UPEI nursing students work with Ethiopians living on mountain of garbage

Four nursing students from UPEI hope they have made a difference after spending three weeks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, working with a community of people living on a mountain of garbage.

"I couldn't even tell you how many storeys it is but it's very large, there's a river that runs through it which increases the smell of the area too," said Jackie Publicover, who's now going into her fourth year of nursing at UPEI.

"It's just something to see, how people are living off the trash dump — they scavenge through there for plastics that they sell for money, they scavenge for food that they eat."

The community of Korah has a population of about 130,000 people living on top of the garbage, and has very high rates of HIV, AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis.

The nursing students worked with a Christian outreach group called Brook Hills Development Organization, which helps the people of Korah with medical expenses, getting food and safer shelter.

The nursing students were joined by Andrea and Garth Slysz from P.E.I., as well as Jim and Marion Harris, who have been doing work in Ethiopia for more than a decade.

'Shocking'

Some of the people in Korah live in homes made from plastic.

Publicover and the other students left just before the two months of the rainy season, which is dangerous because diseases spread more quickly and there is a risk of landslides.

"There was a couple of times that we were there and it began to rain so hard that we had to leave because it wasn't safe for us to be there anymore," Publicover said.

"Which is kind of shocking because we're walking away getting into a van and driving away — where these people stay and they live there." 

There was also a landslide on the dump shortly after the students left.

Advocating for change

Publicover said the dump has been graded now, to make levels, but that hasn't prevented the landslides.

The nursing students went to a children's prison, had a tour of the United Nations and visited the the World Health Organization, where they were able to advocate for more help for the area.

Their presentation made an impact, as a World Health Organization representative visited the dump and is now working to bring more resources there.

"It was very surreal, I don't think I'll ever experience something like that in my nursing career again," Publicover said.

"Where we were able to advocate for an entire population of people and see something be done about it. It was very humbling to see that."

For nursing student Shayna Conway, the trip to Ethiopia was different from her two previous mission trips to Haiti.

"It was absolutely mind-blowing that people are actually living this way," Conway said.

Being in the rain with the children living in the dump is one of the memories that sticks out most.

"I was out playing with the kids and we were using the rain as an opportunity to clean up some faces because I don't think they have showers," Conway said.

"We just took our tissues and we were wiping their faces. They were glowing and so happy just to have that much of attention and it was really special."

Conway said she would also like to return to Ethiopia someday.

"I would love to, the people that we met are like our family now," Conway said.  

"They had us into their homes and feeding us food that they could not afford to be feeding us."

Conway, who was the sole survivor of a triple murder-suicide in 2011 in Alberta, plans to continue to go on mission trips after she graduates.

"I've been given another chance and I just don't want to waste it," Conway said.

Making a difference

Publicover said the experience in Ethiopia will make her a better nurse when she graduates.

"It's definitely increased my compassion and empathy that I have toward people," Publicover said. 

"It's widened my view of what goes on in the world and how I can help. It really made me realize how much a difference like each person can make."

Publicover said she would love to return to Ethiopia with future nursing students, as a mentor.

The nursing students will be part of a fundraiser to build a daycare in Korah, organized by Jim and Marion Harris in August. 

More P.E.I. news