Road Safety in Ethiopia
Today, we hear from Dr. Tim Teusink, one of our co-workers here in Ethiopia who is based in Addis Ababa. He wrote about an unfortunate accident he recently had, and in that post cited some interesting and alarming statistics. Here at SCH, we wanted to share it with you to give you the full picture of just how dangerous the roads can be here. Tim writes:
We are so grateful for the relative peace and stability that exists here, surrounded as we are by countries with unrest. Unfortunately, that stability does not quite apply to driving, as visitors frequently attest. I advise white-knuckled passengers to close their eyes and pray rather than scream and add to my driving stress. According to the WHO’s 2009 road safety global status report, “the road crash fatality rate in Ethiopia was at least 114 deaths per 10,000 vehicles per year, compared to only 10 deaths in the UK…. The number of people killed in crashes in Ethiopia is 30 times higher than in the US”. [Ethiopian Journal of Health Development, Vol 28, Number 1, 2014, pgs 1-2.] Pedestrians account for 87% of the fatalities and often walk/run/jump into oncoming traffic when least expected or visible. I take driving very seriously, yet almost daily have close calls, and am always grateful for a safe arrival.
During the last 15 years of daily driving here, I frequently have been bumped/banged/scraped/hit by taxis, minivans or private cars but they generally just bounce off my big, beat-up, 20+ year-old Toyota LandCruiser, which increasingly resembles a demolition derby participant. I’ve not had a serious accident…until last week, when I was slammed into at high speed on my driver’s door by a reckless minivan taxi driver who either didn’t see me or was trying to overtake me on the left, as I was turning left (with turn signal on, in a left turn lane). Fortunately, I was wearing a seatbelt (I have a recurring fear since ER doctor days decades ago that my obituary would read “Dr. Tim died after being ejected from his car and wasn't wearing a seat belt”, after all the lectures I’ve given patients about the importance of wearing seat belts). Thankfully, neither the passenger in my car nor myself was seriously injured but we both were rather shaken. I and my insurance company are responsible for repairs to both vehicles as well as the medical bills, plus the pain and suffering of a slightly injured passenger in the van that hit me. Henceforth, I won’t be driving anymore in Addis Ababa (too much risk and liability) but am surely grateful to be alive!
We're glad you're alright, Tim! Praise the Lord. And to our readers, would you pray with us for safer roads in Ethiopia and public health policies that work toward that end. And pray for wisdom for us as physicians as we take care of the hundreds of traffic accident victims that we see every month.
Our Youngest Fundraisers Ever!
Our donors are truly amazing. Occasionally, we have a donor (or group of donors) who are so extraordinary that we have to share the story with you. This is one of those times...
Near the end of 2014, we were blessed to be visited by Drs. Dustin and Angela Larson. Angela is a family practitioner and Dustin is an orthopedic surgeon. The two of them worked tirelessly alongside our national and missionary staff here in Soddo. But that's not all. On the other side of the ocean, Dustin's brother Loren and his four kids back in the USA were following the details of their trip.
Loren Larson is an orthopedic surgeon also, so naturally the kids are interested in medical things. They saw pictures and heard stories of the patients and their injuries at Soddo Christian Hospital. They were moved by the plight of the Soddo patients. Their oldest, Lauren (age 11) came up with the idea to start a fundraiser. She said, let's sell brownies (which the kids themselves made) and hot cocoa to the neighbors from a stand in front of our house!
The siblings banded together and opened their store, and raised $31 USD! All on their own, with no adults.
Naturally, when we heard about this at Soddo Christian Hospital, we had to share it with you. The beauty is that even $31 can save a life in Soddo. That's enough to pay for someone's hospitalization, or to have their lab tests and x-rays done. No contribution is too small! And these kids saved someone's life by just taking initiative. We were so encouraged to see that God can stir even the very young to join us in the work here.
Won't you be a part, too? St.art a fundraiser today, and save lives here in Ethiopia...
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SCH History - Part Five
In 1996, the Derg regime had fallen. Dr. Harold Adolph, a former SIM missionary surgeon at the previous mission hospital in Soddo, was asked to come back and operate for a short while to spell the surgeon there. The former mission hospital was now run exclusively by the government. Dr. Adolph and Dr. Andrew Chew travelled to Soddo, and while there, Dr. Adolph sensed the Lord calling him to start a new mission hospital. One that would again bring the Gospel alongside physical healing in Wolaitta.
One of Dr. Adolph’s former students, Dr. Kelemu Desta, was now an established general and plastic surgeon in his own right. Adolph and Kelemu teamed up and began charting the course for a new hospital. As Dr. Adolph prayed and went forth, donors came from everywhere including the USA and Switzerland. The local government had twelve acres of land allocated for the hospital. All that remained was for 18 squatter families to be carefully relocated so construction could begin. That process alone took a year and a half. The process of getting approval for all the plans took another two years. A water well was drilled to a depth of 127 meters. Things were in motion.
Finally, building began in June of 2002. Cement shortages were common, and the building seemed to go painfully slow. Through it all, Dr. Adolph claimed the promises of God in 1 Chronicles 28:20:
Be strong and courageous and get to work. Don’t be frightened by the size of the task, for the Lord my God is with you. He will not forsake you. He will see to it that everything is finished correctly.
Many people who had been helped at the previous mission hospital, now in middle age, came forward to help. Even the president of the zone, realizing that Dr. Adolph had delivered him at his birth, did what he could to help the process. The building contractor, Yakob Gebeyehu, and the Assistant Administrator, Gebeyehu Utalo, had also both been patients of Dr. Adolph’s.
On January 26, 2005, the Soddo Christian Hospital opened its doors to begin treating patients.
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Our New Year's Resolution
Another Christmas season has come and gone. We have celebrated the coming of the One and Only Savior who redeems the world from sin and death. At Soddo Christian Hospital, the message of Christmas is the very core of what we do and why we do it.
Now, as we look to 2015, many of us will make "New Year's Resolutions". The dictionary defines a "resolution" as a "firm decision to do something." Why write a resolution? What should you resolve to do? Jonathan Edwards, one of the greatest theologians to ever live, wrote many helpful resolutions hundreds of years ago. Here was one of them:
Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God’s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriad’s of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many and how great soever.
At SCH, we want to make a New Year's Resolution as well. We resolve to pursue God's glory at our hospital to the best of our ability this year. We resolve to provide excellent medical care with the resources given to us. We resolve to preach the Gospel - the life-giving message that Jesus died and rose again to deliver us from sin and death. We resolve to make disciples of Him through all means possible.
And we pray that God will empower us to fulfill these resolutions, just as Paul prayed for the Thessalonians:
To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 ESV)
Happy New Year from SCH!
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