A Volunteer’s Perspective in Sidama (Ethiopia)
Author Amy Borgman (right) leads a provider training. Photo: www.groundsforhealth.org By: Amy Borgman There is more to volunteering with Grounds for Health than the campaign on the ground, reaching “women at the end of the road.” Just getting there is half the fun and gives even more of a perspective of what is out there in our wide, wonderful world. My 6 AM flight left sleepy Burlington airport and dropped me off at LaGuardia where I transferred to the Emirates Airbus, holding 600 people on two levels; the economy passengers separated from the other passengers by a staircase and velvet rope. This is good training for the next part of the adventure. Ethiopia is a wonderful country. The capitol, Addis Ababa, is a large cosmopolitan city of several million people that spreads over many miles. But as you head south towards the Sidama zone where the campaign took place, you see a more rural vista. Roads become increasingly worn and traffic consists less of cars than of