Tuktuk deliveries

For our weekend to lalibela we were supposed to leave at 6 AMthat was the plan, but nothing goes by plan according to Ethiopia. At 6.30Am we called the busdriver and ask when he was coming. He told us that his mum is sick and he is sending a friend. After one hour we were calling again:" where are you"? In five or ten minutes I'll be there. So we can go on and on and on with this story. At 12 o'clock we were leaving with another van and another driver with a lot of delay... It was ten hours drive, the last three hours in the dark on a bumpy road really uncomfortable. 

We spend the week off in a historical beautiful place:lalibela. It was really impressive and we had a good time. The way back was the same way as when we were coming. The only difference was that the two drivers didn't take a shower for three days and didn't change clothes and slept in the van so maybe you can imagine the smell. When someone moved, there was a smell coming to the back and we had to cover and put some perfume below our nose to survive. On the way back there was a heavy rain, the road was floated and some parts of the road were like landscapes. Also the wipers of the carwindow weren't working. They were stuck and the windows were studded. the drivers were chewing chat (green leaves where you get a bit of high moods) so they thought they were king of the world. We didn't think so. 


We were glad we were away for one weekend from mekelle. After this weekend we split up to have more chance for deliveries. Marleen is working in mekelle hospital while Marianne is still working in Ayder referral hospital. There is a big difference because Mekelle hospital is very clean. There are a lot of normal deliveries but also abnormalities. In the nights there is someone coming running and shouting: come, come, help, help, there is a delivery in the bajaj! The driver is standing outside with a sad face thinking about the mess in the bajaj he has to clean up. Inside there a three woman, one of them covered in blood. The baby between her legs already born and the placenta is still coming, can you imagine the mess? So after delivering the placenta she can go back home by tuktuk. Bajaj drivers have to endure a lot of stuff. Last night there was a lot of screaming, shouting, crying outside the hospital. Thats the sign that someone died. And then you have to be fast. Because for the body stiffness is reach the family has to take the body wrapped like a mummy home because otherwise it doesn't fit in the bajaj. So if you see a bajaj with two not moving feeds sticking outside then you know they were no fast enough. There are really worried about contamination. Well we know an example one intern had to put an IV inside the vein of a woman. BEFORE he stick the needle inside the vein he sticked it into the matress!! This is a good example of contamination. We also have another lot of fun yesterday we were going out for dinner for a goodbye of a german nurse. She is really funny and while we were sitting and eating a lot of cats were below our table waiting in the attack position to grab some food or maybe a leg. When he grabbed the leg of Marianne she was screaming very loud , jumping up and screaming:the cat attacked me and the whole restaurant was laughing. Marianne feed the cat with a knife and fork. The cat poliedly eat the meat from the fork. It's better to cow meat than human meat. This cat wasn't fasting at all. 


A bigger problem appeared;Marianne's laptop broke down with all the material,studywork, reports, so she have to start over again, when she can arranged another laptop, so....big stress!!!!

But the thing is to stay positive! So we will try!