Had a great trip over - flying with Ethiopian Airlines was a lot more comfortable than a lot of other airlines I've travelled with over the years. No probs getting through immigration, out into the sunshine of Addis and there was Dr M himself waiting for me. Easy peasy!
I then had the new experience of being driven through Addis. There does not appear to be any rules of the road here, apart from the biggest vehicle wins every time. Our driver, Mr Tigli was amazingly calm for someone apparently dicing with death every day.
Addis itself is fascinating. It appears to be in complete chaos, but is not at all intimidating. There is a mass of construction work going on with scaffolding and big noisy machines everywhere. There are a lot of people begging by the road, including small children, which on a personal level as a Mum, I find hard to deal with. Despite all this, it really does feel safe. The Ethiopian people I have met so far have all been incredibly kind and accommodating.
I had a bit of a kip and shower to try and get my brain back in gear after the journey ( tricky at the best of times...) and shortly after this we were off again..
As we had hoped, we managed to meet with the Director General for Health today, the appropriately named Dr Addis - he was very positive about our link and has asked us to set up a Memorandum of Understanding - an agreement between our universities, that will set the scene for exciting future developments for us all.
Feeling bolstered up by this, Rob and I had dinner with Dr Bilisuma ( The Dean of Wollega Medical School) , his sister, who lives in Addis and the faithful Mr Tigli.
The only fly in our ointment at present is that the microtome is still stuck in customs, despite the best efforts by Rob and Bilisuma to extract it today. Dr Addis has given us some ideas as to how we might rectify this - onwards and upwards...
We are planning on leaving Addis tomorrow morning at 6.30 for the 6-7 hour trip to Nekemte. The real work will then begin!
Yours
Julie
I then had the new experience of being driven through Addis. There does not appear to be any rules of the road here, apart from the biggest vehicle wins every time. Our driver, Mr Tigli was amazingly calm for someone apparently dicing with death every day.
Addis itself is fascinating. It appears to be in complete chaos, but is not at all intimidating. There is a mass of construction work going on with scaffolding and big noisy machines everywhere. There are a lot of people begging by the road, including small children, which on a personal level as a Mum, I find hard to deal with. Despite all this, it really does feel safe. The Ethiopian people I have met so far have all been incredibly kind and accommodating.
I had a bit of a kip and shower to try and get my brain back in gear after the journey ( tricky at the best of times...) and shortly after this we were off again..
As we had hoped, we managed to meet with the Director General for Health today, the appropriately named Dr Addis - he was very positive about our link and has asked us to set up a Memorandum of Understanding - an agreement between our universities, that will set the scene for exciting future developments for us all.
Feeling bolstered up by this, Rob and I had dinner with Dr Bilisuma ( The Dean of Wollega Medical School) , his sister, who lives in Addis and the faithful Mr Tigli.
The only fly in our ointment at present is that the microtome is still stuck in customs, despite the best efforts by Rob and Bilisuma to extract it today. Dr Addis has given us some ideas as to how we might rectify this - onwards and upwards...
We are planning on leaving Addis tomorrow morning at 6.30 for the 6-7 hour trip to Nekemte. The real work will then begin!
Yours
Julie