Blue Nile Gorge, Debre Markos, Bahir Dar Ethiopia

The People to People team (US and Ethiopia-based doctors, plus me) have been visiting partners and supporters, friends and family this weekend before the start of the Pan-African Medical Doctors & Healthcare Conference this week in Addis. We drove from the capital Addis Ababa through the dramatic Blue Nile Gorge to Debre Marcos (staying at the Gozamen Hotel in Abiyot Square), then to Bahir Dar on Lake Tana (staying at the Summerland Hotel). In addition to seeing the lovely and fertile countryside, institutions we have visited include:

Debre Marcos University
People to People USA – Amanuel Care Center (girls boarding school)
Addis Vision Higher Clinic (Debre Markos, Abma Road)
Bahir Dar University

Dr. Enawgaw Mehari (President and Founder, People to People) presented six boxes of chemistry, math, biology and other college texts to Debre Marcos University. During the Debre Marcos University tour, we visited some cows (part of the farm school), and their computer lab. Dr. Enawgaw also presented a donation check of $1833 raised by 8-year-old Emma Jewel Lewis and her family in West Virginia to the girls of the Amanuel Care Center, where we visited some beehives and talked with 14 of the 56 girls. With their education and P2P support, the girls ambitions are to be a:

pilot
medical doctor (5 girls)
economist (2 girls)
journalist
law
business administration
engineer

We also visited six of the Amanuel Care Center girls who have already started their university studies on our way out of Addis. We were impressed by our tour of the clinic and diagnostic lab of the Addis Vision Higher Clinic. I am still uploading photos.

We have enjoyed eating many meals on injera flatbread and have been honored to join traditional dancing. I particularly like the delicious results of the coffee ceremony. All along the way, our car has been regularly stopped by donkeys, cows, dogs, goats, and people dashing across the road, very exciting at night. I suggested adding reflectors to the animals’ tails…