Last Trip Post

I could write ten more posts about our trip to Ethiopia, but I'm going to wrap it up today. We traveled back to Addis Ababa on Sunday and stayed until our flight out late, late Tuesday night. Here is the view from our balcony at the guest house.

We were back in the crazy traffic -

And enjoyed the sights along the street.

We were blessed to eat (and dance) at the traditional Ethiopian restaurant.

On Monday, we went to the big market. Our driver, in his broken English, informed us that "it very crowded." My reply that I think he was less than impressed to hear was, "yes, that one please."

The next day we wanted to experience everyday Ethiopia where the "foreigners" don't go. We asked our driver to take us where his wife shops. Since our Amharic is non-existent and his English is broken, he started to call his wife. We told him that we weren't asking her to come, just to take us where she shops. He took us to a little market along a street with houses.

In reality, there is no blending in with our pale skin-tones, but we bought some skirts and enjoyed our time. Once the shops ended, we kept walking because we had some children walking home from school that were holding our hands. I kept waiting for our driver to stop us from entering the residential area, but he didn't, so the adventurous side of us kept on trucking. 

Suddenly, a woman came out of her compound and invited us for coffee in her home. There's not much more everyday than coffee with an Ethiopian family in their living room, so we accepted the offer. We stayed probably an hour, nervously thinking of how sick we may get as we watched her wash the dishes in filthy puddle water. Before she served it, the driver informed her that our dishes had to be rewashed in bottled water and sent a child out for two bottles. After the bottled water rewashing and Debs drying our cups with her skirt, she passed her tiny bottle of Purrell and we attempted to rub it on the mouth of each cup. Finally we told her that we would love it very hot (in hopes of killing extra bacteria). Our effort seemed to pay off because we didn't get any sicker than we already were.

The next day we returned briefly to give our host a copy of children's Bible stories in Amharic. I think it meant more to her that we returned to give it to her than it ever would have the first day. Here's a quick shot from the van of Debs presenting it to her.

I would love to launch into the story about how Tonya avoided questionable bathrooms until that last day in Ethiopia and how she desperately rushed into the public one-birr (two cents) squattie potty, but I'll save that for her to tell when she starts a blog :)

Our trip to Ethiopia was wonderful and I feel hopeful that Brooke's adoption case will start moving along after our face to face meetings. On the flight home, we had a long enough layover in Istanbul to take the subway across the city and see some of the sights.

The Blue Mosque

We got lunch to go from this cute little place and ate it on the subway ride back to the airport.  We were by far the only ones on the subway ride eating, or talking for that manner. There were no signs indicating "no eating" and we couldn't delay until the airport because we had to go through security, so we chowed down and watched everyone else stare at us.

While Tonya and Debra waited for our food, Alei and I headed across the street to a cute little shop. I bought the ceramic trivets that I had spied in the airport and the shop owner draped this pink thing on me. ( I was more than happy to oblige because he had allowed me to use his shop bathroom). Once Alei got the camera out, he jumped in the photo as well.

His plan for Alei in this white wrap was lost in translation, but we profusely thanked him and headed back to the airport for our long trip across the ocean.

Hawasa

 After two days in Adama, where Brooke lives, we headed to Hawasa. My sister co-authored a story in the magazine that she writes for about missionaries that reside there and run an orphanage. It was a four hour drive from Adama.

 We really enjoyed our time with the missionary family. We also brought them paper copies of the magazine. See it here under the little girl's arm at the orphanage while she plays with Alei's hair.

 While we played with the kids, a wild monkey strolled through for our entertainment.

  
And the 100 year old tortoise that came with the property showed himself. 

 It was wonderful to meet the children that make up the Ebenezer Grace family. 

 Alei seems to find herself a special friend at each orphanage. While they are often cutie-pies like this one, her special friend at Brooke's orphanage (other than Hana) was a darling 12 year old boy that referred to Alei as his best friend.

  
We each had one day that the food and water got to our stomachs. The second day in Hawasa was Deb's day. After throwing up in the night, we were going to let her rest at the hotel while we hippo watched. She didn't want to miss the fun, however, so staggered down to breakfast and rested in the pew. 

Wi-fi was few and far between, so we were focused when the opportunity presented itself.

I'm afraid there were many times we had the local Ethiopians puzzled at our behavior.

 Debs perked up for our hippo watch.   

  
We only saw the heads of two hippos but we enjoyed the experience.  

  
Since the hippo head pictures aren't worth showing, I'll show a beautiful tree at the resort instead. Wish we could grow a tree like that - they had an entire restaurant under it.

  
After that, we were back on the road to Addis Ababa; we estimated it at about seven hours but I think it may be the first time we got somewhere sooner than we anticipated. Driving in Africa, with no seat-belts, is a different experience then American road-ways. Check out our distance to the cart in front of us.

Or the cart on the side of us.
 

