3-22-2012
WE headed up to the DayCare bright and early this morning.
We wanted to be there to do a basic check on all the babies at bath time.
Baths did not happen this morning so we had to improvise.
A care giver would bring us a naked baby and we would weigh it, check for lice and scabies, and check for malnutrition by measuring upper arm circumference. We would then record it on a sheet that was to become a regular chart for the Day Care.
We would then send that baby back to its loving care giver and the next child would be sent out.
For the first group of babies I felt I was more in the way than anything else so I went downstairs and sign certificates.
The team had done some training with the caregivers at the DayCare and each member of the team was to sign completion certificates that we were to give these workers. I also took this time to go through my assessment forms and set aside those mothers that needed follow-up.
I was feeling a bit weak at this point so I went to sit near Nejat. Nejat was one of the little girls that went to the hospital the day before and even today she was not well.
I was sitting next to her just resting and keeping an eye on her when her mother arrived.
This mother came up to me, shook my hand and then proceeded to kiss my hand.
This absolutely broke my heart. Who am I that this woman should kiss my hand?
I feel like I should be hugging these mothers and kissing their hands. These women are 3x the woman that I am yet they kiss my hand.
I then left the mother with her child.
I then returned to the screenings going on upstairs.
I took over for Doug and absolutely loved every second of it.
All these cute chubby baby bellies.
It was too much cuteness!
I loved interacting with the babies this way. I love tickling them and trying to get them to smile.
We screened all 60 children pretty quickly.
The rest of the team then bought some of the jewelry and coffee that the mothers had made at the Day Care. I asked Christy if I could buy just the beads. She then led me to a back room and pulled out box after box after box of paper beads.
Caia, Micah and I spent a long time sorting through beads, hand selecting each one.
470 beads later I was done.
The team then helped bag coffee beans and sew them into sacks.
Some of the Day Care mothers roast coffee beans once a week there at the daycare. The beans are then sold, just like the paper beads, some embroidered book marks and baskets.
We sewed coffee bean sacks until lunch.
Any guess at what we had for lunch?
Something with lentils. haha
We were all pretty tired by the end of lunch.
We walked back to the Shannon's house and rested for hours.
After a snack of fruit we left to pick up Holly at the airport.When we arrives at the airport we were told that we had to wait outside. Fortunate for us, there was a sort of cafe there with outdoor seating. We sat and drank macchiatos and chatted as we waited for Holly.When Holly arrived she just sat down with us and told us about her trip.
When we got into the van to leave it decided not to start. All of us then got out and pushed the van until it started then we jumped in and went on our way.
We went to Woody and Shewaye's house. Jerry Shannon and Jen both knew this couple. They are vineyard pastors in Ethiopia. They invited us over for a visit and said they would do a coffee ceremony for us.
We snacked on homemade bread and popcorn as we shared stories and laughed about all the funny things that had happened over the last few weeks.
The coffee was then served. I was lucky. I sat next to Audra who is not a coffee drinker, but in the cultural context it is a bit rude to refuse coffee. Audra and I worked out a deal. She would eat my pop-corn and I would sneakily drink her cup of coffee after I finished mine.
Needless to say, I was really excited by the end of the ceremony having drank twice as much of the very stout coffee as everyone else.
By the time we left we were all pretty wonky.
We said our warm goodbyes to Shawaye. When I said goodbye to her and thanked her for her hospitality she invited me to come back because i live so close.
Once we arrived at the Shannon's house again we excitedly greeted Christy and started telling her all about our evening at the airport and the coffee ceremony.
Jen then walks out of the room and comes back a minute later with her arms full of plates and a huge smile on her face and announced that we should eat cake.
We all excitedly went upstairs to the dinning room and ate cake.
It was a really good day.
3-23-2012
I have a really bad habit of not journaling the last 2 or 3 days of a trip.
Ethiopia was no different. Please be patient with me as I try to remember the details of the last 2 days.
Our last full day in Ethiopia was good. The agenda for our last full day in Ethiopia was to
1) visit an orphanage (I will explain more in a moment).
2) Have a coffee ceremony with the Day Care staff.
3)Buy shoes that were made from recycled tires.
Audra had a friend in the States who had adopted a baby from Ethiopia a few months earlier.
While this woman was in Ethiopia taking all the steps needed to bring this baby home, she met a little boy about 10 years old and just fell in love with him.
Her and her husband wanted to adopt this boy also but did not complete all the papers in time.
They brought the baby back to the States but left the 10 year old boy with the promise that they would come back for him as soon as they possibly could and would then bring him to the States with them.
When this woman found out that Audra was going to Ethiopia she asked if Audra would be willing to visit the boy and take him some presents and cards from the family and just remind him that his new family loved him and couldn't wait to be with him again.
He were able to set up a time to go see the boy.
