Birds, Butterflies, and Baboons

0600 3 Oct, looking out my balcony window I see colorfully-clad women walking the packed red clay street.  3-wheeled taxis vie for passengers amidst the bright blue buses.  There is a constant rumble of motors running, and the air has a somewhat burnt smell and haziness about it. Beep! Goes the taxi driver, followed by the deeper honk! of a bus.  It is the start of a new day, and I pause to reflect on what’s passed since our arrival.

Mon, 1 Oct: The windy road to Jimma brought with it vibrant views of post-rainy season (well, nearly post-rainy season--it poured again last night!!) hills lush with green grass, acacia and eucalyptus trees, and tall green forests.  Traditional tukuls and plentiful mosques dot the neighborhoods.  The sounds of warbling weaver birds punctuated the curvy drive now and again, and we were even blessed to witness a small flock of these bright yellow birds flit treetop to treetop, chirping merrily (and loudly) in their course toward their upside-down beehive-shaped nests.  Imagine my surprise when I spotted the grey-brown tail of a baboon, who then simply stared at me...what a treat!  And moreso, to see two maribou storks standing regally in a field of tall yellow grass.  Scarlet red poinsettia bushes and fields of meskel abeba (yellow "cross flowers") brightened the colorful landscape, along with the purple and green uniforms adorned by the schoolchildren walking along the roadside. Rainbows of patterned cloth swathed gracefully over women, many of whom carried the day's burden of water jugs atop their heads or bound wood upon their backs.  Such a life.  

The ride from Addis to Jimma took nearly 8 hours.  We filled our time with a mix of conversation, comfortable silence, and short catnaps.  I don’t know how Dawit managed to stay so focused and good-spirited for the entire drive, but I do know that I am thankful that he is with us for these two weeks!  Such a mild-mannered, gentleman with an easy warm smile, able to negotiate the crazy rush hour traffic of Addis Ababa without a blink of an eye and the windy mountainous roads without making us carsick-prone individuals lose our lunch.

Tuesday, 2 Oct was the first day of our initial ALSO Provider course.  We planned an 8am start time…but didn’t begin until close to 0930.  We planned for 32 students…and 38 showed up.  We planned to have 3 workstation rooms…and had to work really hard to find (and clean) 2.  God perpetually calls us to depend on Him to meet our daily needs, and today was no exception.  We learned to be flexible, to communicate effectively with our Ethiopian colleagues, and to “go with the flow.”  The students – ranging from health officers to nurses & midwives to medical residents – were attentive and, though initially shy, were easily engaged and shared beautiful smiles as we worked through the afternoon’s hands-on workstations (Maternal resuscitation/postpartum hemorrhage, Neonatal resuscitation, and Emergency breech delivery).  The last student of the day that I worked with smiled at me, said, “thank you, we love you so much.”  Unexpected but genuine warmth, so freely expressed in this beautiful culture, makes my heart swell, especially when I am missing the warmth of my family every day.  The Lord provides.

As I stand back a bit and consider all the hands that have made this one day alone possible, I am humbled and awed—but isn’t that just like God, to give us what we can handle in the increments we can handle?  It is so natural to get caught up in the “to dos” of each day—and indeed we are called not to worry, to focus on today, “for today has enough cares of its own…” and we are not promised tomorrow.  Yet I would be remiss not to consider the many arms and hands and eyes and ears—many members, one Body—that worked together to put this series of courses in motion.  The coordination between PeaceCare and the Peace Corps volunteers—I haven’t even talked about John and Mike, who are both completing their two years of service in Bonga, and who are young, capable, compassionate servants (with a good sense of humor and amazing command of Amharic, to boot!), and who’ve been instrumental in handling the on-the-ground logistics.  Meeting with the Jimma University OB faculty.  Securing a location for the course.  Inviting participants from places near and far.  Ensuring the twice-daily “shy/buna” (tea/coffee) breaks are woven into the schedule—non-negotiable!  Making last minute copies.  Getting SIM cards, flip charts, markers, and the like.  And not to mention our team of 7 professionals (6 physicians, 1 nurse) – we are gelling and working together in a way that makes it seem that we’ve known one another for much longer than the 3 months (or less!) it’s actually been…

So birds, butterflies, baboons…and BONDING.

A new day begins, and with it, much hope and inspiration to serve others and thankfulness for the opportunity to do so.

Sarah