So after being in Ethiopia for almost two weeks, I finally get a slow, peaceful Saturday to myself so I can get started with this blog thing. What’s a blog? How do you blog? Why start one?

If you’ve had the misfortune of knowing me for the past 3 or 4 years, you know that I love love love taking pictures. A simple piece of advice I have always stood by is this:

If you want to improve the quality of your photographs, improve the quality of your experiences.

Your photographs can only be as good as your experiences. Since I have been blessed with this awesome opportunity to create a bunch of really amazing experiences in the next few months, I’m probably gonna have some amazing pictures. What better way to supplement the storytelling capacity of photographs with words – hence this blog!

So what am I doing in Ethiopia? I’m here for about 6 months doing research. My project title reads “Use of Low Cost, Non-invasive, Technology to Determine Risk of Cephalopelvic Disproportion in Ethiopia.”

Here’s a quick explanation:

Cephalopelvic Disproportion, or CPD, is a form of obstructed labor where the pelvis of the mother is disproportionally tiny compared to the head of the unborn baby. In developed countries where there is adequate surveillance and infrastructure, the mother is able to get a C-section in time. In fact, more women get C-sections than the WHO recommended amount. In developing countries, however, where 99% of maternal deaths worldwide occur, things are a little different.

For example, Ethiopia suffers from 720 maternal deaths out of 100,000 live births (compared to 12 out 100,000 in developed countries). 22% of those deaths are due to complications from obstructed labor – entirely preventable deaths if only these women knew that they needed and could get a C-section.

Anyway, I’m no expert. I’m just here as a research scientist, working with the nurses, doctors, and other medical professionals, making sure the research equipment is working great, the data is good quality, and providing tech support when the need arises.

So for the past two weeks, as I get more and more exposed to the interesting world of international humanitarian research, I’ve learned a lot of things and experienced a lot of “firsts” – First time attending so many lunches with smart doctor people, first time submitting an international research proposal, first time seeing a hospital that turns into an overcrowded emergency room (like, the whole hospital) on a daily basis, first time seeing someone die from HIV, first time hearing a woman scream bloody murder from contractions… the list goes on.

Things outside research have also been eye-opening. I’m staying at a pretty fancy guest house called Morning Coffee Family Guest House. If you want to send packages to me, good luck – postal service is next to nonexistent, and my address is “around” the Zenebework traffic circle, “nearby” the FM radio station, in Kolfe Keranio sub-city, Wereda 05, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The guest house is fancy because it has concrete construction, 5 floors and a rooftop, private bathrooms, running water and (most of the time) electricity, and WiFi. The guest house is managed by an Ethiopian couple, Birtukan and Nesibu, to compliment and help sustain their nonprofit YZM. Most guests stay 1-2 weeks, and the people who come through this place are great. Perhaps a post for another time.

World outside research has had its fair share of “firsts” – first time in the African continent, first time in Ethiopia, first time eating Ethio-Italian fusion cuisine, first time eating Ethio-Mexican cuisine, first time drinking smoothies made from mangoes comparable to Philippine mangoes, first time meeting so many adoptive families, first time meeting so many adopted kids, first time doing a photoshoot outside the US, first time hearing a prayer in Amharic, first time writing a blog (haha)… and the list goes on.

Anyway, that’s it for my first post. Not too many photos, because I know I’m going to be here for a somewhat longer haul and there’s really no need to rush things and whip out my camera every chance I can get, like a tourist. So stay tuned for more drawn-out unorganized random ramblings littered with poorly framed shots!