Ethiopia, not everything is war or famine

I am concerned about the war in Ethiopia.

The country is experiencing delicate moments.

We count thousands of displaced people, those affected by famine, victims of war crimes, and rights violations.

The international media echoes.

However, amid the country's worst crisis in decades, Ethiopia is not all war.

I do not want to downplay a conflict in which the stakes are high, but neither do I want to ignore or have the other activities that continue to represent the majority of the population be ignored.

For years we have wanted to give the image that Africa is not all drama, famine, misery.

However, when there is war it seems that all news is limited to it.

I want to draw attention to the other Ethiopia, that of the majority, that of the people.

Even when the country is confronted, there is life beyond the conflict, I do not want to ignore the work that most of the population is doing before my eyes.

For years we have wanted to give the image that Africa is not all drama, famine, misery.

However, when there is war it seems that all the news is limited to it

I want to share with you the meetings and the work that we are developing these days. I want to share how my social networks are filling with photographs of Ethiopians who from different cities of the country want to show how their life continues with its rhythm of normality, showing that most Ethiopians continue with their daily lives away from what the big headlines of the news show. How are the classes at the university, the work meetings, the purchases in the markets, the trips to bars and restaurants, the football matches ... in short, their daily routine.

My colleagues want to show how, in effect, most of the population are not fighting at the front, but are working, studying and carrying out their ordinary training activities.

We from the Gambo hospital also continue with our daily activities and hold new meetings looking for support and synergies.

One of the most important meetings has been with Dr. Mahlet Abayneh, whom I have had the pleasure of meeting during these days.

At the Gambo hospital, nurse Mintwuab and nurse Abu lead the newly opened neonatal unit and have already benefited from training at the capital's hospital

Mahlet leads the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Saint Paul's Hospital, one of the largest in the country. After accompanying her, I can say that she is an example for me to follow due to her capacity for dedication, sacrifice, commitment, enthusiasm and leadership. She, along with another neonatologist, runs a 60-bed neonatal ICU, struggling daily against the scarcity of both human and material resources and sharpening ingenuity to optimize the maximum, and I can attest that they are succeeding in an admirable way.

In the Gambo hospital, located in a rural area of ​​Oromia, we need doctors, but we think that it is not necessary to go to Spain to look for them, when Addis Ababa has excellent university hospitals such as Saint Paul's Hospital. With this idea we have established this collaboration. Thanks to her, the nursing team of the rural hospital of Gambo will be able to be trained in the Neonatal Unit of the hospital in the capital.

At the Gambo hospital, nurse Mintwuab and nurse Abu lead the neonatal unit that was launched just over a year ago and they have already benefited from training at said health center.

“In Addis Ababa I have learned care that I thought could not be practiced in our country.

And now, we are going to carry them out in the rural area of ​​Gambo for the benefit of our community ”.

Hearing these words from Mintwuab's mouth fills me with joy.

From the General Rural Hospital of Gambo, we are committed to national cooperation, we believe that it is not necessary to go looking outside when you have what you need at home.

We must remove the colonialist blindfold that prevents us from seeing, so many times, the wealth before our eyes.

Even in wartime, most Ethiopians live and work in peace.

Iñaki Alegría

is coordinating pediatrician in the maternal and child health and emergencies program at the Rural General Hospital of Gambo, Ethiopia.

FUTURE PLANET can follow on

.