Ethiopia Blog: Addis Ababa

Guest blogger Holley Blackwell is a doula, beekeeper, consultant, and writer living in Chicago, Illinois.  She has joined in the Healing Hands of Joy spring 2013 Ethiopia trip because of her enthusiasm for Healing Hands of Joy’s programs and innovations.  She will be posting periodically and retroactively.

 Day One in Addis Ababa (Jackie Renwick, Kim Wilkerson, and H. Blackwell arrive to meet Kay Norris, Susan Rankin, Frannie Martin, Linda Ayers, and Allison Shigo, HHOJ Founder):

First, there were 7,100 miles to cover… The flight from DC took us to heights of over 35,000 feet, over 500 mph ground speed, trans-Atlantic crossing, south of the Mediterranean Sea, near Tripoli, Italy, Egypt, and across 7,100 miles of earth. We noticed several families on the flight who were traveling with adopted children and who were studying the Holy Bible openly. The green and yellow interiors of the plane warranted commentary.  The service was consistent as we dreamed of reaching Africa and repeatedly checked the monitors for our flight path and duration.  When we reached Ethiopia in the wee hours of March 23, we took note that the landscape is much more mountainous than we had previously thought and viewed on maps.  Someone said, 39 minutes before landing in Addis, “It’s not every day that you see the sun coming up in Ethiopia.”  True.  But we saw it.  Jackie, Kim, and Holley arrived at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa around 7 a.m. and were met by Allison, who had come to retrieve the luggage of the “Charlotte Women” (Kay, Susan, Frannie, and Linda).  The Charlotte Women (from Charlotte, North Carolina) had arrived the day before.  The group met at the Harmony Hotel and prepared for our first meeting across town by taking cat naps and freshening up.  We took a van ride in heavy, dusty traffic, eyeing green and yellow tin fence siding, men and women darting across streets in scarves, skirts, long-legged pants, donkeys, vendors, mannequins in front of shops propped-up by rocks and standing in mud, eucalyptus rods used as scaffolding, etc.  There is no shortage of people watching in Addis, and I notice that we are a chatty bunch, which will serve us well in supporting one another.   Pastor Solomon led a devotional before lunch at the Hilton Hotel, where many foreigners congregate to network and relax.  His work includes a food program for homeless children, most who squat areas illegally and are HIV positive.  He feeds about 75 children per day.  Pastor Solomon mentions that many people want to see big miracles but that “without a mission there are no miracles.”  We were amused to see a swimming pool in the shape of the St. Georges cross and artwork for sale in a shop within the hotel while discussing the notions of finding a need on this earth and putting oneself right in the middle of that need, which is exactly what Healing Hands of Joy has done with Allison’s leadership.  We then visited the Hamlin Fistula Hospital of “Walking to Beautiful” fame, and were able to meet with Dr. Catherine Hamlin, who at 89 years old and with sparkling blue eyes, continues to innovate and plan toward a more comprehensive care of women who face the plight of fistula.  She has hired a new CEO to manage the Fistula Hospital and its 5 other sites and midwifery school.  His name is Martin, from Ireland, and it is clear that his goals are to improve the services for women by working with government and non-governmental organizations.  This seems to be the way in Ethiopia, as it is with projects around the globe that focus on Development: strategic networking, planning, implementation, and, if you are so fortunate, prayer and surrender to be led by spirit in the moment of things.  One must be flexible and improvisational, especially in a place where leaders in places of power change often, when the Deputy Prime Minister (who also happens to be Minister of Communications for the country) might show up unexpectedly to your coffee date in Mekelle, when your friend might have a friend that knows someone who can help, and when the traffic police may suddenly decide to confiscate your driver’s Driver’s License in the middle of a traffic circle for no apparent reason (true story, happened on Day One).  Allison – our fearless leader – has given us a cursory lesson on some of Tigray region’s history and some of its current organizations that are helpful partners in the Safe Mother Ambassador Program of HHOJ – the Community Development Army and the Women’s Association of Tigray.  Other organizations that have a visible presence are World Vision, UNICEF, and IntraHealth.  There are ideas brewing among our group about small enterprises that might influence the SMAs and others: small manufacturing, small distribution.  It is important to take notice of other businesses, projects, and innovations that are currently functioning nearby.  We went to visit a small business that focuses on silk production and spinning, cotton blend textiles, and gifts.  The owner’s name is Kathy and her business is set amongst terraced gardens with lush trees, flowers, and small pools.  There are stone walkways leading from the silkworm and storage rooms, spinning rooms, and gift shop.  The area is, like the Hamlin Fistula Hospital, an oasis of gardens within the sprawling city, given over to beauty and wonderfully peaceful in contrast to the hustle and bustle of the streets.  As a group we had dinner with Dr. Tim and his wife, Muriel, and we were also very fortunate to meet with Allison, whose husband is working with women’s health in an OB/GYN practice in a southern portion of the country, teaching doctors how to perform complex surgery through a program called PACT.  Today I felt very much like a tourist: sketches of people and places, moments being captured and quickly let go for the new sights and sounds, lots of new names and faces, and eagerly awaiting our meeting with the women of Healing Hands of Joy, which will happen on Day Two.  Jackie and I were memorizing the faces of the HHOJ women on the airplane, and I heard that the Charlotte women have come bearing many supplies for the newest graduating class of the Safe Motherhood Ambassador program.  We are all looking forward to going deeper and becoming more immersed in the answers to the reasons that have brought us all here.  I feel that we are all here for very different reasons, and I wonder about the intersections of those.  In the meantime, I hope that my dreams are filled with the dust, women and men of the Addis streets, the colors of storefronts, and the sound of the birds that punctuate the city in quiet places.