I completed an internship with a nongovernmental
organization called Engage Now Africa. The internship was based in Debre Zeit,
Ethiopia. Debre Zeit is located about an hour south of the capital of Ethiopia.
My duties in the internship included gathering data concerning the humanitarian
projects completed in the villages, volunteering and shadowing at the local
hospital, and teaching English at a local school. It was a very engaging and
interesting internship that helped me develop understanding of foreign health
care and aid.
My
wife and I arrived in Ethiopia and were trained by Diana Bingham who is the
country director of Engage Now Africa (ENA) in Ethiopia. We were introduced to
the local staff and situated into our housing. After a day of training, Diana
left to go back to America and we went to work. It was difficult to get started
at first due to the Ethiopian staff. We immediately learned that the Ethiopian
culture is very laid back in meeting deadlines. We would often plan our day
full of activities and only accomplish a handful due to Ethiopian culture. ENA
has built schools, sanitary wells, and health posts throughout the villages
surrounding Debre Zeit. It was our job to travel to these projects and collect
data, testimonials, and pictures that could be utilized to produce results for
the donors of ENA. We were able to travel to a lot of projects and collect a
lot of data and pictures. It was great to see all the good that has been done
due to ENA’s efforts. There were many villages that had gone without a school
until ENA came and built the school. After the school was built it was handed
over to the government, which would then higher teachers to run the school.
Thousands of children are now able to attend school thanks to ENA. Wells were
also dug by ENA, which has helped decrease the amount of disease due to unclean
water. ENA drills for water and then sets up a pump and caps the well to
prevent contamination. ENA also has set up health posts throughout the villages,
which brings medical help to the people. Villagers can travel to these health
posts and receive basic healthcare that would normally cause death without
care.
My
wife and I were also able to teach English at a local school in Debre Zeit. The
national language in Ethiopia is Amharic. The villagers rarely speak English
but they need to know English in order to be employed in Ethiopia. We were able
to teach English at a school. The children were more than willing to learn the
language to get ahead in life. We did a lot of exercises and played a lot of
English learning games. By the end of the internship the children were able to
carry out a basic conversation with someone on the street. Hopefully this spark
of learning will motivate them to continue to learn the language and get ahead
in life.
I
am a premedical student, so I wanted to get some insight on the health care
system in Ethiopia. I was able to arrange with the Debre Zeit hospital a shadowing
and volunteering opportunity. Every day I would spend a few hours in the
hospital shadowing different doctors. I saw a lot of typhoid, HIV, and malaria.
There were also a lot of car accidents, fighting injuries, and abuse. I saw a
lot of cases that I would not be able to see in America. I was also able to
clean parts of the hospital and make lots of gauze. The doctors are educated
and employed by the government. The government pays the doctors very little to
work at the hospitals. To make more money the doctors usually work at a private
practice and spend little time at the hospital. Due to this issue, the nurses
see most of the patients at the hospital. I feel the health care system can be
improved in Ethiopia by training the doctors, donating new equipment, and
helping reform government health care services.
This
internship helped me get a better perspective of the world. I enjoyed meeting
different types of people along the way and learning from their strengths. I
learned that there is much good that can be done throughout the world.
There are basic needs that every human should have met and I feel like there
are many people not getting the necessities.
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