In all likelihood, some of the trees were saplings when Scottish missionaries founded the hospital in 1895. The original mud brick structure, with room enough for eight beds, has grown in stages to become a 311-bed facility, where five doctors and one dentist care daily for an average of 650 inpatients. Many patients spill over into the mahogany grove, a welcome respite from the confines of the tuberculosis ward. During rounds, medical director Khami Chokani sees up to 100 patients, many with HIV, TB, and malaria. I used to see my patients on top of the beds, under the beds, between the beds.
Patients also use the veranda.
When it's raining, that's a problem. Some 2,000 miles away, Shashu Araya Zegeye has a different task. She travels to villages in the arid stretches of northern Ethiopia, training women in maternal and child health on behalf of Tigray Development Association, which provides rural development programs for people in that part of the country. Before joining the association, Zegeye worked with a children's center in the southeast, where the remoteness of some areas posed a hazard for a woman travelling alone. But Zegeye is accustomed to hardship.