Kimbj

Black Lion The largest hospital in all of Ethiopia is Black Lion. I again was granted unlimited access to video and photograph the conditions of this public facility. Black Lion is the last referral hospital in Ethiopia, if your illness requires more care then what they can offer, the next place you will go is Nairobi, Kenya and from there to South Africa. This hospital sees approximately 370,000- 400,000 patients a year but the exact number is not known. They have 800 beds, with 130 specialists, 50 non-teaching doctors. This is the largest teaching hospital for the University of Addis Medical School in Ethiopia, so there are about 350 Residents and 600 Interns. The emergency department sees around 80,000 patients a year and they just started a new trauma unit in the recent months. This hospital ... read more

Here are some photos I took while I was in the rural areas of Ethiopia. Click on them to make them larger for the full affect.... read more

Charlie and Dee… The best way I can describe my first face to face meeting with Charlie was a white man in a sea of Ethiopian faces who spots me with my bags in tow at the hospital and runs up and hugs me like a long lost favorite uncle would. His smile was warm and his hug was deep. I know in that instant, he was a man I was proud to know. He couldn’t have helped more in my visit to Bahir Dar and it’s health facilities. He even invited me via email to stay in his home with his wife Dee during my stay here. And I did and what a great decision that was. Dee greeted me with a giant hug and bright smile and just welcomed me into her house like ... read more

Up very early or late, I couldn't sleep with the upcoming trip tomorrow actually today. This is very windy night and I lay in bed wondering about the little subdivision next door to the hotel and what it must be like inside a press metal house with strong winds that roar like lions half the night. I am sure they are use to it but I know in my own strong house my kids coming running and jump right into bed to be protected from the angry roar beyond their windows. So what does a small child here whose entire house is the size of a room and made of tin think when winds began to howl. And as the parent protector, do they fear that one-day that lion will roar enough to pick the roof ... read more

Today is June 11 here, 2001… yes that is right 2001. The Ethiopia calendar has 13 months and all the months have 30 days except a short month that has 5 or 6… Yes confusing. Tonight I went to dinner with my very good friend here that helped me start on this quest to save the world. So I blame him for all these pie eyed ideas, I have. Anyway he “tried” to explain the Ethiopian calendar and time to me. It still is completely over my head. All I know is that I am 8 years younger here, which I like! :) But what is nice, Ethiopians know they cannot confuse the rest of the world; so when you meet them at 5pm on the 18th, they show up even through it might be 1:15pm ... read more