Addis Ababa

Its been just over a week since I arrived in Addis Ababa. I landed early on Sunday morning (6th March). There was a glorious sunrise over the hills surrounding Addis as I landed. I was met at the airport by one of the orthopaedic surgeons, who drove me to the hospital where I’ve been staying. It was nice to see a friendly face straight off. I mostly spent Sunday settling in and recovering. I’m sharing my accommodation at the hospital with a lovely plastic surgeon from Uganda (Dorothy). Its been nice having some company, particularly in the evenings. We have rooms on site, and share a little kitchen/sitting area.

Monday morning was straight into things. I went on ward round first thing in the morning with the surgeons and met/re-met lots of staff. I had my first patient in the gait lab so hit the ground running (… or walking). The rest of the week was also fairly busy. Saw some more patients, met some more people, did some training. They have plenty for me to do!

Saturday Dorothy and I ventured out to find a supermarket. Some pope or other had died so many of the streets in Addis were shut… making traffic that is chaotic at the best of times, almost impossible, even for our driver who is an Addis local! Eventually we found one – by the time we got there and back the morning was gone.

On Sunday, we went to a local Anglican (St Matthews) church where a couple of the British surgeons go. It was great to get to worship together (in English 🙂 ). They have a new pastor who has recently moved from Leipzig, Germany, where he and his wife had lived for 25 years. I imagine that was a bit of a change!

After church, a couple of the British families, Dorothy and me went to Entoto park where we had lunch and went for a walk. It was so lovely to get out of the crowded, noisy city and enjoy some fresh air – surrounded by gum trees! There were also great views over Addis as the park is up in the hills overlooking Addis.

Today was back to work, and back to seeing patients. This evening we had some excitement. Dorothy had been cooking and set off the smoke alarm…. it didn’t turn off. We had 4 different people, including security guards, come and visit and stand around looking at the alarm, but without really seeming to know what to do about it. They went and more people came. They all assured us it was “no problem no problem”, but given the alarm was sounding in the whole building, including a patient ward, we felt like it probably was a problem! Anyways… it eventually went off by itself, so all good :).