Newsletter Dec. 2007

DEAR FRIENDS

It has been quite some time but here is our English language newsletter from Ethiopia. Sorry, we missed mailing an English newsletter last year. We have not been quite on target with our regular English newsletter since we went ‘overseas’ again in 1998. We arrived ‘back’ in Ethiopia November 2006. The last time we lived in Ethiopia was from 1977-1983 and 1986-1989. From 1998-2007 we were in India and Nepal.

LOOKING BACK
This past year has been one of many changes. We have a nice home (photograph) that still needs a bit more work to make it really home e.g. curtains for some of the rooms and a carpet.

Wim: I feel I have a good grasp on the functioning of a different ALERT after having been away from this place for 18 years. The place has grown! Why go back to a place that I left 18 years ago? That is a question that I am sometimes asked. Three reasons:
ALERT has changed and has become a more general hospital with focus on AIDS/HIV, Tuberculosis and reconstructive surgery.
Leprosy tends to become ‘forgotten’ and that is the main reason why I am back. I have changed through 18 years of additional experience and other interests and my role and function here are different. I am now appointed as a general rehabilitation consultant with responsibilities also for (clinical) research and local/international training courses, developing new courses and promoting rehabilitation generally in Ethiopia.

Mariet: Living in Ethiopia without our 4 children (unlike the last two times) has given me the time to work on other projects. I now volunteer with children that have been recently hospitalized in ALERT. Together with two volunteers I organize some fun times for the children and at the same time we try to teach them to read and write. Some of the children have not had an education. With the opening of a new ward for children with AIDS/HIV the numbers will soon start to increase. Besides this volunteer work there is always ‘open’ house for international trainees to give them a home away from home.

OUR (GRAND) CHILDREN
Marit and Herman and their two children (Marinda and Tristan) will move to Nunspeet in January. Nunspeet is where Herman was born and raised. Herman has a new challenging job, a kind of job he has wanted for many, many years. He will be working as a mentor within an organization that provides counseling, work and a place to stay for people with different psychological and social difficulties. In this job he will be able to combine his technical expertise with his love for people. Marit will give up her job as a social worker/volunteer coordinator and will be looking for a new job closer to their new home. The children are looking forward to living closer to their "Dutch" family. (marit.brandsma@gmail.com)

Lise and Remco are still living Amersfoort. This year their second child was born, Alina Malaika (bright, beautiful angel). Remco and Lise’s electrical installation company is now well established, and besides being a 24/7 mom for Justin and Alina, Lise does the administration and does some volunteer work on the side. All is well in Amersfoort

Renzo. Art is his passion. He recently had an exposition at the Central offices/conference centre of the United Protestant Church in the Netherlands. He is currently working on a new series of paintings on goatskin and after his visit with us in Ethiopia he will be going to Uganda to work on a photo project.

Joy-Desta completed her one-year contract with Doctors without Borders in Ethiopia this year. (In Humera, the uttermost North West of Ethiopia close to the border of Eritrea and the Sudan. A politically, and climate wise, very hot spot!) She was project manager for the AIDS/HIV project in that region. The project was handed over to the regional government before she left. She is now living with her boy friend Christopher, a medical doctor, working in a remote corner of Uganda and will soon begin her master’s study in Public Health.

LOOKING FORWARD
We are looking forward to have all our children and grandchildren here for Christmas and into the New Year. Ethiopia is the country they grew up in; where they had many friends, some of whom are still here. Where they learned to swim and went camping at one of the Rift valley lakes. Where they climbed trees and had their first boy friends (the older two). Where they would like to meet again with our former house help, gardener and night watchmen. Above all, where they would love to eat Injera again and attend Ethiopian coffee ceremonies.
We have our own website (thank you Renzo) and through the website you will be kept in touch about us including photographs of the millennium Brandsma reunion!

May God bless you all richly in this coming year!

