Training is over, but learning endures with Ethiopian partners

By Christine O’Malley
Executive Director of Health Sciences
Fulbright Specialist, Ethiopia 2014

Today was the last day of our communications training on branding, content, and social media. What a terrific experience! We had participants from both University of Gondar and Addis Ababa University. At today’s final session, I handed out certificates, Ohio State Block O pins, and DVDs of the full course. Thanks to Kevin Kula in ODEE’s office for providing the DVDs and to Usha Menon for bringing them! IMG_0851

 

 

 

 

 

 

Throughout the training, our host, Mustofa Worku, supplied us with tea, coffee, and cake. It was a great opportunity to mingle and learn more about the participants, which I was happy to do.

Coffee breaks are still time for learning!
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During one break, Getachew Mekonnen from UOG’s Department of English Language and Literature enthusiastically shared his plans for teaching a course on English for law students and another course on English for students in the tourism and hospitality program.

During another break Yemataw Wondie told me about UOG’s activities related to teaching and learning evaluation.

At today’s final coffee break, I learned from another UOG faculty member, Tefere Eshetu, about his interest in environmental law. He is pursuing his PhD and is working on a research project related to water-related laws and policies, and the safety of rivers in Addis Ababa. It reminded me of the work our One Health partnership is doing on environmental health.

I learned another great tidbit from Mulugeta Bayisa, a faculty member in UOG’s College of Medicine and Health Sciences. Apparently, UOG’s program in physical therapy is the only one of its kind in Ethiopia. The college is looking for partners to build capacity within the department. I’m adding that to my to-do list!

What a great learning experience this has been so far! Here’s our class photo:

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And the group surprised me with an Ethiopian scarf featuring OSU-red! I’m wearing it as I write this.

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For more photos of today’s certificate presentations, visit our new Flickr set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/120091507@N08/sets/72157642196077295

And I can’t close this part of the project without acknowledging the tech staff in the E-Learning Center. Without their help, it would have been tough to present the sessions.

For the remainder of my time here, I will focus on writing a strategic communications plan, in collaboration with UOG’s PR staff, and advancing our partnership on multiple fronts, which I hope to write more about soon.

Respond to a negative?

By Christine O’Malley
Executive Director of Health Sciences
Fulbright Specialist 2014

Our communications training at the University of Gondar is in full swing. The training takes place here in the e-Learning center.

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We’ve covered branding, and we’re getting into content.

Yesterday we had a great discussion about inviting your audiences to share content via social media. One of my examples of how this could go awry was the McDonald’s 2012 fiasco with #McDStories. (For more: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/01/mcdialysis-im-loving-it-mcdonalds-twitter-promo-fail/)

Of course the question came up about responding to negative comments in social media. McDonald’s response to the above was to pull the McDStories campaign and eventually the tweets died down.

On Friday, we’re going to delve more into strategic engagement in social media, including handling negative comments.

I invite our readers to use the comment box on this blog to chime in. How would you advise our trainees on the following:

  • In managing an organization’s social media, do you respond to or ignore negative comments? Why?
  • How often do you post on your organization’s social networks? What’s the minimum? What’s too much?

Thanks for sharing with our group!

New website, same great blog

By Christine O’Malley
Executive Director of Health Sciences
Fulbright Specialist 2014

Hello! Welcome to our new One Health website. We continue to post information about the Ohio State / Ethiopia One Health Partnership as well as other one health activities of Ohio State’s seven health sciences colleges. So much has happened since last year, we thought an expanded website would capture this progress.

It’s now 2014. Ohio State’s College of Nursing sent a team to Gondar in January, and they will return in March. The cervical cancer screen-and-treat project continues to be a priority, but one of the March trainings will be on life-saving techniques for drowning victims. We’ll post updates of the March visit here. The nursing team will also be joined by Ohio State’s College of Social Work, as they explore possible education and research partnerships.

Right now, I’m at the University of Gondar to lead a Fulbright Specialist project on institutional communications, help finalize the agenda for the 2014 summer institute, and facilitate a meeting about a potential new pilot project.

IMG_5597The first thing I noticed is that I have left the snow and winter behind. Not a bad thing, in my mind! Beautiful mountains, light breezes, and a warm sun. That’s Gondar.

