Wrecked

Within two hours of leaving my hotel this morning, I found myself on the side of the road, down $20 US, and having been in a car wreck. A fairly typical morning for Addis I would say.

The morning started lazily as I somehow managed to pull myself out of bed and shower before heading down to breakfast. My plan was to go to St. Paul’s to check in on my clinic there. I had high hopes that this one would have fared better given that they already had the infrastructure in place, having an already running screening program for HIV positive women. Although that clinic is run by Pathfinder and funded by PEPFAR, I figured that ours would at least be chugging along at a semi decent pace.

             After breakfast, I hunted around for a taxi to take me over to the hospital. Usually getting a cab in front of the hotel means paying 200% more than you normally would and when you can take the minibus for not even 50cents, it’s hard to justify paying US prices. However, the mini bus station was a good 45minute walk away and I was already pushing the time (who am I kidding, there is no such thing as being late when you are on habesha time), so I asked the first taxi how much to St. Paul’s. Normally the ride is about 120birr (or at least that’s the lowest I’ve ever been able to bargain), but this guy was asking for 300birr! No way. He wouldn’t budge so I moved on. The next guy wanted 200birr, nothing less. I thought it was little odd that all of them were quoting me so high but kept on moving. Finally I found a taxi driver who would take me for 150birr. Sold. When we finally got there, I found out why everyone had been so firm in their prices. The whole road in front of the hospital was completely torn up, big piles of dirt and blocks of concrete hurled about. The driver couldn’t even take me all the way because there was no way a car could go down it. I felt so bad about my earlier haggling and wanted to pay him more, but with only 200birr left in my wallet, I knew I would need everything I had to get home!

            When I got to St. Paul’s, I went immediately to the clinic. I was so relieved to see at least 5 women sitting on the bench outside waiting to be seen. I knocked on the door and waited and waited, but no one came. That’s odd. I tried the door handle, very slowly in case the nurse was in with a patient, but it was locked. By this point, it was over an hour past when the clinic was supposed to start and I was getting worried. So, in an effort to waste time and give the clinic a chance to open, I decided to head over to the HIV screening program to visit Zewdu and Nigussu. They were the first people I met in Ethiopia and let me sit in on their clinic when I was first learning about how to utilize VIA and cryotherapy. They even helped us in our training by being site leaders at St. Paul’s. I was greeted with a big hug from Zewdu and the traditional Ethiopian greeting (handshake with 4 kisses on the cheek, alternating each time) from Nigussu. It was so nice to see them well and happy. They told me that their clinic was doing great and they had seen 200 new patients since August. After catching up, I bid them goodbye and promised to stop by again before I left at the end of this week.

            On my way back to my clinic, I passed by a sign that stopped me cold. The sign read, “UCSD Cervical Cancer Screening Training Nov. 12-23, 2012.” Apparently, UCSD has decided to run their own training session at St. Paul’s. UCSD is part of the MEPI (Medical Education Partnership Initiative) grant that Emory, John Hopkins, and University of Wisconsin has with Addis Ababa University, so its not surprising that they would be doing work down here. It was just frustrating to feel like my turf was being pounced on. But really, if I were St. Paul’s, and another big time university was offering to come train my employees for free and give me invaluable resources, I would jump at the chance. I guess that’s global health for you. I wonder though if it would be better for one organization to tackle one issue. It seems as if it would be much more organized and allow for better implementation of lasting infrastructure. Wouldn’t it get confusing if 20 different NGOs, universities, and religious mission groups came in and tried to tackle the same issue? Seems a little muddled if you ask me.

            Anyway, I finally got access to the clinic and grabbed the patient information forms and surveys I needed. Unfortunately the clinic wasn’t seeing patients today, but I was happy to grab my data and be on my way. I found a cab to take me home, thinking I would be generous with me 200birr offer. Nope. He wanted 300birr, no less. I opened my wallet to show him that I literally had nothing more than 205birr and finally he begrudgingly agreed to take me. As we passed by Piazza, in the midst of a daydream as is often the case while I am driving through the city, I suddenly heard the squeal of rubber on road and then a crash as my body hurled forward. Apparently, my taxi’s breaks didn’t work well enough to stop us from slamming into the car in front of us that was parked at a light. Both drivers hopped out, rubbing their foreheads in disbelief, as a local traffic officer came over to investigate. As did about 15 other bystanders, might I add. Luckily, no one was hurt and I walked away with only swollen and bruised shins, repercussions from slamming into the driver’s seat in front of me. I gathered my items, slapped 100birr into my cab driver’s hand and started to walk away. He tried to argue with me, but I kept on walking. I was close enough to Black Lion that I was able to catch a minibus and soon was careening down the roads again on my way home.