At 11 pm last night I was sitting in a guest room at the Union offices in Addis staring at the screen of Renee's computer. All I had to do was switch the hospital's new five year plan from word to pdf and submit it on CD to the respective offices this morning.
Which doesn't sound like a big deal, but the whole process was balanced on a knife blade and if I didn't get the plan switched to pdf there would be trouble for sure, because some personages who view the hospital's activities with a jaundiced eye are on annual vacation--for now. Odd as it may seem unless the document was in pdf on the appropriate desk in the morning, the hospital would have no five year plan, no right to operate, no right to import supplies, and little chance for future survival. TIA.
I'm reasonably computer savvy, but I haven't gotten a full nights sleep in ages and the obvious quickly became opaque.
The internet at the Union is abominably slow, but I started loaded facebook while I was fiddling with the plan and five minutes later the page came up and a girl hailed me via facebook chat. I didn't know her. Most of our staff add their friends, so that wasn't surprising.
I was in no mood to chat and fired off a few terse words in reply. Facebook is distracting and I almost signed off. Then inspiration struck. I told the girl what I was struggling with, which wasn't easy because most days I could just about do the pdf switch in my sleep, or so I thought.
She happened to be in the library at Southern Adventist University. She enlisted a librarian (blessed be all libararians) and started giving me instructions. Lo and behold, the plan was in an antique version of word. A quick switch to word 07 and the process was complete.
I know this story sounds trivial, and compared to our surgeon crisis, supply shortages, and the odd death threat it is. But to me it was a miracle, just in time to save my faith and sanity.
So thank you God, and Monica Nunez, thank you. In your own small way you saved the hospital.