Dual mindedness

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Oh the joys of living overseas and feeling neither like an American and neither like an Ethiopian. Sometimes it is difficult and other times it is just funny to see the culture clash. 

A few weeks ago we had a team that came to visit us at the hospital and brought cloth diapers for the newborn babies and the pediatric department. One of their team members had come before and was moved in love and compassion that all the babies soiled rags with urine and stool, for the mother or helper to hand wash and change again. The beds get wet, the mothers get wet and the child is covered sometimes down to their cute little baby feet in poop. So this team decided it would be so much better, and more sanitary if we had reusable cloth diapers for the wards.

They got everything all set up and gave their specific instructions to the cleaning staff. I happened to be their to watch their interaction... all translated by our local Ethiopian IT worker, who knows nothing about cloth diapers, but he speaks english. 

"So what you need to do is fill up some buckets and fill them with hot water for the patients to put the diapers once they are dirty."

"But our patients will just put trash in the buckets." 

"Well, maybe you should label it: for dirty diapers only."

"We have tried this before and our patients just put trash in the bucket."

"Well, put some tape on it with specific instructions about what should go in which basket,"

"We have, and a number of our patients can't read."

"Well they will see."

"But we have tried and it didn't work. I can show you the basket with the amharic writing on it that says for dirty diapers only,"

"We should try again."

"And most of our patients don't know what a diaper is? Or know what to do with the plastic covers."

"We should teach them."

"But we have tried and then the dirty diapers and the plastic pants all went down the pit toilet and clogged the septic system."

"Well, we just need to teach them."

"But"

and she walked off to distribute the cloth diapers. 

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