Ethiopia, known as the country with 13 months of sunshine due to the uniqueness of the Ethiopian calendar, is just north of Kenya. Over 50% of the population of 70 million people are children, but there are fewer than a handful of pediatric surgeons in the country.

Thanks to the hard work of Mr. Justus Marete, BethanyKids signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Myungsung Christian Medical Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on November 30, 2011.  MCM is growing rapidly and we are excited to begin this partnership with them.  MCM has five operating rooms carrying out an average of 300 surgeries per month. According to their annual report, 766 babies were delivered in 2010.  There is a seven  bed ICU and they were able to provide shunts for 106  hydrocephalous patients in 2010. 

MCM has signed an agreement with PAACS and the first student will be starting in August 2012. A PAACS program director is coming mid 2012 from the US.  In addition, COSESCA has approved MCM as a training site.  The Ethiopian education authorities have approved a two-year degree program for qualified nurses.  MCM is only seven years old in Ethiopia and has thrived largely due to the support of a large Presbyterian church in Seoul. There are 30 missionaries from the church working in MCM.