifi, tvs or magazines in these parts).  When a patient needs to go to a bigger hospital we make sure they have enough money to pay the hospital fee and get transportation home, which can be no less then a year’s income.  I’ve seen people tell us there is no way they can come up with that amount of money, and somehow their community is able to come together to sell a cow or collect from one another the necessary amount.  

Everyone said that coming here would be a great learning experience and I can’t help but feel like I am being given the ultimate test right now.  Yes, I can listen to this doctor and tell myself that its not worth coming home.  The money, the time, the inconvenience--- all add up to being there not worth it I suppose for him.  If I go home, it will mostly likely mean we can’t go on the trip to Tanzania we were hoping to, my work plan will have to be adjusted and people at the clinic will all have to pitch in to fill in for my absence.  Are these the types of things the doctor was thinking about when we said returning was not necessary? Maybe its more that he only thinks of the physical surgery and nothing else.... not the emotional side that comes with being sick.  I feel confident that the surgery will be fine, but what about everything else?  Don’t people need their family to help them through the scared feelings, the worry, the anxiety?

I can’t help but think about the different things here that might seem so absurd to people back home; from having chickens living in your house to the necessity of collecting firewood in order to cook dinner. And yet I think what this doctor is suggesting would be equally shocking to my friends and colleagues here.  Not being with your loved one in a time of need like this and paying someone else to help them....I just don’t think people would even be able to fathum this as being a possibility.   When someone is sick, everyone pitches in. 

While being here had taught me a lot about public health, malnutrition, driving a stick shift, etc. I think the biggest lesson I have learned is that you should do anything and everything for your family and friends...that you should treat people the way you want to be treated.  If it was me I would  want everyone to drop what they were doing, put off vacations, reschedule meetings and be by my side. So contrary to what this doc said, I will be coming home to be with my mom while she watches tv and runs errands(anything really to keep her mind off of this) leading up to the big day, be waiting in the hospital while the surgery is taking place, have her favorite meal ready for her when she wakes up and make sure she has all she needs when she goes home.  It’s funny that we often think as the developing world as being “behind” and yet in a situation like this they seem to make us look like we have it all backwards.   

Africa Is Not A Country

When I first thought about coming to Ethiopia I expected a dry, brown, sad place where life was difficult and hard and anything but enjoyable.  I would venture to guess that when most people think about Africa there is little positive that comes to mind.  From movies, magazines, newspaper articles and books, I have found there is little positive said about this large and diverse continent (which is often lumped into one place, “Africa”, and rarely its individual countries).  Daniel is in the middle of one of these books, where the only things discussed are how terrible everything is here-- the corruption, the poverty, how NGO’s have destroyed people’s work ethic, the spread of HIV, etc. 

I can’t help but think back to an assignment I was given in graduate school to do a community needs assessment of the Delray neighborhood in Detroit.  My professor wisely told us that we were to look at the area’s strengths--not to focus only on the problems.  As those of you who are familiar with Detroit know, it would have been very easy--and most likely what we would have done. Only focus on the bad....the run down houses, the boarded up buildings, the liquor stores and miss what positive things were very much there but easily overlooked when going in with a negative mindset, the houses with beautiful gardens, the churches, an active community center, etc.  

While I am sure that all the bad things people write about and highlight in movies about Africa are true for some people, it is for sure not the case for everyone.  Where we are in Chiri, I am often times jealous of the life that people have here.  Children grow up in green, lush mountains able to run around and play without worries, families are unbelievably close, people will go to great lengths to help others (even if it means carrying a neighbor who is in labor on a stretcher up mountain roads for up to eight hours in order to get to a doctor), because no one has a car people walk everywhere giving them ample opportunity to spend time with friends and family, there isn’t the constant advertising of products and things that can make you feel like you never have enough...the list could go on but I think you get my point.  Of course there are a lot of hardships that come with living in a developing country like Ethiopia-- the chances of dying from a treatable illness is huge, people don’t have a ton of opportunities for a meaningful career, most people can’t turn on the tap to get water or have a stove to cook.

While I realize no situation is black and white and that neither place is better then the other, I can say without a doubt in my mind that Ethiopia is an engaging country with beautiful, happy and generous people which turns any assumptions about what “Africa” is on it’s head.  I just wish there were more journalists and filmmakers that saw the other side that exists here.  I wish there were articles about the families who sit by their loved ones beds and bring them food for days on end while at the clinic, or the parents who carry their children for hours, and even days in some cases, when they are malnourished.  I wish there were movies about the many families who are surviving just fine working their fields and don’t rely on food aid.  I wish there were NY Times articles about people who work hard, go to college and work in places like our clinic helping their community.  I wish there were films that conveyed how green and mountainous and lush this country is.  I wish the news told the story of the men and women who are entrepreneurs who are growing towns like Chiri.  

What I really wish is that you could see all this for yourself....I don't think that this blog can give justice to all that I have seen and felt in just the short time I have been here.  I do wonder though why this is the case....is there something we get out of labeling places like Ethiopia as poor and in need of saving?  Why don't we hear more about all that is positive here? 

(If you are wondering where the title to this blog comes from, a classmate in social work school wore a button with “AFRICA IS NOT A COUNTRY” which really amused me)