Our institutional communications training started this morning, with an intro to iTunes U. I created a course, http://go.osu.edu/brandedsocial, and I’m presenting it in person here for the first time. We had a minor technology hitch with getting everyone set up with an Apple ID, and the download speeds were on the slow side.

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We are making the best of it by downloading the whole course for all the participants to share. Another nice development is that Addis Ababa University will send a group to participate during one of the training weeks. I really look forward to meeting that team as well.

One thing you quickly notice about the university and the city of Gondar, is the contrast between progress and the past:

 

Construction scaffolding is everywhere. With new buildings at the university, the campus will look like a different place in a short time.

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New construction in the downtown area seems like mostly banks and hotels. Gondar’s tourist industry is growing. At breakfast at my hotel this morning, guests were speaking several different languages.

And in our intro session this morning, everyone shared how the digital communications revolution has affected them – faster speed of information, more time spent on social networks, more channels available, sometimes less civility. It’s obvious that many people use cell phones here, though it seems tablets are more rare.

But as you drive around the city, many people still use donkeys or walk long distances.

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It’s only my second day here, but I have a feeling I’ll discover many other contrasts. Of course, I could not get around to see all this without the generous time spent by my gracious hosts at the University of Gondar.

 

Thanks for visiting our blog.

Christine

 

Maximum learning, for all partners

By Wondwossen Gebreyes, DVM, PhD 
Ohio State College of Veterinary Medicine

As I said in my previous post, we learned many things from each other during this successful Summer Institute. Here are a few of my thoughts on specific topics.

Maximum flexibility and minimum expectations: This became the motto for the team members a couple of days after we arrived. Considering the resource limitations of Ethiopia, the high economic growth and resulting traffic jams, and limitations in communications, one may not be able to plan things well in advance, or keep your lane consistently in driving on the highways, or be able to arrive for meetings on time.

Crowded streets of Addis Ababa.

At the end of the day, we always achieve all the goals, and everyone gets to be happy, though not in the most efficient way.

The situation also made me realize how much building capacity in the area of effective communication could improve all the activities we conduct in this partnership, be it neurosurgery, nursing, or environmental health.

Effective communication and filling the gap within our partner institutes in Ethiopia is critical.

However, life in the U.S. made us become very sensitive. We often try to be perfect. Ethiopia was a great venue for most to realize the sky does not fall. It is OK to be a bit late.

Relax, and still achieve our goals!

Equipment. Equipment, Equipment: As we all witnessed during our several meetings at the various health science colleges of the two universities and also read in blogs, one key ingredient missing very much in the hospitals, research, and teaching settings is equipment.

During this trip, I learned first-hand that 44% of the patient cases at the nation’s premier referral hospital, the AAU Black Lion Hospital, were cancer cases. It was sickening to also learn that among these cases, 65% were pediatric. Yes, indeed there is lack of manpower, and so we launched the institute.

The partner universities are also building the physical infrastructures. While these address part of the issue, the lack of equipment is a major impediment for capacity-building. How can one radiotherapy machine can handle such a large cancer case burden for 85 million-plus population?

Equipping laboratories and clinical units remains a major challenge that partners in Ethiopia and Ohio State will have to tackle.

Maximum motivation: I never realized so clearly until this trip what drives my passion in global work, particularly the teaching aspects. Never fully understood what drives me to lecture several hours with only a short tea break and still have the full steam.

I observed my colleague, Dr. Bisesi, give his lecture on environmental health, and I saw the wide open-eyed trainees and their interaction. I noticed the high level of motivation by the trainees. The same was true for my course.

Dr. Wondwossen Gebreyes with faculty at Addis Ababa University.

Students were so highly motivated that they even asked me to teach a full day on a Saturday. Some even suggested we keep going on Sunday, but that idea created a bit of a stir. “True,” I said in my heart, “that is a big NO in Ethiopia.”

You have to respect Sabbath day more than molecular epidemiology.

The Ferenji Effect: Ferenji is defined very loosely as “a foreigner,” particularly referring to a rich Caucasian. Its connotation is very positive. Ferenji is often considered as a nice, generous foreigner whose pocket carries endless amount of treasures … well, we all know the truth.