He was the sweetest boy, and super shy.
We brought him all of the gifts and showed him the cards and other messages that the family wanted him to have. We also made sure to take photos for the adopted parents in the States.
Holly, on the other hand, had a family member that was just cleared to adopt a child.
They found out the good news while we were there. They asked that Holly go and see the baby and hug it for them.
This visit was a bit harder to put together. The orphanage finally agreed to let her in but only she was allowed to see the child and she was not to take photos.
It meant so much to Holly and Holly's family members that she was able to go hug this baby.
The Shannon's took us to a shopping center to show us a store that they thought was so cool.
This store made shoes from recycles car tires.
You would not believe it. These shoes were so cool.
The team was very excited and bought quite a few pairs.
They then found out there was a sale, something like buy 5 get one free.
Audra and Jen were buying 5 between the two of them and asked me if I wanted the free pair.
They are so sweet. I picked out the brightest pair I could find. It is made of different shades of orange leather. They are really cool.
After this running around we went to the Day Care to say goodbye to children there and also have the coffee ceremony.
The way a coffee ceremony works is this.
A woman sits on a small stool and has a small sort of oven in which she has hot coals.
She uses these coals to roast the coffee beans right in front of you. Once she finishes the roasting she immediately takes the hot pan of beans and passes it in front of each guest so they can smell the coffee beans.
This always made me a bit nervous to have a woman with a hot pan full of hot coffee beans shake said pan over the top of me.
In a traditional ceremony she would then hand grind the beans with a mortar and pestal, but in both ceremonies they just used an electric grinder.
Everyone is then served delicious homemade bread and hand-fulls of popcorn to snack on.
They then begin to brew the coffee in a really cool pot.
Once the coffee is hot she pours it into the small coffee cups (maybe 3 ounces) and adds milk to some of them.
SHe then walks around with the tray and one by one allows each guest to choose their cup and add sugar if desired. If there are not enough cups for each guest then some of the guest wait for the already served guests to finish their coffee and return the cup to be reused (after a quick wash).
The woman leading the ceremony collects the cups once the coffee is drunk and then washes them quickly in a basin of water.
She then refills the cups and passes them out the same way.
Both ceremonies I went to consisted of each person being given 2 cups of coffee.
So in a scenario like our ceremony with the Day Care staff, this woman had to fill the cups 4 times in order to serve each person two cups.
During the ceremony people took turns addressing the entire group if they wanted. They just said thank yous and other sweet things to each other. We encouraged the staff, and they thanked us for coming. You know all those sweet things you do.
I was extra lucky. I once again sat next to Audra. I snuck her my popcorn and she in turn gave me her cup of coffee. 4 cups of coffee later I was so wonky. All I wanted to do was talk, and laugh and joke and play obnoxious games.
After dinner Jen we had some time of encouragement.
How do I explain this?
Lets see.
Sometimes when you are in the routine of something, or working on something, you see things in other people that is really good and they may not see it. The point of what we did was just to point out to one another the really great things we see in each other.We write these things down and give them to the person to keep. Sometimes you get back from these trips, or get caught up in your day to day and you start to forget and doubt so it is good to have something written down that reminds you of these good things about you.
SO, the team took turns encouraging the Shannon children. This really meant a lot to the children.
After the children went to bed we did this with each other. We sat in the living room and just took turns tell each other of the good things we had seen in each other the last few weeks and just in general. I am not sure how to explain this in any better way that will do it justice.
It was a really great time. Very building for each of us and a good way to end out a trip.
3-24-2012
The last day in Ethiopia was good.
We took some time to do some shopping, after stopping at Jerry Shannon's favorite coffee place for a quick macchiato.
We went to an area that had a number of stores lining the street.
The people working in these shops spoke English because it is where most of the tourist shop.
We spent a few hours exploring these shops.
Like any country, the shops all carry mostly the same things. It is all about finding the best prices and who you can barter with the most.
I went into this with specific things i was looking for and the knowledge that I had packed in a pack small enough to be a carry on.
I returned to the Shannon's house with a small stack of scarves, and 3 pairs of earrings.
I had just the right amount of space in my pack.
Everything fit nice and snug, of course I did leave most of my clothes there to be donated.
It was very emotional saying goodbye to the Shannon family that night.
We hugged and said farewells and were on our way.
I will be honest though, I was so excited to get home to my family and Andres.
The whole trip home was something else.
Getting through customs and security was ridiculous.
I will also spare you the ridiculous details of my cab ride home.
I will just say that the lady cab driver had lived in Dubai 15 years yet did not have even the slightest idea of where I lived. She had to ask for directions 3 times.
It was all worth it when I arrived home and Andres met me at the door.
It was so good to be home.
That is what Ethiopia looked like. Sorry for how long it took.
I will find a way to post more photos once blogger decides to let me.
