THE CONTAINER
One congregation in Minneapolis is a great supporter of Aira Hospital. They have sent a large container filled with medical equipment, brand new and some second hand.
Our fear was always that the container would be hijacked by Somali pirates, but to our great joy it eventually arrived safely to Addis Abeba via Djibouti. But only to fall in the hands of the Ethiopian costumes authority - the Gumruk. There the real trouble started. The container was unloaded brusquely and every item scrutinized. Some very valuable equipment was damaged. Other items were left in the open exposed to heavy rains.
A lot of much needed high quality operating theater drapes, scrubs, nurses’ uniforms and other clothing were not accepted by the costumes inspector because it was second hand, although cleaned, ironed, packed by gentle hands and blessed. It was destructed on the spot with fire. It could otherwise have brought fleas, lice and other pests into this country!
It would have been easier to deal with Somali pirates – at least they are willing to negotiate.
After finishing the hardships at Gumruk the next problem aroused. The clearing agency refused to bring the container to Aira unless a crane was hired at huge expenses. Another agency had to take over and finally yesterday morning the container arrived at the hospital gate early in the morning.
We started unloading around 9 am and before 1 pm the container was empty and steady on the ground.
|
|
|
|
|
|
VIDEO ← click here to watch video clip
How could it be done without a big crane? Well it is not the first time Aira Hospital receives a container, although we never had such a large on, so the expertise was there.
With a strong wire the container was fixed to a steady and chubby mango tree and the truck drove ahead. With the aid of two wooden poles to prevent the container from tipping it came nicely to the ground, exactly on the spot which had been prepared with stone foundations to receive the container.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Look and learn Mr Teddy and AKAKAS! This is how we do things in the countryside of Ethiopia!
All the equipment is by now reloaded into the container which functions as an extra store. Piece by piece the items will be examined and registered except some urgently needed ones which are already in use or being installed, like operating theater lamps, autoclave, operating theater tables and anesthetic machine. All the rest equipment will follow successively.
|
|
|
|
|
|
We are all very excited and extremely grateful and happy for this generous donation which will improve the quality of our service tremendously to the benefit of our many patients.
THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED AND PARTICIPATED IN THIS PROJECT! MAY GOD BLESS YOU!