Addis Arrival

Tammy and I have arrived in Addis Ababa and it's now Day 3 in our first week of STOP Mission 28. I am writing from the WHO office at the UN compound, while awaiting my first meeting of the day. This is a very large secure site with multiple offices representing all of the United Nations businesses and agencies. WHO is in a building with Unicef and oh, joy, has a wireless connection! So far, we are receiving orientation to the country and the Mission; it's all very interesting and a bit overwhelming at the same time BUT I feel the STOP training in Atlanta has been great preparation for the assignment. We will be heading southeast (Tammy) and southwest (Susan) on the weekend and will begin working at the zone and district level on Monday. We will be in the field for about 5 weeks for the first field assignment, escorted by a WHO driver and working with a surveillance officer for our visits to health centres. We'll be back in Addis early in July for a midway briefing to WHO and the Minister of Health, then will likely be reassigned to another zone or district. Addis is amazing - busy with cars, people, goats and buildings of all descriptions. I haven't taken too many photos so far because I have misplaced my camera battery charger and am saving battery life for the countryside. I may have one couriered to the office if I can't procure one locally. The people are friendly and the city itself feels relatively safe, although I confess we have taken taxis everywhere so far:-) We have been out to the grocery store and an Ethiopian restaurant then jetlag caught up to us. But hopefully, we will get out to Lucy (or at least her replica) and possibly some other sites before we leave on the weekend.

Officially a STOPPER

The STOP training marathon is over and I am on my way. First a quick stopover in Halifax to make final adjustments to the luggage and official move-out of the apartment! I will be flying out tomorrow morning and will meet Tammy in Ottawa tomorrow afternoon; we will fly through Washington Dulles to Rome and onto Addis Ababa. We are booked into the nicest hotel in the city for the first few days of our stay but will soon find ourselves out in the Ethiopian countryside.

There were 45 people in STOP 28 assigned to interesting areas around the world including the Solomon Islands, Zanzibar, Haiti, Krgystan and area, Pakistan, India and many countries in Africa. Most of the folks are going to support field surveillance of measles and to participate in Global Polio eradication programming with a smaller number assigned to Data Management. The trainers from the Global Immunization Program and WHO did a good job of informing and motivating us to support our assigned country colleagues. We had the opportunity to meet people who have spent time in our assigned countries; I was so pleased to meet many Ethiopians in our course as well as in the hotel (2 lovely ladies in the Starbucks who gave me lots of hints!)and our taxi driver.

My roommate Marit (shown studying over dinner in the hotel) was great company for the past week. We are looking forward to sharing experiences with our colleagues over the summer, including those moments of culture shock which we have been told are inevitable. I also met a young woman who just returned from Ethiopia - STOP 27 who had a great time and didn't want to return. So, as our Ethiopians friends have told us - we are the 'lucky' ones to be assigned there and on that note, will talk to you next from somewhere in that country.

Atlanta Bound

The day has arrived to head to Atlanta for our 10 days of training and orientation. I can't wait to receive our terms of reference so I have a hint of what's to come. Based on a recent review of the global polio network, it looks like a vaccination campaign will be conducted while I'm there so I anticipate I will be involved.

My husband picked up some good reading from the Ethiopian embasssy while we were in Ottawa and I'm happy to know that I will be there during their Millenium celebrations. Because they use the Julian calendar, they are celebrating from June 2007 to September 2008! Now if I can just figure out the local time which uses a 12 hour clock beginning at 6am and 6pm....

More preparations

The Bradt travel guide is highly recommended for Africa and so far, it's a great read! I'm sure it will be indepensable in the field. I also received the megaload of 'military grade' permetrim to treat my bednet and clothes.....I foresee a busy weekend dipping 'nets and clothes.

Another week and it's off to Atlanta.