Who invented Christmas?
Of course, God did!
He gift-wrapped the first Christmas present
In swaddling clothes and celebrated in a stable.
He sent
The first Christmas greeting by an angel host
And turned on the first Christmas light
to guide the wise men.
On the first Christmas tree
God hung the gift of His Son.
And on the nametag He wrote:
"To a world with love."
(Author unknown)

Shalom and blessings,
Wim and Mariet

The Great Divorce

(With apologies to CS Lewis, a well known Christian apologist)

Once upon a time there was a ‘single’ medical service that only dealt with leprosy patients. As time went by and singleness did not seem very attractive and cost-effective by leprosy organisations and governments alike, Leprosy got engaged and married TB. This seemed a very fruitful marriage and many people have been blessed by this marriage, an arranged marriage that had To Be.
Then, as Leprosy in the minds of many got ‘old’, not attractive, and ‘disappeared’, a new lover appeared on the scene with the name of HIV. This much younger lover was very potent and has in many instances lured TB away from Leprosy.
In some places TB and Leprosy still have a relative good relationship and may even celebrate a 25th silver wedding anniversary. In many other places separation has set in and counselling has been unsuccessful in rescuing the marriage of two like-minded organisms. Of course, HIV is a very rich lover. Who would not want to start a relationship with such a wealthy, good looking ‘body’?
Leprosy, while single and enjoying the benefits of the bachelor getting all the attention from NGO’s who only loved her, now has been adopted by Ministries of Health. These parents have to divide their resources and attention to many, many children and Leprosy as an adopted child often suffers. When there are still partnerships, legalised or not, the problem is often one of attention: if there are many, many ‘children’ with TB, and TB is potentially killing, then the only one special child with Leprosy will often be ignored.
Leprosy often feels lonely and abandoned, has not disappeared, and starts feeling very much like an orphan. ‘Who will take care of me’? She thinks.
Yes, the Leprosy organisations, secular and mission, are still there. Some have adopted the name of that partner, TB, in their original name and now have a legal partnership, others are merely still dating.
Care for leprosy affected persons is secured, although these organisations often have to fight for their cause with guardian parents like governments and respected advisory bodies such as WHO. In some instances they even have to inform them that Leprosy is still alive and that they are interested in continuing to care for her. But in the eyes of these beholders they are sometimes considered recalcitrant teenagers.
But what about the money? Funding for research? The rich uncles and sugar daddies seem to have plenty of money available for TB and AIDS/HIV research. Pocket money is sometimes only left for Leprosy. How much are they willing to invest in Leprosy to see to it that Leprosy will truly disappear and those that have been affected by her will live happy and whole lives? TB and HIV/AIDS can then live happily together and don’t have to think anymore about this orphaned child.

PS. For those that feel addressed in some way or another: don’t be offended. The story, however, may contain some (half) truth. Try to separate the chaff from the wheat and maybe see what you can/ should (not) do with some of these (half) truths: pray, lobby, donate...

Nieuwsbrief Augustus 2007 (Dutch)

Beste familie, vrienden en overige bekenden en meelevenden,
Een hartelijke groet vanuit Ethiopië! Voor de meesten van jullie is de zomervakantie voorbij met een verregende Juli maand. Jammer voor degenen die een binnenlandse vakantie hadden gepland, zoals wij, toen we die periode in Nederland waren. Juni tot ongeveer half September zijn hier de moesson maanden. Dus nog even meer regen voor ons, maar tussen de buien door kan ik toch nog geregeld tennis spelen. We zien uit naar het einde van de moesson, en het begin van een nieuw millennium.

Millenniumjaar
Zeven jaar geleden gingen we in het ‘Westen’ de nieuwe eeuw binnen. Nu is het dan de beurt aan Ethiopië. Vanwaar nu pas? Hiervoor moeten we een stukje terug in de geschiedenis naar twee heel belangrijke historische personen: één ‘werelds’, één ‘kerkelijk’ Julius Caesar (45 BC) en paus Gregorius (1582).
In de tijd van Julius Caesar werd de Julian Calender (JC) ingesteld; een jaar had 12 maanden van 30 dagen en 1 maand van 5 of 6 dagen. Om verschillende kerkelijke redenen zag in 1582 de Gregoriaans kalender (GC) het levenslicht met een aanpassing aan het aantal en de duur van de maanden en het jaar. Veel orthodox-christelijke landen gingen pas veel later over naar de GC kalender: Griekenland, 1923, Rusland, 1981 en natuurlijk heel recent Eritrea!
Dus nog 13 maanden in Ethiopië, als laatste land, maar geen 13 maanden met zonneschijn zoals de Ethiopische toeristen industrie ons wil doen geloven want er moeten toch zeker drie maanden voor de moesson worden afgetrokken. En, helaas, ook geen 13e maand uitkering van de baas!

