The Unknowns

Hello Erin and Jeff’s fan-base! Tiffany Hall here, long time reader first time blogger. I was lucky enough to get to visit Jeff & Erin at the lovely Lalmba compound for a couple of weeks, and it was nothing I expected, everything I expected, and more. I could write pages about their big hearts and wonderful intentions, but these are givens at this point. Instead, I’ll write about some things I didn’t know.

Let’s start with the setting – I had no idea that the buildings where they work are only 50 yards from where they live. While on the one hand, this makes for the best commute EVER, on the other it must wreck havoc on the division between work and home life. Throughout the evening/night, people can come ask for help, for anything from an emergency overflow of patients after a machete fight, to having run out of basic supplies because one of the workers from town didn’t bother to check the storage cabinet before they left for the day. Maybe if they didn’t have the security blanket of staff sleeping 30 seconds away, they would have been more careful?

Next are our friends. I have known these two for over 10 years, and was comforted to see the old familiar habits and traits I equate with each of them. I knew them in college, so I’ve seen them both in work and play. However, the way these characteristics have developed with them into their professional lives is perfect. Too perfect. Erin still focuses on making sure she does the best job she can do, while keeping a sense of humor about slipping in the mud, and speaking in Kafenono to children and worried mothers to put them at ease. The trust and love people feel both for and from her are made clear by the looks on everyone’s faces – the staff, the orphans, and the community. As for Jeff, he’s as much a goofball as ever, as well as a professional, respected, and just plain good doctor. He trains and tests the people working for him constantly, but in the supportive and lighthearted way that makes people want to learn. He is serious when talking about the gravity of patients’ situations, but still takes the time to try to make them smile.

Finally, the similarities to Pomona. While they do have someone who makes them lunch during the week, and cleans the house and washes the laundry, these are not the main points I want to make. Somehow it doesn’t feel quite as extravagant in the middle of rural Ethiopia. I’m referring to the familial atmosphere they’ve created. Every night after work, the entire Lalmba family (E&J, Richard from New Zealand, the other American couple Andrew & Faith, and their daughters Alea & Emry) gather around the dinner table to share food, stories about their day, and the unspoken bond of having at least some shared ideals. They play games, watch movies, and tell fart jokes; they have disagreements; they make everything work.

Jeff and Erin will miss Ethiopia - the country, the work, the community they’ve created around them. More than this, Ethiopia will miss Erin and Jeff, from the positive changes they’ve made in their jobs to the laughter they bring everywhere they go. Before visiting I didn’t know any of these things, but having learned them, I’m not at all surprised.