Ethiopia day 4
Our fourth day in Ethiopia was a Sunday. We awoke and had another wonderful breakfast and were then taken to the International Church by Abel (whose shoulder was still hurt and who still promised us he was going to go to the doctor that day). We were blessed again to worship with believers from around the world that morning and met a number of interesting people after the service. Following the service, Abel took us to the market so that we could shop for souvenirs (still in obvious pain, but with his ever-present smile as he patiently waited for everyone to finish shopping). Abel encouraged us to haggle with the shop owners. The best negotiator by far was Noelle. My favorite quote: "I love to shop! If you give me a good price, I will come back here and buy more."
We returned to the guest house for a traditional lunch of injera and wat. Shortly after lunch, we received the news that the child of Jay and Noelle had made it to Addis Ababa and was ready to be admitted to the hospital. Brandi, Chris (the other pediatrician with us), and I joined Jay and Noelle for the trip to the hospital. Along the way, we picked up the social worker from Bethany. We continued toward the hospital and then pulled over after the driver and social worker said they saw the baby and the orphanage workers. It turns out that the person who drove them from the orphanage in the south had agreed to get them to Addis, so he let them out (in the median of a 4 lane highway!) once he got into the city. The orphanage director, the nanny, and the baby crossed the street and hopped into the van with us to ride the rest of the way to the hospital.
We arrived at the hospital and were quite quickly taken upstairs to a "private" room (Privacy in Africa is not the same as privacy in the U.S. We had several people spend time in the hospital room who were either random strangers or who really had no good reason to be in the room). The admissions process was tremendously more efficient that an admission here in the U.S. Once the child was checked in, we waited for the pediatrician to arrive after church. Chris and I were able to take a peek at the child and share our thoughts with Jay and Noelle. Hopefully we were able to give some reassurance.
I will not include any medical details, but I will make a few observations. First, it really is a luxury to have a private room, even if it is not always private. When we were in Kenya, there would be 8 beds in some of the rooms with each bed being shared by a child AND his/her mother. There was no privacy at all in those rooms. Second, I felt like the pediatrician was very good and that the child was in good hands. Third, you could tell that the nanny really cared for the child. As a parent who is adopting, it is a great relief to know that the people caring for your child before you adopt them are truly caring for your child.
We returned to the guest house and had a tasty spaghetti dinner. I composed a letter after dinner to the U.S. Embassy in hopes of being able to help expedite the rest of the adoption process for Jay and Noelle. My plan was to print it at the Bethany office on Monday and sign it, so they would have a physician letter in hand when they went to embassy. More on that in my next post. After finishing the letter, we headed up to our room to start packing, since we would be leaving the next day. Our time in Ethiopia was drawing to a close, but our day in court would have to happen first.
Our fourth day in Ethiopia was a Sunday. We awoke and had another wonderful breakfast and were then taken to the International Church by Abel (whose shoulder was still hurt and who still promised us he was going to go to the doctor that day). We were blessed again to worship with believers from around the world that morning and met a number of interesting people after the service. Following the service, Abel took us to the market so that we could shop for souvenirs (still in obvious pain, but with his ever-present smile as he patiently waited for everyone to finish shopping). Abel encouraged us to haggle with the shop owners. The best negotiator by far was Noelle. My favorite quote: "I love to shop! If you give me a good price, I will come back here and buy more."
We returned to the guest house for a traditional lunch of injera and wat. Shortly after lunch, we received the news that the child of Jay and Noelle had made it to Addis Ababa and was ready to be admitted to the hospital. Brandi, Chris (the other pediatrician with us), and I joined Jay and Noelle for the trip to the hospital. Along the way, we picked up the social worker from Bethany. We continued toward the hospital and then pulled over after the driver and social worker said they saw the baby and the orphanage workers. It turns out that the person who drove them from the orphanage in the south had agreed to get them to Addis, so he let them out (in the median of a 4 lane highway!) once he got into the city. The orphanage director, the nanny, and the baby crossed the street and hopped into the van with us to ride the rest of the way to the hospital.
 |
| The hospital is the building on the right |
 |
| The gate to the hospital |
 |
| What you do when you don't have a stethoscope. |
We returned to the guest house and had a tasty spaghetti dinner. I composed a letter after dinner to the U.S. Embassy in hopes of being able to help expedite the rest of the adoption process for Jay and Noelle. My plan was to print it at the Bethany office on Monday and sign it, so they would have a physician letter in hand when they went to embassy. More on that in my next post. After finishing the letter, we headed up to our room to start packing, since we would be leaving the next day. Our time in Ethiopia was drawing to a close, but our day in court would have to happen first.
No comments:
Post a Comment