Bezoek Nederland
Ja, in Juni/Juli waren we dan beiden in Nederland. Ik was uitgenodigd voor een belangrijke lepraconferentie. Het kwam ons goed uit dat deze conferentie in Nederland was georganiseerd. Mariet kwam ook meteen maar mee want we wilden toch wel graag ons 4e kleinkind bewonderen, toen inmiddels een week of 5 oud ( foto op de web-blog). Ja, met het weer hadden we het beter kunnen treffen maar we hebben toch wel genoten van weerzien van (klein) kinderen en aanhalen van kontakten met onze thuisgemeente in Amersfoort.

Familie reünie December
We kijken uit naar de December maand! Al onze kinderen, kleinkinderen en schoonzoons komen op bezoek om met ons de ‘westerse kerst’ in Ethiopië te vieren. Kerst in Ethiopië (orthodoxe kerk) valt 2 weken later.
Wij hebben gelukkig een ruim huis met 4 slaapkamers en twee badkamers en hebben die tijd ook nog de beschikking over een kleiner huis van een collega die met ziekteverlof is. Daarnaast nog een grote tent. Volop ruimte om die tent neer te zetten en het is de zonnige, droge, gegarandeerd regenvrije, tijd van het jaar.

Nieuws van de kids
Vanaf Oktober zal Renzo exposeren in het PKN gebouw (Protestants Kerk Nederland) in Utrecht. Er worden schilderijen en foto’s tentoongesteld. Als jullie in de gelegenheid zijn zeer de moeite waard.
Joy-Desta en haar vriend Christopher gaan naar Oeganda, het Afrikaanse land waar wij voor het eerst in 1973 neerstreken met twee jonge kinderen. Renzo werd er geboren en ja, Joy-Desta kon dus niet zeggen dat ze in Oeganda had gewoond. Begin dit jaar heeft Joy-Desta in Ethiopië een Peruviaanse arts leren kennen. Hij kwam naar Ethiopië voor vakantie na een periode in Kenia and Angola te hebben gewerkt. Zij probeerden aanvankelijk om een geschikte baan te vinden in Ethiopië maar dat lukte niet direct. Nu wordt het voor een Italiaanse ontwikkelingsorganisatie Karamoja in het Noord Oosten van Oeganda. Een Italiaanse uitzendende organisatie voor een Peruviaan? Dat kan voor een Peruviaan met een Italiaans en een Duits paspoort. Over de andere twee, Marit en Lise en hun gezinnen, wat nieuws in een volgende editie van de nieuwsbrief.

Internet/ Websites
Mariet heeft haar eigen laptop! Ze was heel afhankelijk van mijn laptop voor het email-internet contact maar kan nu, dankzij een welkome gift van goede vrienden, contact met de buiten wereld onderhouden wanneer het haar gelegen komt. Zij heeft nu ook een eigen e-mail adres: marietptl@wimariet.com
En... we hebben Internet aansluiting thuis! Alleen, daar mee zijn we natuurlijk afhankelijk van een goed werkende telefoonlijn. Daar hebben we helaas geen invloed op; het weer daarentegen heel erg. De website heeft wat uitbreiding gekregen en ook probeer ik op de website geregeld een blog weg te schrijven.
Verzoek:
Het scheelt onze thuisfront tijd en kosten wanneer we onze nieuwsbrief per e-mail kunnen versturen.
Indien jullie Internet toegang hebben geef dan het e-mail adres aan ons door. Voordeel van de e-mail nieuwsbrief: kan in kleur worden afgedrukt. De snail-mail nieuwsbrief wordt in zwart-wit verstuurd. Ook als jullie geen belangstelling meer hebben voor de nieuwsbrief graag even een mailtje/ berichtje.
Shalom en zegengroet,
WiMariet

New Homes for People with a Disability

Just to be sure I borrowed an alarm clock from the next door neighbors. This day, July 21st I had to get up at 4.00 am to go to an official function in Awassa, a town a four hour drive south of Addis Ababa. As usual, no need for the alarm. My built-in alarm did its work well, as it has done for so many years.

