And what a trip it was! The Restor/Rotary team is 22 members, some of which were able to come overseas a little early to adjust to the time zone (we are 10 hours later here than the west coast). Most of us traveled directly from home, taking roughly 36 hours to complete the complicated journey here to Bahir Dar!
Just arrived, the team gets settled and ready for work.
The streets of Bahir Dar are alive and colorful on a warm Sunday afternoon.
Now that we are here, such a warm welcome! Today, Sunday, April 3rd, we arrived in town at 1:00 pm. After a brief interval and team meeting at the Rah Nile hotel we headed down to the hospital for a tour. It is a short 15-20 minute walk, and on a warm (but pleasant) Sunday afternoon most of us enjoyed the exercise and local color on our way. Once there we are introduced to Hospital founder and director Dr. Gebe.
Hospital director Dr. Gebe explains many new features.
We find the hotel staff busy cleaning to get ready for the big day tomorrow of assessing the dozens (if not hundreds) of potential clients for surgery. There may be as many as 60 performed over the days that we have here, but all (and particularly the medical professionals) are notably impressed with Dr. Gebe’s tour and description of all the new facilities and the local team’s readiness to participate. Tomorrow, Monday, we will pre-screen probably in excess of 60 who would all like to take advantage of this rare opportunity for subsidized treatment.
Some of the medical team in front of Gamby Hospital in Bahir Dar. From left, Dr. Stan Valnicek & Dr. David Williamson, Matt Williamson & Dr. Collin Yong.
The design of the facility impresses us all. It is open, and spacious, taking advantage of the gentle lake breezes to keep waiting rooms relatively cool and fresh. The leadership and staff are creative, finding new “best practice” ways to approach common problems. For example, in the internal courtyard of the Hospital live 2 sheep!! Why? In order to have fresh sheep blood available for one of the tests they must routinely administer!
– Peter Schultz