Typically Ferenjis are magnets to Ethiopian kids in urban and rural areas of Ethiopia; they often have chocolates, coins, and all kinds of fun things. At a minimum they have a digital camera to snap kids’ picture and show it back to them. The kids giggle seeing their own image in this small window. They followed Dr. Bisesi and Mr. Harrison as we traveled in a suburb of Addis.

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During the Summer Institute, I witnessed the usual hospitality of the university security guards and others giving the due respect to our “guest Ferenjis” and I (the designated local chauffeur) also get a free ride.

Unlike what I stated above, about “Ferenji are magnets to local kids,” kids in the Woreta area acted differently. When we were collecting questionnaires for the rabies project, the kids would run away when they saw our giant, “tall-6-foot-some” great athlete and health science student, Korbin Smith. “They might have considered him as Goliath,” I thought to myself. I also hoped one of those little shepherd kids would not be like Dawit (David). Thankfully, we left the place with all fun and no fighting.

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Ohio State in Ethiopia: A great experience overall

By Wondwossen Gebreyes, DVM, PhD
Ohio State College of Veterinary Medicine

It has been wonderful working with all the Ohio State and Ethiopian faculty and students during the One Health Summer activity that run from June 7th to this week.

First off, I am very much proud to be a Buckeye. Everyone from the Buckeye nation (Ohio State) showed wonderful professionalism throughout the Summer Institute.

I heard all positive words from our partners in Ethiopia. Students and faculty from five of our seven health science colleges and also School of Environment and Natural Resources have all been great to work with.

I am also proud to be born Ethiopian. I am sure all my colleagues tasted the ultimate hospitality and motivation both in classrooms and social settings and learned a great deal of variations in traditions.

Lunch at Addis Ababa University.

The commitments from both student trainees and partner administrators has been unsurpassed. It gives me a great pleasure seeing the trainees’ eyes wide open in the various lectures, sharing the Ohio State students’ excitement for service learning (even some requested opportunities for next year before leaving Ethiopia), and reading all the blog posts from our students and faculty members.

Importantly, personally, I also learned few more things about Ethiopia and partnership along the way.

With respect to the scientific/ technical aspects of the Summer Institute, I am confident to say that we achieved the goals – in all aspects: coursework and trainings, pilot projects, and workshops. We were able to impact more than 200 professionals in these courses. And a number of scientific networks and new collaborative partnerships developed. Partner colleges were able to identify areas for further collaboration.

Both the Univeristy of Gondar (photo below) and Addis Ababa University partners as well as other institutes — such as the Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute (EHNRI) — were excited with the outcome.

U of G gate.

It was humbling to hear from the dean of AAU School of Medicine, Dr Mahlet, I quote: “We thought Ohio State would be similar to many, many universities we signed MoU with before and never heard from them again. You made us feel guilty by showing your commitment in a short period of time. Thank you and we are also determined to show our commitment.”

As we move forward, the Ohio State Health Sciences task force will resume its activity in full force. On behalf of the Ohio State Health Sciences One Health task force, thank you to all those who participated in the Summer institute! Some of the upcoming activities will include visits by the Ethiopia partner universities delegation; continued pilot projects on cervical cancer screen-and-treat, rabies intervention, electronic capacity-building, and service-learning clinical activities by neurosurgery and nursing teams. Please stay tuned and follow our blog.

In my next post, I will share some specific thoughts and observations on these activities.

An island monastery in Lake Tana

By Laura Binkley, student
Ohio State College of Public Health and
School of Environment and Natural Resources

During a quick visit to Bahar Dar, we were able to venture into Lake Tana. Lake Tana is the widest lake in Ethiopia and one of the largest lakes in all of Africa. Emptying into the Nile River, it contains several islands. Many of these islands possess ancient monasteries that have been well preserved by the monks. We decided to take a boat tour that would take us out to one of the islands.

Traveling across the lake provided us with fascinating views of the landscape and a strong sense of calm after an intense week of data collection. As we moved through the lake we passed giant pelicans, townspeople cleaning their clothes in the lake, and fisherman fishing in hand-made papyrus boats that seemed impossible to balance in. On our way to the island we crossed paths with the Nile River itself which was a pretty incredible experience.

When we stepped off of the boat onto the island we were surrounded by green. A vast field included papyrus plants and a variety of trees and plants from coffee to mango and banana. We walked down a small mud path towards the monastery where we were greeted by villagers selling fresh fruits and tiny handmade papyrus boat souvenirs among other things.

