31st December 2011

Happy New year to you all.
We are having lots of trouble posting blogs from here and I am wondering whether the Ethiopian government have put a block on blogging sites - trying to work out what the problem is but with little success. Keep reading; we will be back soon and hopefully with lots of pictures, which are currently not uploading. 

29th December 2011

Ahhhha Maisy has just laid an egg in a cardboard box on the veranda. So some semblance of normality is returning to our ever growing household. Abdi is here this morning doing his homework and so I fed him some porridge and gave him a mug of hot chocolate. I would have helped him with his homework but he’s doing Oromo and the story is all about Gorillas in Tanzania – words I am really not so familiar with. He goes to school at 12.30 so I will make him a boiled egg sandwich before he goes.

28th December 2011

I was out at a health post near Homa today and had a very busy morning seeing 18 pregnant women. Most women were fine, although very few actually knew when the baby was due and so I spent a lot of time measuring the baby’s head circumference and giving them an idea of when they were due to deliver. I guess this is helpful for them in that they can perhaps plan the delivery a bit more. Mind you, I don’t think a great deal of planning goes on here; it’s all a matter of deal with it when it happens. After I scanned one woman who was 38 weeks pregnant, she produced 20 chicken eggs and asked if I wanted to buy them. Since our chickens are refusing to lay any eggs at the moment – or they are laying them and eating them – I took the eggs and paid her 25 Birr (£1).

Back at Gimbie, I visited the various babies and found there was an addition to the ‘cheese counter’; a small and rather battered 32 week breech baby that had just been born. There weren’t any nasogastric tubes on the ward and so we had to scavenge around in the Maternity worldwide store cupboard where there was a small stock of donated tubes. It was lovely to see that the nurse looking after the baby had got her warm, wrapped in a sheet and was also happy to insert the NG tube AND knew that she should give 10% dextrose. Considering what was happening 3 months ago when we first came here, this is enormous progress. I don’t know if their experience with Jaba – ie the fact that they can see that these small babies survive if looked after properly – has helped to improve things but I like to think so.

We were just settling down for a quiet evening with a nice plate of bean stew when Roza called (the family planning nurse) on her way back from church. So we shared the bean stew, which was pretty easy actually as there’s always much more than anyone could ever want to eat. To be fair, it was quite a nice bean stew…..or maybe I’m getting used to it. The Roza asked if she could have some help writing an email to Heidi. No problem, I said. It soon became apparent that this was a much larger task than I had thought. First I had to set her up with a Gmail account and then I had to spell out all of the 16 words that she wanted to write. ‘It is not so easy?’ She pointed out after we had spent over an hour composing the very short email to Heidi. So Heidi, I hope you appreciate her efforts!

The final task for the day was to roast the coffee beans that we had painstakingly been preparing over the past 5 or 6 days. Having peeled the fleshy outer covering, they were dried in the sun for a few days. Then the next harder covering was removed (whilst watching an episode of the mentalist – it’s a very dull task), then the beans were washed and roasted ready for consumption tomorrow.

27th December 2011

It was all excitement at Homa health centre this morning. I was scanning a pregnant woman who had woken up with a bit of back pain this morning and was struggling to find the head as it was really low. All of a sudden she started pushing and the membranes ruptured with such a force that the entire examination couch and wall were soaked. We got a few men to come and take her to the delivery room and within 30 minutes delivered her baby girl. As you might imagine her mother and husband were convinced that it was my scanning her that had brought such a quick delivery and so they were very grateful for this.

I then got back to the queue of women waiting for their scans, only to find that the next woman was 40 weeks gestation, the baby was transverse (baby lying across rather than head down), it was her first baby, she was 140cm in height, and there was less than 2cm of liquor around the baby suggesting that at some point her membranes had ruptured (unbeknown to her). So I told her and her family that they needed to get to the hospital where she would need to have a caesarean section. They were reluctant and certainly unprepared to go to hospital as she had only come to the health centre for a scan as a message had gone around that I was scanning women today. Indeed, this was the first time that the woman had ever attended the health centre, having never had any antenatal advice and so I think she really didn’t understand what was happening when her membranes ruptured. Actually, I’m not sure that she understood that her baby was due to be born. After some persuasion, however, and convincing her that she really would not be able to deliver the baby at home or in the health centre, her family set out to catch the bus to Gimbie. I then telephoned Jeremy and told him to expect her in a couple of hours and returned to the queue of women.