We, the hospital director and the hospital administrator and myself, arrived 10 minutes before the official ceremony, due to start at 8.30, and decided that we had enough time to drive into town and have breakfast. It turned out that we had. We returned at 9.20 and the official function started about half an hour later. We still had to wait for the arrival of the official guest of honor. It is not uncommon for functions and meetings to start an hour late when, back home, the doors would be shut or you would be very embarrassed entering a function that had started.
The official function? The handing over of 40 or so newly constructed houses for people with disabilities, many of whom who were disabled because they had had leprosy which in their case had resulted in multiple deformities and ‘exclusion’ from the community. The houses had been build on two different locations.
Many of these patients had been living for years on the outskirts of Awassa in shacks, Now they each have a home, duplex/ semi-detached, with an entry/ living area, two small bedrooms and a kitchen. Outside a toilet (sorry, for the Americans a ‘restroom’). This site is now totally ‘upgraded’, next door to a rehabilitation center for children, and will soon be absorbed in the city proper where in the past it was a place outside the city walls.
Where in the past the care of leprosy patients was predominantly ‘physical’ i.e. drug treatment, exercises to prevent joint stiffness, footwear and surgery, now there is increasing focus on, and interest in, the social/ economic aspects of care. Rehabilitation has become holistic and money has become available for vocational training, self help/ support groups, scholarships etc. and housing.
Not only that, donor agencies, and local and government officials have also joined hands in funding projects that look beyond the physical problems.
Not only that, people with disabilities have started organizing themselves and become ‘one voice’ in pleading their cause, even in ‘developing’ countries. In the case of this project, the organized ‘disabled’ people themselves were instrumental in initiating the project; more specifically the Ethiopian National Association of Leprosy Affected Persons. They were the ones that got The Leprosy Mission interested and a formal project proposal was formulated and discussed with the local government.
In the case of this housing project, the local government donated the land and local government officials were very much present during the handing over ceremony. A government official from the Federal government in Addis Ababa was the guest of honor and the main speaker. The leprosy organizations had contributed money for the building of these low cost houses, houses that were also made available for people with other disabilities then those that could be caused by leprosy e.g. poliomyelitis and blindness. As part of the official ceremony we, the guests, also visited a broom factory. In this workshop there were 15 people with various ‘disabilities’ employed including leprosy affected persons but also a patient with AIDS.
Again, the local government had donated the grounds and the workshop. A donor agency had equipped the workshop and fifteen families now have a regular income.
All of these activities and the organizations involved therein help to restore dignity in those they support and will reduce ‘stigma’ in the community. Worthwhile goals to pursue, for sure.
Shalom and blessings, WIM

ALERT (The All Africa Leprosy, TB and Rehabilitation Training Centre)

The blogs will always have a very different focus: sometimes more personal like the last blog, sometimes more work related/ professional.
This time a little more about ALERT, my place of work. ‘Googling’ with ‘ALERT–Ethiopia’ does at this point not give you the information you might want to have or expect. This will, hopefully, change in the near future. An aerial view of the grounds is shown on our homepage. A recent visit to ‘google earth’, however, does not show the many new buildings and the ongoing construction: two new wards, one donated by the Clinton foundation for AIDS/ HIV positive children and another ward for TB (Tuberculosis) patients. One more ward is planned for admission of patients that will be participating in (clinical) research trials.
But then also under construction, or already completed: a two-story administration building, an extension to the out-patient department, a pharmacy, and an ART clinic, for treatment of HIV+/AIDS patients. More construction still on the planning boards.
Prior to ALERT there was the Princess Zenebework leprosy hospital (sanatorium), established in 1934, the grounds being donated by the emperor, Haile Selassie.
In the late sixties, ALERT was founded as the referral centre for leprosy patients for Ethiopia and Training Centre for the African continent. The foundation stone for a new hospital was laid by the emperor in 1971 (see photograph). In 1969 the Armauer Hansen Institute was established on the same grounds. This is the institute were scientist try to unravel some of the many questions related to leprosy: why do certain people (not) get leprosy and why do people, once infected, react differently to the disease? How can the disease best be diagnosed and treated? What do we need to know to develop a vaccine? Now the institutes have merged into one (2004) and is it fully under the Ministry of Health of the Federal Government of Ethiopia.
In the past, a leprosy (referral) hospital. Now, a recognised expertise centre for dermatology, plastic-/ reconstructive and orthopaedic surgery, with a separate eye hospital. In the past, 20-25 expatriates: MDs, surgeons, therapists and scientists. Now, just a few (consultants), all the important key positions having been ‘Ethiopianised’. In the past, (international) courses for leprosy only. Now, Leprosy,TB and HIV/AIDS are taught in integrated courses. In the past, leprosy only specific services outside the hospital in the country site. Now, leprosy integrated in the general health service system.
AIDS and TB, as opposed The blogs will always have a very different focus: sometimes more personal like the to leprosy, are killing diseases and numbers are many, many more then those affected by leprosy: leprosy (4 – 5000 new patients every year but of course many, more ‘cured’ but left with deformities and disabilities; Tuberculosis (TB), approximately 450- 500.000-; AIDS, HIV, 1.3 million)
Leprosy is a disease that in numbers of newly affected people, very small in comparison to TB and AIDS/HIV, has not decreased significantly in the last decades. All general health workers need to continue be trained in leprosy and research needs to continue.
Shalom and blessings, Wim

