Usefully employed in Tumu-Tumu.

ETHIOPIA It was only a few weeks before my final departure that I learnt that I could spend part of my elective at Tumu-Tumu in Kenya. I had no idea what to expect, and it was with some apprehension and a suitcase judiciously packed with a range of books, designed to cover most eventualities, that I left Heathrow for Nairobi. Tumu-Tumu lies about 110 km north-west of Nairobi in Central Pro? vince at an altitude of 2000 m. It is a fertile agricultural area with lush vegetation that supports a relatively dense rural population. The main crops are maize, bananas, tea, and coffee?much of it grow? ing on small holdings of a few acres. The region is dominated to the east by Mount Kenya, rising to over 5500 m. I travelled from Nairobi to Karatina, a sizeable market town about eight kilometres from Tumu-Tumu, by matatu?a type of com? munal taxi. There is no real village at Tumu Tumu, which apart from the hospital comprises a group of mission build? ings, including a church and girls' boarding school, a few basic shops, and a couple of bars. The hospital has about 200 beds and five wards: men's, women's, women's gynaecological, maternity, and paediatric for children under 5. Each is an independent single-storey building within the hospital compound. In addition, there is an out? patients department, an antenatal clinic, an operating theatre, a laboratory and an x-ray unit, together with several domestic buildings including a home for student nurses. TAN7ANIA