Man on the Road

I had an interesting experience with a couple of friends the other day. We were walking along the sidewalk and saw a person laying on his side in the middle of the road shaking. Cars and Bijajs' were driving around the guy and no one seemed to be moving to help him. One motorcycle passenger said a phrase in Amharic and waved his hand over the man as he drove past. We approached and saw that the man was having a seizure. We did a quick assessment and decided to lift him up and carry him off the road. There was a small group of people that were gathering to see what was going on and as we carried the man to the sidewalk, someone motioned for us to set him down in the shade. His seizure continued as we set him down in the shady area. As he shook and foamy saliva kept issuing from his mouth and pooling on the ground, we noticed that he was continuously taping his pants pocket. One of the members of the crowd that was gathering reached into the man's pocket and withdrew a pack of matches. He then lit the match close to the man's face and blew the flame out so that the smoke went up the man's nostrils. Immediately the seizure stopped and the man sat up. Once we were sure that the he was okay, we continued on our way. None of us are exactly sure what happened. It was Meskel weekend (a very religious holiday for Orthodox Christians) and maybe it had something to do with that. One of the people I was with is a doctor and said that there is no way that someone could come out of a seizure that quickly. Who knows what it was all about, but it added an interesting twist to our day.

Below is a view of the Piazza at the centre of Hawassa. This is really a beautiful city.