Death and Life

Death:
I was in Holland recently for my mothers funeral. Both my parents (aged 89 and 87) have now gone to be with the Lord. They both passed away within the last ten months after a happy and fulfilled married life of almost 61 years! We had the funeral service in the church in which she professed her faith in God some years before the 2nd World War. My parents got married in the same church the year the war ended (1945) and had a thanksgiving service for their 50th wedding anniversary, again in the same church.
Back in Ethiopia I was ‘confronted’ with some cultural differences. I was expected not to go to work immediately and stay home for three days for Ethiopian staff and friends to visit us and show us their sympathy. I had gone back to work immediately after coming back to Ethiopia (one week after the funeral). I felt that people also showed some surprise that I did not seem too ‘sad’, maybe the usual ‘happy one’ to them. Well, my parents had had a blessed life together for almost 61 years….
Life expectancy in Ethiopia is not even 60. Maybe I should also have shaved my head which is the custom here in Ethiopia.
I also discovered some other differences between a funeral back home and here in Ethiopia (the Orthodox church). When somebody dies the funeral will usually take place the same day or the next depending on the time of death. The coffin will be carried around the church three times before the coffin is taken to the church grave yard. Family and friends will get together to commemorate the life of the deceased on the 40th day. They again will do the same on the first year following the death for each year up to the 7th year. The numbers 3, 7 and 40 are of course very significant numbers from the bible.

Birth
In Mariet’s family their have been quite a few death already. With every death there also been a new life. This time in our family no exception.
Our daughter Lise and husband Remco presented us with their 2nd child Alina Malaika which means “beautiful angel”. She is the sister to Justin. We thank God for this new life!

Have you seen the added photo galleries?
I very much appreciate feedback on the website and blogs. This may help me to write another one based on your comments.
Shalom and blessings, WiMariet

Bureau-crazy?

Based on my work permit I was granted a residence card. This is an important ID card that helps you also leaving and re-entering the country without having to worry about getting a visa every time you enter Ethiopia.

Now that I had one, it was Mariets’ turn to get hers. She would get one based on my work permit and having been married for 37 years that should not be a problem…… or so we thought. However, she could only get one on the basis of a legalised wedding certificate. Bother!
We never have travelled around the globe with a legalised wedding certificate in English. Moreover, this was also not needed in the 70tees and 80tees when we were living in Ethiopia for ten years. Times have changed (bureaucracy, bureau-crazy) both in Holland and Ethiopia since then. Let me recall for you the steps we had to take to get legally married again.
Step 1. I wrote a letter to the Dutch branch of The Leprosy Mission, included two copies of our passports, giving mandate to somebody from the office to visit the municipality/ city hall (Zaandam) where we got married to obtain a wedding certificate.
Step 2 and 3 After this was obtained, the certificate was send to the court in Haarlem and subsequently to the Ministry of Foreign affairs in the Hague for a few ‘stamps’ and signatures.
Step 4 Thanks to DHL we obtained this certificate within two days after step no 3.
Step 5. The legalised English marriage certificate was then taken to the Dutch embassy in Addis Ababa where it received another signature and a seal to prove that this was a genuine legalised marriage certificate from the Netherlands.
Next visit to the Ministry of Immigration in Addis Ababa (step 6). Not so! First to the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (step 7).
The certificate was subsequently duly signed again at these Ministries and received more stamps and signatures. Mariet is now also in the proud possession of a residence card for Ethiopia. The original marriage certificate with all the seals and signatures will now be framed and hung on the wall in our house for everybody to see that we are married.
When going through this process, we considered getting married legally in Ethiopia again for the court. We were informed that this is very, very easy in Ethiopia. However, birth certificates are needed (see step 1 above) and we decided to resign to the process as illustrated above.
Along with the embassy visit went our request for a document that will state that our Dutch drivers licences are not fake. On the basis of this document, for which we had to pay $120, the monthly salary of an Ethiopian medical doctor, we can then get our Ethiopian drivers licence. The process of settling in continues…..