Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital - from the book: The Hospital by the River by: Catherine Hamlin, MD

Just in case anyone was worried, I am back in Maryland, safe and sound:) I’m a bit tired right now, but I hope to add more pictures and to write a bit more soon.

So it’s around 12:30 PM in London and I am happily awaiting my flight in Heathrow Airport:) I now have two flights down (go Turkish Airways!) and two more to go [on American Airlines]. I was very excited to get a good latte and some real (non-airplane) food - oh and plus some British accents, which is never bad:)

I hope to arrive in BWI Airport around 12:10 AM Wednesday, July 29th (my body is totally confused after leaving Addis Ababa around 1:10 AM and then hitting Istanbul in bright, beautiful daylight!) There is a 7 hour time difference between MD/DC and Ethiopia, so the jet lag should be fun (j/k).

So far, I’ve gotten full rows of 3 seats each to myself on both flights - luxury for sleeping! I feel bad for the airline and its business, but it’s good for me. Curious to see how full the American flight is - 10+ hours to Texas - I wish it were shorter! Where’s the Conchord when I need it?

Hope you are well. Can’t wait to see you guys!

Cheers (from merry ol’ England),

Amy :)

I know many people, including myself, want to help people in Ethiopia, especially the kids. I have been looking into different NGOs. In Lalibela, I saw a lot of signs for Plan Ethiopia. With two other stranded travelers, I visited the Plan office. We met with Alebel Mengistu, who coordinates the sponsoring of children.

Plan does not give money directly to the children, but instead uses the funds to build schools, to provide teacher training and to help the community in other ways. Here is more information:

http://plan-international.org/where-we-work/africa/ethiopia/what-we-do

I will look further into Plan, as well as other organizations such as Save the Children.

If you want to read a well-written book about children, particularly orphans, in Ethiopia, I recommend There is no me without you By: Melissa Fay Greene. Here is a link to her website as well:

http://www.thereisnomewithoutyou.com/

Two children I met on the way to visit the hospital in Lalibela. The children in that area don’t see a lot of farenjis, so they were excited to see me, to say “hello” and shake my hand.

One elementary school in Lalibela built by Plan Ethiopia (part of Plan International)

I think my hotel room began the concept of water torture. The sink pipe went “drip, drip, drip” LOUDLY all night long. I set my alarm clock to wake up every 3 hours to empty the water out of the trashcan before it seeped through the holes in the sides. I did not want it to overflow across the room.

I guess you get what you pay for in a 100 birr (less than $10) room!

The next day, I asked to switch rooms. This one is much better, fortunately:)

As I emerged from my new hotel for day #1 staying in Piazza in Addis, I was greeted by another new friend, asking the standard questions and clearly not understanding or just ignoring the fact that I clearly wanted to be left alone as I searched for breakfast.

“Where you from? Obama town? You like my country? How long here? When leave? Where visit?…” and on and on, then of course he told me to ”come now” to his sister’s shop. I successfully parted ways and moved towards scrambled eggs, toast and coffee:)

The 79-year-old priest climbs 200 meters with us to the church at the top of the mountain, Abuna Yemata Guh (in Tigray). I want to be that fit when I hopefully reach that age!

Kids play an animated game of marbles in the street in Lalibela.

Three children near my hotel in Lalibela. The two to the right just lost their father a week ago to epilepsy.This preventable death occured because Lalibela Hospital ran out of his medicine and he could not afford to go to the hospital in Dessie. A neighbor donated money to get the medicine, but unfortunately the father died while waiting for it to arrive. The hotel manager introduced me to them and helped me to take over school supplies (exercise books and pens) that they cannot afford. There are 7 children.