Eight Widows, Eleven Bovine, Three Goats, and One Little Girl

Guest post from the amazing, genius, animal doctor also known as my better half wrote the following post. I hope you enjoy.

Okay, it’s my turn to tell you about what I did while I was in Ethiopia with FOVC. I have to begin by introducing you to a friend of ours. Denise’s life took a tragic turn several years ago when her husband, a pilot, and their two boys died in a tragic plane crash on the fourth of July. She took this tragedy and turned it into a blessing by forming a foundation in their name. That foundation has done many things including helping people adopt children. Earlier this year the foundation partnered with FOVC to purchase 11 cows for eight widows in Shanto. The plan is for the women to be able to utilize these animals to aid them in making a living. They may be getting milk from them, or using them as beasts of burden, it is my understanding that this is left up to the widows.

When I agreed to go on this trip I was unsure as to what exactly I would be doing. I contacted a classmate of mine from vet school who served for several years as a veterinary missionary in Ethiopia. She gave me a lot of good advice, and I had a starting point. I still was not sure what I would be doing but I began to formulate some ideas of what to do if the opportunity presented itself. Having been on overseas trips before I knew better to make any concrete plans, but I did have some goals I hoped to be able to accomplish. I hoped to be able to make it to all of the widow’s homes to examine the animals, worm them, and teach them about the need to get colostrum into newborns. I thought if I was lucky I would be able to identify one of the widows that had some aptitude for animal care and train them in the basics.

Because I was not sure what I needed I was not overly aggressive in asking for donations. I knew I needed some wormers for sheep and goats but other than that I figured anything I was given would be better than what was over there. I approached a couple of drug companies to ask for donations and had Boehringer Ingelheim come through in spades. They donated twelve liters of an oral wormer for sheep and goats. Novartis Animal Health also donated some vaccine for me to bring along. Unfortunately that product was delayed in arriving so it was not brought along. Instead it has been sold and the money gone to help fund the program I will be discussing more in depth later. I also was blessed to talk to one of my distributing representatives who has become a friend and she informed me that she was changing jobs so she would send me all the “samples” she had in her garage. When I got the boxes from her I had no idea what I was in for. Not only was there a little bit of everything, but I had no idea how these donations would affect my first day in Ethiopia.

Having talked to my friend who used to work in Ethiopia we had “tips” on how to pack and still get everything into the country. Unfortunately we did not follow those tips to the letter because we did not want to spread the liquid through all of our luggage in case it spilled during transit. That way at least some of our luggage would arrive and be wearable. Unfortunately it drew the attention of the customs official in the Addis airport as well. No it wasn’t the nearly $1,000 dollar’s worth of wormer, it was a dozen bottles of expired iodine shampoo. Who knows why it drew their attention but it did and now they wanted me to run down town to get some form filled out saying the government thought it was safe to bring in. In the mean time I was to put it in storage somewhere. I did not want to get the form because we had other things to do. For two hours I went back and forth across the airport trying to get my passport back, and make sure I was going to be able to leave in two weeks. My, “Can’t we just throw it away and pretend I never brought it” defense was not working very well. Long story short, we got the shampoo through customs with the help of two veterinarians (think USDA equivalent) we met in the airport.

Once we got to Shanto I was able to go out to visit some of the widows on our second day. With the help of some rope that we had brought along to tie on the baggage we were able to restrain, check and treat the cattle of three widows that day. When we were done treating the animals we would take questions from the crowd. After all, how often do you get to talk to a veterinarian for free, or at all for that matter, in middle of nowhere Ethiopia. At our last stop of the day a man in the back asked me why his cows were not giving birth. What struck me about this man was the sincerity of his question. He appeared to be actually interested in the answer and had follow up questions. I told him it could be many things but that it was my best guess, and all I could do is guess without seeing his cows, was that his cows were underfed and worm infested. I suggested that he worm his animals and if that did not work he may need to make sure that his bull was good.

Another thing that happened on our last stop was the miracle of this trip. Wherever we stopped we would draw a cloud of children. At this stop one little girl latched on to Beverly, the grandmother on our trip, and would not let go. Even when we started to give out the food she did not leave Bev’s side. As we climbed back into the land cruiser to head back to the compound the little girl climbed in with us. Usually we shooed these children away but Desalegn told us it would be okay for her to come along. She would find her way home.

When we arrived back at the compound the little girl was taken to Dr. Jo to be check out. She got herself a new dress and shoes. She drank over a liter of water, ate a banana, and started on a piece of bread. We found out her name was Hannah, and that she had tuberculosis. Jo treated her for TB and she captured our hearts. The pure joy on her face as she ate that food, and the way she acted like such a little lady when she brushed the crumbs off her new dress and smoothed it out so it looked presentable, caused all of us to fall in love with her. Because of her “chance” meeting with us, she and her seven siblings are now sponsored so they can attend the school, everyone in her family was given a physical exam, the family received a goat and some chickens to help them support themselves, and the family will never be the same again.

That night as I lay on my slab or granite they called a hotel bed I thought about what had happened that day. Sure we had done some good things, but what difference would it make in a few months. What about that producer who needed to worm his cattle? Did he have access to the needed medicine? What about the equipment needed to administer the meds? I was also distracted by something I had learned earlier in the day about one of the volunteers that we worked with. His name was Tutu and he was always there when you needed him, and he always had a smile on his face. He was a man of honor. He had served his country in the military where he served as body guard to the prime minister. Because of his military service he had not attended school and had no formal education. With no formal education he was not very employable and FOVC had no money to give him a job so he had just volunteered for the last year and a half.

Finally I had an idea that I thought would help everyone out. What if Tutu became the one that I trained to act as a veterinarian? He would have the equipment that I had brought with me, and purchased in country, and I would be able to train him enough to be able to diagnose pneumonia, and administer worming boluses. It would provide him with a job, the widows with a “vet”, and the community with a “vet”. Plus he would be around the children of the FOVC compound where he could serve as a good role model. We were able to line up $50 support for his salary. I checked with Lory and found that this would be more than the security staff made but less than the teachers. I felt this was fair since he would have some education, but not enough to be considered trained like the teachers were.

As we move forward with Tutu I hope he continues to grow in his knowledge. He took to it so well the final two days I was there training him that I really have no doubt that he will. If all goes according to plan he will provide the widows with animal care, and serve the community in the same capacity. It is our hope that we will be able to fund this project separately from FOVC so it does not become a drain but rather a blessing. Future training for Tutu is in the works as well. Teaching him more English will help us communicate better with him, and we hope to get him into some agricultural classes as well. It is also our hope to continue to have American vets travel to Ethiopia and train him while they are there. If things go very well we may be able to plug him in with Christian Veterinary Missions a group that is already serving in Addis. They work all over the world training veterinarians and serving in any way they can.