“Give someone a fish and you feed them for a day; teach someone to fish and you feed them for a lifetime.”

This is my first trip with Healing the Children. In an effort to be able to compare and contrast, I spent some time on this trip talking with other members of the team that have been all over the world with HTC. Every place has need and we have been privileged to provide care to children of all different backgrounds, but I think many members of this team would agree that Ethiopia has a need that is overwhelming. This past week we were not only in a position to perform surgery and see patients, but we also were able to teach and work alongside members of the healthcare teams at Black Lion and CURE Hospitals. The advice that was shared, the technique that was taught, and the education that was offered will have a lasting impact after we leave.

It was a very busy day full of surgery at Black Lion Hospital. The ENT team was operating in one room, with the Urology team operating right next door. It seems that everyone is feeling the pressure since we only have one day left to accomplish everything we want to.

Conditions at Black Lion have been touch and go since we arrived. Most of their equipment is outdated, or their new equipment is broken. Tommy, our bio-med guy, has been an integral part of our success. He’s taken machines apart, put them back together, and has basically been responsible for fixing anything and everything when it breaks – and trust me, everything here seems to break at least once. The only thing he hasn’t been able to master is fixing the power outages that are a part of life in Addis Ababa. I don’t know that anyone came here expecting to run an OR by the light coming in through the window or monitor anesthesia without the aid of an anesthesia monitor. But we have managed to go without things that just a week ago seemed necessary. I think we’re all slowly realizing how little we actually need to still be of help.

The Story of the First Mingi

In the far south of Ethiopia, there are still many tribes that abide by their own laws. A few of these tribes use the word Mingi to describe a child who is outcast. When a child is deemed Mingi they are drowned, so that they do not bring evil onto the rest of the tribe. An orphanage in this area found out about this tradition, and began a mission to convince the tribes to give their Mingi to the orphanage, instead of condemning them to death. This is a picture of the First Mingi to be sent to this orphanage. Today we put tubes in her ears to keep them from chronic infection. In a few months time, she is being adopted by an American family.

What made this child Mingi? A child is declared Mingi when their top row of teeth comes in before their bottom teeth.

The First Mingi