Ethiopia part 2

On Tuesday we decided to spend the day out shopping and seeing the sights. We went to a wonderful little shop where the prices were fixed, as the bargaining was not our talent! The shop was named after the former emperor Haileselassie and we got great silver jewerly, hand m,ade greeting cards, scarfs, clothes, you name it we got it!

I wanted to add a note about the driving experience. It's like nothing I've ever seen or imagined! The intense smell of diesel burned my throat and I made sure to pop a tylenol before any care rides to try and avoid a headache. The people, cars, goats, dogs, mules & ox all shared the road equally, or so it seemed! I couldn't believe how well they all drove, they went so fast and swerved and just barely missed one another everytime! There was a lot of beeping, you beep to tell someone "watch out, im here or watch out im coming in" haha!
Solomon told us that if you have an accident and hurt someone you go to jail for 12 months and if your lucky you can get out in 8 months. Every day I was SURE I'd see someone get run over but luckily I didn't have to experience that!

The other really hard part about driving around the city was seeing everything and feeling so helpless. So many times i wanted to stop the car and go help a mom with her baby or help a old man down the street. A few times kids would approach the car saying " madamme, please, hungry, love you, please madamme" GUT wrenching, luckily we had granola bars handy and i remmeber the first boy that came we gave him one and he ran back across the street to his friend who was unable to stand to spinal injuries and he opened the bar and split it in half and gave some to the man. He looked at us and they both smiled. I smiled back....trying to thank them for letting me help.

Next we headed to the Alert Hospital, a compound for lepers. This place was incredible! I've heard so many people talk about it and it was so moving to see their handiwork and their dedication. They made their own strong from balls off wool, then they put the string on these nobs which were then used on the looms to make HUGE peices of fabric. The fabric is cut up and given to the different patients to make shirts, table clothes, bedding, hats, runners, napkins etc. We took turns "making the wool" with the women in a very dark room with no lights just sitting on the floor making wool. We watched men with no fingers work diligently to make welcome mats and on and on. By the time we made it to the gift shop we were ready to shop and help support the patients and their amazing work!

We headed for lunch and to the hilton to check our email then made it home late-afternoon to a napping Kidus which was nice, we relaxed and hung out on the fron lawn with the other families for a couple of hours and just took in everyone's stories! For dinner we had a great honor of meeting up with Travis & Joanna, gladney in-country reps, I was pretty much awed by them and their amazing jobs! It was a great dinner and we called it a night around 9 since Wednesday was the big day, Embassy day!

Wednesday was a trying day for both Renee & I. This was the only day we were going to be out and about Addis with Kidus and it was a lot of work! We started off by heading out to the Gladney Foster case houses to see all the babies!! This was great but also went WAY to fast. There were so many families crowding into little nursery rooms snapping pictures and asking to find different babies! It became somewhat of a blurr and i really wish I had more clarity as i walked around and smiled with the adorable faces!

There were 4 different houses to visit and only a short time to do it so i did the best i could to get pictures and still see all the beautiful faces. I loved going to the older children rooms and seeing the 1-3 yr olds running around laughing and playing. We got to see our Atlanta friends little boy which was soooo precious. he loved his package and we got some great video footage of him with his friends. We headed up stairs to find where our lovey baby had spent most of his 10 months! the caregivers were just showering kidus with kisses and hugs it was really special! I made some special little friends in one of the room where no one taking pictures, there were 6 little babes probbally between 8-12 months. They loved looking at the camera after I took their pictures. I know they won't remember me but I was happy I was making them all laugh hysterically. Just knowing they were happy at that moment made it seem ok but only until I realized they were waiting for their families and those families would be making them laugh for a lifetime did it all sink in, they were orphans, not at a day-care. They lived here. No mommy no daddy. yet :)

The coffee ceremony started and some families stayed inside to watch while other sat outside playing with their babes. I went back and forth as the smell of the cooked coffee beans was vERY intense and I almost couldn't stand it! When the coffee was done we had a seat in side and i drank the most delicious coffee i've ever had it was amazing! We chatted with the volunteer girls and just laughed and played with babies, it was perfect!

Next endevour, lunch with 30 people, 10 babies, 4 volunteers, 2 in-country staff and Top View Resturant. The view was of Addis and it was spectacular! Kidus was doing really well but that doesnt mean it was not a lot of work to feed a 10 mon. old and eat, and do diaper changes etc. I think we were a good team and I specifically am a great bag lady!

Successful lunch and now we were headed to our visa appointment. We headed to the big obnoxious fortress that is the U.S. embassy and made our way through medal dectectors and into a big cattle call type of room and waited with 50 other people on a very hot day with no a/c. Luckily there were seats and I relaxed and chatting with some families. Renee took Kidus up the stairs and within 5 minutes she was back, they had passed!

We had Solomon take us back to the house and we were done for the afternoon, more playing on the grass and cute baby noses were heard all throughout the house.

**At night i was reading Kane & Abel and then.....TWILIGHT, one night the generator wasnt working and i stayed up and read by candlelight and flash light, so addicting!**


stay tuned for the some shopping with solomon as our negotiator(hilarious), emotional moments, beautiful children, gut wrenching realizations, sad children, and 'an amazing sense of hope' part of the trip, parts 3 & 4...