Rotary Medical Mission to Ethiopia pictures 

Monday, November 10, 2003

Looking back on a life-changing trip
Less than a month ago, so much lay before me: the opportunity to immunize against polio, to visit a country on a continent I had never seen, and to record my perceptions and experiences along the way.

On the sixth day of the trip, sisters Ashley York and Connie Spark are granted audience with H.E. Wolde Ghiorghis, the president of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, at a Presidential Palace reception. From 6 or 7 a.m. to nearly 10 p.m. each day, I served first and foremost as a Rotary volunteer. When not directly immunizing against polio, I attended events and visited institutions throughout central Ethiopia - and was even granted an audience with both Thomas N. Hull, deputy ambassador of the United States to Ethiopia, and H.E. Girma Wolde Giorgis, president of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

Every evening after 10 p.m., I turned inside, to my own thoughts. My direct experiences, as well as observations noted throughout the day, became a blanket that enveloped me until the wee hours of the morning, when I would finally release my personal thoughts. Although I wrote about that which was most striking, I postponed writing about any topic I could not yet quite grasp or accept.

One such event took place during our sixth day in Ethiopia, on Oct. 19, as our team left Awassa and returned to the capital city of Addis Ababa. Along the way, a most spectacular vision emerged: 50 or 60 camels walking along the side of the road.
A caravan of more than 50 camels on the road from Awassa to the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa is protected, fed and cared for by a group of nomads.

Our group jumped out of the SUV and, before we could take the first photograph, nomads shepherding the animals surrounded us brandishing spears, threatening us in a language we couldn't understand.

The young Ethiopian Rotary member driving our van intervened. We came to understand that money needed to change hands before any number of photographs could be taken.

A few days before, our SUV accidentally ran over a cow. The same Rotary member drove us that day. After the confrontation over the camels subsided, he quietly revealed to us: "If we had hit one of these camels the other day, instead of a cow. . . not one among us would have been spared. Each and every person in our car would have been killed."

These daily journal entries [from the link below] explore my own wonder, amazement, shock and satisfaction, and I hope others can experience it, too - and perhaps be moved to experience a similar adventure during his or her own lifetime.    Posted at 10:29 PM

Ethiopia Medical Mission pictures