Richard’s Diary from Ethiopia

Richard Rawlinson, Franchisee at Brownhills and VAO Member shares his experiences of the trip to Ethiopia in February 2008;

Dear All,

Well what a day!! We had breakfast at 7am, big buffet of bacon etc for me accompanied by some Ethiopian stew & some very strong Ethiopian coffee!

We were collected by Dr Wondu and taken across town to the Menelik II Hospital (the contrast from the relative luxury of our hotel to everything else surprised me). We met with the hospital director and were then shown the facilities for eye care currently in place.

The Ophthalmology clinic here runs each day and consists of about 150 people waiting to be seen with all manners of visual problems (myself and Philippa Shaw wanted to set up a direct service there and then and clear the queue!!). There is also a children’s ophthalmic clinic which has its own team of consultants.

There is a very old workshop in a separate and unused building, which would be ideal to refit with new equipment and a dispensing area. There would also be huge potential to fit it out as a refraction centre where people could be screened for eye problems and either refracted or referred to ophthalmology. The existing workshop was last in operation six years ago.

We were given a tour of the Hospital facilities and experienced a traditional Ethiopian “Coffee Ceremony” which is performed for visiting guests. (Picture above)

Following our recce, we returned to the Director’s office for further discussions as to what they want, what we could offer and how do we can get it done. The last couple of hours were spent working on an implementation structure and a review of systems needed to get the project off the ground along with some more very strong coffee!

I must admit the project has been daunting but I feel I am perfectly placed and experienced to help make this project a success. It is a learning curve but I am very much enjoying the challenge.

Richard Rawlinson