When I returned to the hospital that afternoon, the woman I sent to Gimbie was just recovering from her caesarean section and both mother and the baby boy were doing well. So this is a very good example of how ultrasound scanning can actually change things. This woman would not have come to the health centre without the offer of a scan. She would not have been able to deliver the baby safely without a caesarean section and it is highly likely that both mother and baby would have not survived to tell the tale. What I am hoping is that the family will report this to the community – this is how word gets around here and so a positive story told by those involved is the best way to bring about change. The woman looked rather stunned by all that had happened to her – she is only 18 and really doesn’t seem very confident with her new role as mother. Her father, however, is staying with her and he is extremely grateful that she has come to Gimbie and I am pretty sure that he realises what could have happened to her. He held my hands in gratitude, repeating ‘galatouma, galatouma’ (thank you, thank you) and then smiles with relief that his daughter and grandchild are safe. I gave the baby some clothes and a blanket as the mother really didn’t have anything to wrap him up in.

26th December 2011

Jaba seems to be a bit out of sorts today – I think he has a cold; or as they say here ‘the common cold’. Not sure what the uncommon cold is. I guess he’ll be OK but the problem is that it’s survival of the fittest and so the unfit don’t have a chance.

Both Jeremy and I worked much of today – it’s not a bank holiday here and so just an ordinary Monday. The boys came round after school and so we decided to go out to the Green Bar (as opposed to Green Bar B) for a beer as we could get food for the boys there. People eat with their right hand (apart from Matti, who is left handed) and so there is always a wash basin at any restaurant – it feels odd calling these places restaurants, but I guess that is what they are.

Well, I have never seen such a mound of food be demolished in such a short space of time. They ordered 2 portions of tibs with injera and egg. Basically, an enormous pancake (injera) filled with yet more injera, lumps of beef, some kind of sauce and a boiled egg. Each package of food also came with two bones with meat on. Well, the boys were delighted with their order and after 30 seconds of praying, they tucked into their meal. Probably no more than 7 minutes later, they were smiling contentedly and washing the last mouthful down with coca cola. They actually prefer Mirinda (fake Fanta orange) but it seems that Gimbie is totally out of this drink at the moment. Must be because all the pregnant women have been drinking it (remember previous blog re all women being given Mirinda at the start of labour).

On the way back, Abdi, who kind of looks after them all (yes, aged 11), asked sheepishly whether I would possibly buy them some soap to wash their clothes. Apparently they are allowed to get water from a nearby house for clothes washing. So we bought them each a bar of soap at 10 Birr (40p) each and they were terribly grateful. Gosh, how easy it is to please a bunch of 9-11 year olds here.

25th December 2011

Merry Christmas to you all

Christmas eve

Christmas day breakfast

As you can see, we are working our way through the festive food. Fondue tonight.





24th December 2011

This morning I was a little sad sitting on the veranda, with my cup of tea, thinking about everyone getting ready for Christmas tomorrow and the excitement that this generally brings. I miss all sorts of things that we have in England, most of which are not really important and we can do without. But we certainly need our family and friends and appreciate you all being there for us. We miss you.

 I hope that you all have a wonderful day enjoying the Christmas feast and having a nice time in each other’s company. I will blog tomorrow and post some photos to show what we are doing.

Jeremy is on call today and tonight but the hospital is fairly quiet (coffee picking time?) and so we should have a peaceful night. Clara comes back from Addis today, possibly with some goodies for tomorrow’s lunch. We shall light the Christmas pudding using the gin we bought in duty free and we have bought some eggs to make custard to go with this (that’s right; our chickens still refuse to lay any more eggs). I have a feeling that the orphan boys will turn up at some point so we shall feed them something. We will also bring Jaba to the house for some ‘fun’. Oh and Makabe is coming over to make some fresh bread. So all, in all, lots going on.

Happy Christmas eve xxx