By Sarah Woodrow, MD
Cooper Neurological Institute
This is part four in a series of updates from Dr. Woodrow’s mission to Ethiopia. View additional posts from her on the Inside Cooper blog by clicking here to view all posts tagged “Ethiopia.”
Today is a holiday. A Muslim holiday. With the population of Ethiopia being split close to equal with Muslims and Orthodox Christians it makes for almost 30 official holidays each year.
I awoke this morning to powerful chanting. That is not unusual. As my hotel is next to a mosque, 3am chanting has become routine for me. This morning was different however. By the time I got down to the hotel lobby the street was full – quite literally – of people praying. There were thousands of men kneeling down on their prayer mats on what is one of the largest main streets in Addis. Shoulder to shoulder they were there, organized in neat rows, spanning the 6 lane roadway as well as the sidewalk on either side. The pictures do not do the sight justice.
Meanwhile, at the Black Lion Hospital, my residents are working hard trying to convince the OR to allow us to proceed with a couple of surgeries. The chief resident told me yesterday that he would be booking them. I thought he was a bit optimistic. I remember from my last visit that nothing got done on holidays at the hospital.
The hospital was like a ghost town. Now I understand why – with the streets being filled with prayer there would be no way for people, let alone the buses, to get through. So, in the end, I might be getting an unexpected day off. Not a bad thing I am thinking right now as I seemed to have picked up a bad cold on the flight over and the rest might do me good.