Once we arrived at the monastery we paid our fee to enter and were then led by an elderly monk to a small stand that he called a museum. He explained that the monastery had been around since the 12th century and then proceeded to show us the contents of the museum which consisted of ancient books, an emperor’s robe, elaborate crosses, and other priceless valuables of the church.

Once our tour of the museum stand was complete the monk lead us to the monastery itself. The monasteries on all of the islands are circular in shape with three main parts. We started at the outer part which consisted of a small wall left open to the outside that surrounded the monastery. Here was where we were to take off our shoes before entering the sacred place.

We were then lead inside to the second part. This section was dark except for the little light that illuminated the walls which  were covered in beautiful Christian art pieces. There were also ancient worship drums that were made of clay and covered in hide. We were not allowed to enter the third section where a sacred arc in honor of Mary was hidden. I can only imagine how fascinating it must look.

Once we had a chance to look around for a bit we grabbed our shoes and exited the monastery. We thanked the monk and then headed back down the trail to the boat that had been waiting for us. The boat then headed back towards the mainland again. It was all a very surreal experience that can only be found here in Ethiopia.

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Haggling for souvenirs

By Korbin Smith
Student, Ohio State College of Medicine
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

After the conference in Addis finished, we were about to do some touring throughout the capital of Ethiopia.  Downtown Addis has the biggest market in all of Africa.  This market is essentially hundreds of small stores all selling a mixture of food, clothes, and souvenirs. Growing up in a family in which going to garage sales was a regular family activity, I was prepared for the price negotiations.  In other words, “this wasn’t my first rodeo.”

While I did have a decent amount of birr to spend on souvenirs, I wasn’t giving up my money without a price battle.

After feeling out the atmosphere of many different shops, I began the negotiations. I am not going to name the specific things I was purchasing to avoid ruining the surprise for people back home, but I can describe my negotiation strategy.

I picked two items I liked in one store, and the owner told me 300 birr.  I decided that it would be a good strategy to offer half the asking price.  After being shocked that I was haggling, the owner said 250. I followed up with 200.  Ultimately I said 215 as my final offer, and they took it saving me 75 birr. (That one is for you Dad.)

Watercolor inspirations in Gondar

By Karla Zadnik, OD, PhD
College of Optometry

Watercolor inspirations in Gondar!

Watercolor inspirations in Gondar!

Watercolored images of Four Sisters (restaurant) and the transportation van's dashboard chickens (by Karla Zadnik)

Watercolored images of Four Sisters (restaurant) and the transportation van’s dashboard chickens (by Karla Zadnik)

Dr. Karla Zadnik with the ethics course attendees at the University of Gondar

Dr. Karla Zadnik with the ethics course attendees at the University of Gondar

Ethics Engagement in Ethiopia

By Karla Zadnik, OD, PhD
College of Optometry

 

The Summer Institute’s research ethics course chugged along today. I started late, mostly because I didn’t realize most of my students were in the courtyard just outside the classroom in the bright morning sunshine, waiting for me to begin speaking. I lectured on the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki (OSU faculty—you all remember those, right?) and the ethical use of animals in research (thanks Donna McCarthy!), but the highlight turned out to be the case study discussions.

I presented a case I’d heard at the 2008 Public Responsibility in Medicine & Research meeting. It weaves the tale of an imaginary city, Blovar, which is under siege such that its children are subsisting on an inadequate 400 calories. An entrepreneurial, mythical scientist who studies nutrition and brain function in children appears on the scene to conduct a purely observational study of the children. After carefully reading the case, the course attendees “went to town.” After their small group analysis of the case, I facilitated a discussion of the case. They didn’t need me. There were marked differences of opinion in the class. One attendee drew historical correlates, while another took the role of the Principal Investigator, cautioning the audience to assume that fellow scientists generally want to do a good job. The points made were lively, vehement even, yet collegial. All this before lunch!

The afternoon’s soundtrack was a thunderstorm of biblical proportions that hammered the roof of the classroom and lit up the sky. We all raised our voices in tune with the rain and created a chorus, celebrating the hard, thoughtful work of teaching and learning research-related ethics.

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