Orders

Last afternoon in Addis and Sarah said that we must visit the nuns. These are the Italian Sisters who she stayed with last year . They came to Ethiopia in 1985 during the famine, and stayed to help the sick and feed street children. They are truly amazing women, living on very little and doing so much.
Getting to them was a real adventure..we wanted to try out the new Addis Light Railway which  has just opened - a $$$billion project financed by the Chinese. The north-south line is open - shiny and new. It only costs 2-4 Birr (about 10p) but the customers are not the poorer citizens of Addis. It is still a bit tricky to negotiate - ticket office in a container outside the station - but otherwise working well.
After the train, we had to squeeze into a succession of minibuses (fare 2-5 Birr)and then arrived at Kore where we asked for the 'Sisters who help the sick'. Noone seemed to speak enough English to help, so we walked to the local hospital and wandered into an office block and used a doctor's phone. Sister Emma said she would come and meet us.
D did a mini-ward round (burn contractions, palsies, Leishmaniasis) and then we had strong Italian coffee and biscuits called "Bacio di Dama" - a lady's kiss - brought back from Italy by Sister Mary. The nuns have to keep returning to Italy because they cannot get  a long term visa.
Wonderful women with a great sense of humour. They need it.