Ethiopia: WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY

Title – WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY

Hey Everyone!

Sorry it took me so long to write! As you could guess, the internet has been pretty unreliable here. But I am safe and sound and Africa is pretty amazing. Here is the story so far…

Monday was a long travel day. First we flew to DC and had a 5 hour layover. Then we got on Ethiopian Airlines and settled in for our 15 hour flight. The flight is so long that we had to make a fuel stop in Rome. But, we weren’t allowed off the plane for an hour! The airline was pretty basic but it really didn’t matter because all I wanted to do was sleep! We finally arrived in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa at 8pm and then had to get our visas, get through customs (with drugs and needles!) and then get a ride to the hotel. We had a quick dinner bite and then hit the sack. Needless to say, I couldn’t sleep since I had been sleeping off and on for the last 24 hours.

But, we had to be up at 6am for our first clinic in a suburb of Addis Ababa. Since I was the team pharmacist and had yet to set my eyes on the drugs, I was anxious to get started. It took us about 2 hours to get the pharmacy set up, organized and drugs labeled then we were off and running. We say over 400 patients on our first day. The kids were absolutely adorable and thankful for all our help. There is so much need here that it is hard to put in words. The conditions in the city are beyond our comprehension. But the people are so nice and appreciative and helpful. I have been working with a local pharmacist to help with some of the translation and she is wonderful. Amharic is the local language and is a derivitive of Italian and some strange African language.

Today we had another clinic in the same spot and we saw over 500 (yes, 500) patients, some very sick and some very curious. Tomorrow we are headed north to a city called Bahir Dar so I will have more stories soon. (My internet is giving me trouble so I need to call this one quits.)

I am safe and doing well so don’t worry. I miss you all and promise to write again soon.

Love, Michelle