I had my first day at work today and the doctors are all lovely and soooo welcoming! I hope things carry on like this!! (....well not the weather - it is very very rainy - but it does mean that the mountains with the green trees and vegetation is amazing!!)

I went for the "morning meeting" which is where admissions are presented and management plans discussed. Then we went on the rounds - the hospital is so different to what I am used to - we are lucky to live where we are and have the medical care that we do.

There are exams tomorrow so I will be helping with them!! I wonder how they will compare!

...Just had a complete power cut in the cafe while writing this!! Luckily laptop works on battery and I have my "dongle" for internet! however the flies like the bright screen!! - oh - the candles are coming out - it's lovely!!!

I have arrived in Gondar and it is beautiful - it is so green and lush (and therefore there is also a lot of the rain)!! I will take some good piccys and post later in the trip.

Currently waiting in a hotel until they work out where the best place for me to stay is...

I start work tomorrow and am really excited!!!

Here are a few snaps of the airport.

And here is my life for the next 6 months or so!!

In the box is one of the hardest pillows I've ever felt, 2 blankets, an electric stove, a stabiliser and surge protector for when the power goes funny and a few provisions I bought in Addis to keep me going until I gind proper food.

There is also a kerosene stove - must remember to get the correct fuel - neither propane or butane will do apparently!

Ministry of Health

Today (1st August) we were invited to the Federal Ministry of Health Of Ethiopia and had a great talk from Dr Mengistu one of the maternal and paeds health guys there.

It was really really good to find out the background from his point of view. He had been an obs/gynae in Ethiopia but then had traveled and worked around the world  and was now involved with public health as well.
Here is a picture of me getting excited about the guidelines they have here!!

This is the food we are eating every day! It is really great and I love it! The arrow points to injera which is nice - loads of people said that it was not good but I am enjoying it so far!!

Injera is not only a kind of bread—it’s also an eating utensil. 

In Ethiopia and Eritrea, this spongy, sour flatbread is used to scoop up meat and vegetable stews. Injera also lines the tray on which the stews are served, soaking up their juices as the meal progresses. When this edible tablecloth is eaten, the meal is officially over.

Injera is made with teff, a tiny, round grain that flourishes in the highlands of Ethiopia. While teff is very nutritious, it contains practically no gluten. This makes teff ill-suited for making raised bread, however injera still takes advantage of the special properties of yeast. A short period of fermentation gives it an airy, bubbly texture, and also a slightly sour taste.

Ethiopia log: Year = 2005, 23rd day of the 11th Month and every year there is 13 Months of Sunshine!!

Today in the “In Country Training” we had some cultural and language lessons and we learnt some very useful things about the calendar, alphabet, names and times.

Today is the 23^rd Day of the 11^th month and the year is 2005 in Ethiopia.
The Ethiopians use the Julian calendar so each month has 30 days and then there are 5 or 6 extra days...hence 13 months of sunshine! Or so they say  - Today we had thunder and lightning storms for the morning then we saw some sun!

The year is different as the Ethiopians only found out about Christ when he was 7 or 8 years old and so AD for them starts at that point!

Round bottomed letters
In Amharic there are 32 characters and then all of these can have up to 7 derivatives for the different vowel sounds and these all have slightly different ways of writing them depending on whether they have 1 leg, 2 legs, 3 legs or if they are round bottomed letters. So I guess I have a lot of learning to do in Amharic!!

Fiona Roger Brian
There is no such thing as a first name and second name – you have your name and then the next name is that of your father and then if it is a coincidence that there is someone in the room with the same combination you go to your grandfathers name so my name would be Fiona Roger Brian. Then you would not change your name when you are married as why would that change?

I will start work at 2 o’clock in the morning!!!!!
When it is 7am here the Ethiopians actually call that 1 o’clock in the morning as they have a 12 hour day starting in the morning and a 12 hour night. As they are so close to the equator there is little change so it makes perfect sense! Also they do not work when it is dark – but I am not sure that the babies know not to come out when it is dark!

Ready to go!!!

....well almost ready to go! I fly at silly o’clock on Sunday (28^th July) morning. My belongings for the next 6 months are strewn around the flat and are making their way into my case and rucksack. Do I need to take a potato peeler - how easy it is to acquire one of these in Gondar? How many immodium is too many? Have I remembered my cagoule and umbrella? – the weather in Gondar is very, very, very wet with plenty of thunderstorms every day!! (http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/336014 - weather in Gondar).

Things I have learnt....
Don't feed the hippos
http://www.ted.com/talks/ernesto_sirolli_want_to_help_someone_shut_up_and_listen.html

This man is great! A very dry sense of humour about how he "helped" the African nations!

(If you haven’t found TED talks yet then I really recommend them – totally diverse talks which overall are about Spreading Ideas.)


It's not my "project" - I am there to facilitate improvement and change - not take over - when I leave, any improvement or change still needs to endure.
I am likely to see corruption - I think this will be really difficult to deal with but it's all part of the challenge.
I do not want maggots living in my buttocks!! - Therefore I will not dry my clothes under mango trees (I don't know if there are Mango trees where I am going) - apparently the larva drop into your clothes and then when you wear your underclothes the larva find a nice place to rest!! - if you iron your underwear it sorts out the problem!!

So all in all, I think am I am ready! I have heard that Ethiopian people are very friendly and kind and I can’t wait to get there and meet everyone who I will be working and living with!