Good morning, Spokane. This is Linda reporting yesterday’s activities. Today is Wednesday, October 17, 2012.

Yesterday we visited the CURE Children’s Hospital in Addis. The hospital was opened in September, 2009.  We have found most of the missions we have visited were started within the last four years or so. There are a lot of new Christian works in the area, and there is a lot of new construction throughout the area as well.

Construction methods appear quite different from in the States. They do not have dimensional lumber here, so all of the scaffolding we see is pole scaffolding. Buildings are made of pole, concrete block, concrete, metal and/or mud. (depending on the relative wealth of the people building).

Back to yesterday. The CURE hospital has one full time orthopedic surgeon and one full time anesthesiologist. They also have visiting physicians of various specialties that come in from time to time to treat other conditions, such as cleft palate and facial deformities.  The hospital has a residency program to teach Ethiopian physicians, with the goal to eventually turn operation of the hospital over to local doctors. Children are treated with no cost to them or their care givers. Funding for the hospital comes from outside donors and from a one day a week private practice by the surgeon. Yesterday an elderly woman who broke her hip had surgery. The private surgeries (about one a week) make up about 40% of the hospital funding. The majority of the support staff, such as nurses, are Ethiopian nationals.

The CURE hospitals around the world have two basic functions: spiritual and physical. The doctors treat the physical side, while another branch of equal importance in the running of the hospital deals more with the spiritual needs of the patients and their families.

We had two purposes at the hospital yesterday: bring a program to the children on the wards and paint three rooms which will be used by visiting physicians. These rooms are at the end of the private floor. This way visiting doctors can board and room at the hospital, rather than at the more expensive tourist hotels. The income from these rooms will help fund the hospital as well as help the visiting doctors. They won’t have to fight the undisciplined traffic all the time.

Dr. Mary, the anesthesiologist, said that Ethiopia (or Addis? Don’t know for certain) has the highest pedestrian mortality rate of any place in the world. Traffic is like bumper cars on steroids. It was even crazier the other night when Ethiopia won the soccer game which qualified them for the Africa Cup for the first time in over 20 years. We were out in traffic when the game ended, and the entire city emptied onto the streets for a party.

I have not seen an elevator or escalator since we’ve been here. We have traipsed up a LOT of stairs. My room at the guest house is on the third floor, so I try to remember to bring everything up or down that will be needed for the day. Doesn’t work. It seems as how I always need to climb that mountain again to retrieve some forgotten item. One would think my legs would get used to stairs, but they really don’t. Yesterday was a hard day on my legs, because I was standing all day. That’s why today I elected to stay at the guest house for the morning. We have been a healthy team thus far. Some sunburn, a bit of upset tummies from a couple of people, one sore throat. All ailments so far have been very minor and not disabling in any way. Praise the Lord!

We have had a wonderful trip and feel we have truly impacted some lives. I know the experiences of the team itself have been life altering. Leanne did a wonderful job of preparing for us. She is a great resource for our church family.

Thank you for all your prayers and support for the team. They mean a lot to us.

Linda ;>