Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital part 3
Garden of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, Ethiopia
I have to admit that Addis Ababa is not the most beautiful city I’ve ever visited. In fact, many parts are quite dirty with much rubbish lying around in streets and on construction sites, poorly maintained roads, less than beautiful buildings and plenty of pollution in the air and waterways. I sensed during my visit there last December that attempts are being made to clean up the environment and general facilities but the sheer mass of people they are dealing with makes this a mammoth task.
It was therefore a very pleasant surprise to visit some private homes to see what could be achieved. Even more delightful was our visit to the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital (click here to read what I wrote last week about our visit). The buildings in this wonderful hospital are extremely well maintained, clean and inviting to the traumatised patients. The grounds and gardens are a haven providing a serene environment for the women recovering from obstetric fistula, one of the most distressing medical conditions I have ever read about.
Here is my challenge: you can help these women to recover by donating to the work. Click here for more details.
Garden of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, Ethiopia
Garden of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, Ethiopia
Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital
Garden of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, Ethiopia
One of the places my wife and I wanted to visit while in Ethiopia last December was the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, established many years ago by an Australian doctor, Catherine Hamlin and her husband. We had heard about this wonderful hospital some years ago and had financially supported its work.
Last year, just when we were planning our trip to Ethiopia, an hour long documentary on the work was shown on Australian television, further fostering a growing passion to support this hospital. In December we planned to visit our daughter who was teaching at Bingham Academy, an international school about 20 minutes by taxi from the hospital.
We asked her if she could contact the hospital to enquire if we could visit. She went one better and arranged an appointment for us. It so happened that the son of the CEO of the hospital was a student in her class. We later met the CEO and his family at a church service and found them to be lovely people.
Over the coming days I plan to show more photos of the garden of this wonderful hospital. I was not permitted to take any photos of the patients which is completely understandable. The grounds, however, were amazing; so peaceful and therapeutic for the patients.
I challenge my readers to find out more about the work of this hospital in treating women suffering from obstetric fistula. In fact, I challenge you to financially support this amazing work. Click here to go to their website for more information.
Garden of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, Ethiopia
Garden of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, Ethiopia
Christmas greetings
2 Comments »25th December, 2011; Category: Holidays
Callistomen flower, Pangarinda Arboretum, South Australia
To all my faithful readers I’d like to wish you a wonderful Christmas.
Have a safe time, enjoy yourself, and return here in coming weeks. When this post is being published, I will be enjoying a special Christmas travelling in Africa and Europe. I will have many hundreds of photos to share of my travels, so please stick around. Meanwhile, enjoy the Christmas season.
All the best,
Trevor
Nature walk, Hattah-Kulkyne National Park
Nature walk in Hattah-Kulkyne National Park, NW Victoria
Sydney Trip June 2011
At this stage our two week holiday was rapidly drawing to a close. It was the last afternoon of our trip and it turned out to be the best weather of the whole time away. The sky was clear and bright, the sun warm on our backs and we even took off our jumpers despite it being mid-winter. For the last activity of our holiday we did the 45 minute Nature Walk near the entrance to Hattah-Kulkyne National Park in NW Victoria.
This short easy walk takes you through a variety of flora types, including mallee (eucalyptus species), native pines (Callitris species) and spinifex ( the low spiky plants shown in the photos above and below. We found a few plants flowering and were able to get several nice photos. The birding was a little slow and I didn’t get any good shots.
After a quick drink and bite to eat we headed off on the last 3 hours of our trip home. At Ouyen we stopped at the nationally famous bakery to buy something to eat along the way, knowing it would be quite late when we arrived home. At Murrayville we stopped briefly to have a cup of tea and enjoy the treats bought at the bakery. We arrived home in the dark, tired yet pleased to be heading off to our own bed again.
Nature walk in Hattah-Kulkyne National Park, NW Victoria
Flowers on the Nature walk in Hattah-Kulkyne National Park, NW Victoria
Nature walk in Hattah-Kulkyne National Park, NW Victoria
A sad case of environmental neglect
Lake Hattah, Victoria, June 2011
Sydney Trip June 2011
In recent days I have written about our short stay in the Hattah-Kulkyne National Park in north west Victoria earlier this year. This was on the last day of our holiday staying with family in Sydney.
We had lunch on the shore of Lake Hattah. This park, and the lake in particular, is one of our favourite places. We’ve had many wonderful weeks camping here. This included many hours canoeing the network of lakes which fill when the nearby River Murray is in flood. Sadly this area, and the catchment area for the river system has been in drought for many years. The lakes have suffered terribly as a result of this lack of water.
This is a Ramsar site – you can read some details on the photo of one of the signs near Lake Hattah. The managers of the national parks can do little about a drought, that I will grant. But to allow the lakes, camping grounds, picnic areas and other amenities to deteriorate like they are at present is a deplorable state of affairs. At best, I would describe it as environmental neglect. I could be really nasty and call it more like environmental vandalism. Lack of governmental funding is probably an element as well.
Sure – the whole region suffered during the drought, and the irrigators would have been demanding all the water they could get. But if we are to have sites like this listed as Ramsar sites – international agreements on environmental protection – then it has to backed up with action – not mere tokenism, posturing and hollow words.
Lake Hattah, Victoria, June 2011