  
Next post - back in Addis.

Ethiopia - Day Two with Brooke

We started our day with a meal here - gorgeous.

On the second day with Brooke and the other kids at the orphanage, we pulled out the things we packed. First, we brought drawing paper and crayons. I thought that once the kids got bored with drawing, we would make paper airplanes to fly. They never got bored - I think we colored for two hours. They lovingly dedicated most of the pictures back to us.  
 

 We praised their creativity; it's so good to see their delight. Look at that smile! 

 If I could select a #13 child for our family - it would be Hana. We all bonded with Hana last year, and while we wanted to see her, we desperately hoped that she wouldn't still be at the orphanage this year. She is still there; she is one of the children that are stuck, in spite of no family, due to the parameters of the law. She has lived most of her life at the orphanage while her mother is out of the country. Her mother isn't willing to raise her nor sign for her to be adopted, so she is destined to grow up without a family. It is really heart-breaking, for her and the other two million like her!

 After drawing, we jumped rope and played soccer. The kids loved looking at pictures taken during the fun activities.

 We did get down to business and had a meeting about moving Brooke's adoption along. JD is smart in being hesitant about sharing our adoption challenges in Blogland, because Ethiopia is so strict about information and pictures. So without all the details, we think we have a way forward. I am not sure it would have happened if I hadn't been there in person. While they care deeply for the children, there are so many that have cases that move, that it isn't natural to pull yourself away to work on a super challenging case. There are allowances in the law that help Brooke, but since they aren't standard operating procedures, they had not been pursued until now. I hope to hear in the next few weeks that we are submitted to court. 

When we began Brooke's adoption, we hoped she was a simple one trip adoption and we would only have to travel for embassy. Since it's been so long since Bella went through court, we now have to travel two more times. Since I just returned, Brooke turned from a one to a three trip adoption. It's all good; God has a purpose!

Brooke is in the orphanage that Bella lived in from newborn to two years old. They all adored her and the director dug out this picture to show me. When you adopt children that have no baby pictures and little history, one baby picture is priceless!

Ethiopia - Day One

 I've been home several days, but most of them have been corn-rowing hair (three of the four done) and recovering from jet-lag. We had such a wonderful trip and have so many pictures that I don't even know where to begin - so I decided to begin at the beginning. And since we saw Brooke on the first full day in Ethiopia, the beginning is also the most important story to tell. 

Here is Aunt Deb, Alei and me on our lay-over in Istanbul -

Here is Aunt Deb, my friend, Tonya, and Alei in Addis Ababa after landing and collecting our 16 suitcases. I don't know if I ever introduced my traveling companions, but it was the four of us women loose in Ethiopia with only a driver named Jimmy that didn't speak much English!
 

  
We stayed at a different guest house this time, which was right down town near the airport. This is the intersection that we could view from our balcony.

We got in during the middle of the night Wed. night/ Thurs. morning, but were up and on the road Thursday morning to Nazareth, or Adama, where Brooke's orphanage is. The scenes of Africa from the car window are always captivating.  

 

  
There is a sharp contrast between the cities along the way and the open country side.

  
Once we were in Adama, we checked in our hotel and shuffled our luggage that was orphanage and school donations. 

 Our first stop was to see Brooke. While I can't show her face, I hope to show some of the joy that she showed in seeing Alei and me return. She came running when she saw us.

I can only imagine how thrilled she was to know that Aunt Deb and friend Tonya (that we consider family) care enough about her to also make the trip to meet her. We had more challenges this time communicating with her since we did not have a full time interpreter. I brought her new toiletries, some clothes and a stuffed camel that made her face light up; somehow Alyssa found out that camels are her favorite animal.

  
After sitting a while, I asked her to show Aunt Deb and Tonya around the orphanage. It is an impressive orphanage that raises chickens for eggs and cows for milk and sells the surplus.

The girls' rooms now had lockers. Brooke even had a key to keep her things safe. I'm not showing the open picture of it because she has a photo of herself in there, but she had the family photo book Alyssa made her and things we have bought her neatly arranged. 
 

 After spending the afternoon with her and the other kids, we headed out. It wasn't difficult that day because we were coming back the very next morning. Brooke walked us out.  

 We enjoyed the sites of Adama. After spending time in three cities in Ethiopia, it is still my favorite.

We delivered the school supplies to the West Sands school. It wasn't near as fun as my previous trips since school had not started back for the new school year, but it's nice to know that when the kids show up, there will be notebooks, pencils and crayons waiting for them. 

 A group of white women attract attention where ever they go, so we spent a little time with the kids that gathered at the school gates. We talked to them and handed out Slim Jims. 

These are the only camels we saw this trip. Previously, there were several herds along the drive to Adama. 

Tomorrow I will tell about our second day in Adama and the progress I hope I accomplished in Brooke's adoption case.