On to Ethiopia

Our final night in Kigali, we were invited to the home of Francoise, anesthesia program director and a good friend. It was a warm gathering with family and friends.  Francoise gave us a lesson in the African method for carrying a child. Chris and I both made the effort but clearly Francoise is the only one of us who looks perfectly at home with a baby on her back.

Francoise wrapping her son on Chris

On me

Happy African mother and baby

The journey to Ethiopia had a prolonged detour in Bujumbura, Burundi, long delays in the visa line, and what felt like an interminable wait for the shuttle to the hotel. We rolled in around midnight last night, tired and punchy. 

First impressions of Addis - fewer trees, busy, fast paced, lots of concrete, tall buildings, enormous hospital complex, people wearing traditional clothing. We jumped right into a VAST facilitator course today with 3 staff anesthesiologists and a senior resident. Our team expanded to include Emma, an Ottawa resident, and Julian, the CASIEF-Ethiopia lead. Our Ethiopian hosts had arranged a bright airy teaching space and assembled the course materials. We quickly began rolling out the scenarios and were delighted at how well the group picked up the key ideas.

VAST kit

Demo scenario with Emma as simulated patient

Scenario role play

Debriefing

We finished the evening with a traditional Ethiopian meal - communal meal on injera eaten with fingers. We have one more day of facilitator training tomorrow before welcoming 14 participants to the VAST Course on Wednesday.