Ethiopia Report
Andrea and Garth Slysz visited Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on behalf of FAMECanada in order to explore potential for a longterm supportive relationship toward an established Christian medical mission.
Andrea also volunteered as a supervisor to four UPEI nursing students who went with Marion and Jim Harris to fulfil their 3rd year international community block.
Jeff Moore and Joey, two men from Just Us coffee travelled with us to meet with suppliers but also investigate ways to help the people of Ethiopia.
Ethiopia is country of 105 million people made up of 85 ethnic groups. Six million people live in Addis Ababa, the capital. They speak mostly Amharic but many other local languages are spoken.
The focus of the mission was called Korah. This is a landfill where 130,000 extremely poor people live in order to find food and create shelter out of what is brought to the landfill. The community began as a leper colony and then grew to incorporate many poor and forgotten people.
Goals for FAMECanada:
Confirm ongoing local Christian medical mission serving the people of EthiopiaAsk the medical worker for their biggest challenges and then explore possible FAMECanada assistanceMeet with physicians at St Pauls hospital to explore possibilities of a FAMECanada teaching relationship.
Addis Ababa office of WISE
WISE stands for women in self employment and this visit was arranged by Jeff Moore. This wonderful group helps women set up credit unions and learn valuable employment skills. The credit unions benefit the community by giving our small loans to start businesses. We met with WISE to see if there were opportunities for the women who work in the Brook Hills Mission to have training at the WISE institute. After sharing the need in the dump area in Korah , the leader of the WISE organization offered to train the BrookHills workers for no cost.
ALERT Hospital
Alert hospital is close to the Korah area. This is a landfill where 130,000 extremely poor people live in order to find food and create shelter out of what is brought to the landfill. The community began as a leper colony and then grew to incorporate many poor and forgotten people.
Alert hospital was initially a leprosy and TB hospital but now many other types of illnesses are treated there. We had a tour and visited some leprosy patients and well as a couple of young children with leg tumors awaiting surgery. At this hospital they had a program for lepers to make crafts to sell at the hospital gift shop. I met with the nurse manager to ask about supplies of medicine. He said that they are extremely short of any IV medication including antibiotics and cardiovascular medication and would welcome and support by FAMECanada.
St Paul’s Hospital
St Paul’s Hospital is the second largest hospital in Ethiopia. They have 700 beds and 500,000 patient visits to their hospital each year. They do 1000 deliveries of babies a month. There are 750 nurses employed at their hospital and 2000 health professionals.
Andrea and the UPEI nursing students spent two mornings at this hospital on the pediatric unit. They have many malnourished and HIV infected children on that unit. The head physician at this hospital is a strong woman of faith in God and has a spiritual approach to the care given. Garth met with the heads of several departments to explore areas of teaching needed.
The physicians requested subspecialty lectures and teaching including, internal medicine, oncology, maxilla-facial surgery, paediatric and neonatal intensive care and dentistry.
The physicians also asked for supplies including interventional cardiology and radiology supplies as well as ER medicine disposable supplies like cardiac monitors pads and central line catheters.
Andrea noted that the nursing staff had limited supplies and there was no sterile dressing supplies. There was a lack of sinks and no soap was readily available for simple hand hygiene.
Hamlin Fistula Hospital
We visited the Hamlin Fistula Hospital which was started by an Australian couple that were both gynaecological surgeons. Katherine Hamlin is now 95 years old and has been nominated for the Nobel prize twice. They started it in 1974. Five hundred thousand women have received
treatment since this time. Women who have had complicated births and lost their babies and also had bowel and bladder damage are taken from mostly rural areas and given surgery and care. They provide these women surgery but they teach them to develop a skill so that they can have an income afterward. They even give these women micro loans to start a small business. All the money is donated and many very wealthy people have donated including Oprah Winfrey. The Hamlins also started a midwifery school. It is a four year program and has standards of excellence. They take in 25 students a year and it is a four year program. We visited this school and it was beautiful with clean classrooms and beautiful dorms. Once completing their education they are sent back to their villages to provide quality maternal care.
United Nations and the World Health Organization
Marion and Jim Harris know a woman that works at the United Nations Office in Addis Ababa. We toured the UN offices which is the headquarters for all of Africa. During this visit, we had a meeting with the World Health Organization, which is part of the UN. During this meeting with one of the WHO officials, we were able to advocate for the poor community at Korah that survive
in the dump. It was a wonderful blessing from the Lord. Jane came and toured Korah and was so saddened she agreed to continue and try to find ways to help. We know that she visited with a representative from MSF Spain after we left for home.
Orphanage
That afternoon we made a brief visit to an orphanage that was heart breaking with 200 kids living there. They desperately need infant formula which is an opportunity for FAMECanada.
Prison for Youth
One of Jim and Marions friends who is a teacher at a local private school leads a Christian youth group outreach at a youth prison. The highlight at the prison was that Shayna Conway shared her story with the young prisoners. There were about 60 boys in attendance between the age of 12-18. They listened intently as she shared how her friends were killed and she was almost killed. She shared about the hope that God has given her and that life isn’t fair but God is fair and has plans to help us and make our life better. She did an amazing job.
Brook Hills Development Corporation
Brook Hills Development Corporation is a Christian outreach in the Korah area. There are 3 million displaced people in Ethiopia, many because of tribal violence, and this project serves the 130,000 people who live at the dump.
People there live in “plastic homes”. These are shelters literally built out of garbage. We walked through the dump and visited some of the families that live there. The stench was overwhelming. There is no sanitation and the people collect compost and eat it. Jane from the World Health Organization was speechless. Praise God, because she feels this area is at high risk for a
cholera outbreak, she will try and make contacts with Doctors Without Borders or the Red Cross to try and get 100,000 cholera vaccinations. She wasn’t aware of this people group before and after this visit she definitely sees the need. We will pray that this is a beginning for these people. God loves them and sees them and will rescue them. She also feels that malnutrition screen needs to Happen after the cholera vaccinations are organized and distributed.
Praise God for His faithfulness to these people. They truly are the “least of these“.
Andrea and I are grateful for the support of FAMECanada for this exploratory trip to Addis Ababa and can fully endorse this location as a site that has dire need currently being served by Christian, long term, local medical professionals. It would be an honour to help them.
Comments