Jimma moments

There were many special moments in the past 5 weeks in the field, in and around Jimma zone.

This picture is my favorite so far, a young girl who served us macciato (coffee with milk) in her little family cafe outside of the Setema Health Centre. It was lunch time and we were waiting for staff to return so spent some time with her. She told us she was in Grade 7 but looked older than 12 years to me. I showed her pictures of Nova Scotia from the few postcards I brought with me. Most people in Jimma haven't seen an ocean so she was amazed at the picture of Lunenburg. Three other young fellows joined us and seemed happy just to be part of the conversation.


The next one is of Mohammed, one of the zone surveillance officers and Kinfe, my WHO driver. We had a long drive up into the hills that day to visit two woredas (health units) and their health centres. This picture was taken at the edge of a deep, very green valley inhabited by tigers and monkeys with a stream running through it. The picture doesn't capture the scene very well but it made us want to grab my tent and hike down for a weekend in the forest.



And lastly, yes, I did do some work, not just drink coffee and soak up the scenery. I 'sensitized' over 40 of the Jimma town health centre staff about AFP, measles and NNT. I spoke in English, using my CDC flipcharts and a powerpoint without projector (no LCD that day) thanks for my CFEP computer. Kade, the town focal person, then translated into Amharic and added his own extra comments. During the session, we discovered one suspect AFP case had been seen earlier in the week so sensitization works!