Day 3
Today we shop! That was our goal as we got up and got going today. Plus, we wanted to see one of the museums they have here. It was supposed to be our birth family visit day but since that was rescheduled we had some time bargains and culture.
But before we got out there to find some African treasures… first things first! We spent a lot of good quality time with Greyson. For those of you wondering why the updates have been light on Greyson details it is because we have slowly been spending more and more time with him each day. They tell you that it is very important not to overwhelm with too much alone time but to slowly build up time until you leave. He is a really cool little guy. He has a serious side and is incredibly tenacious. He is also in to everything!
He seems very healthy with the exception on a rattling cough, which is pretty common here at the orphanage. He loves it when you tickle him and that is usually when he laughs the most. I was surprised to hear the head nanny tell me that she thinks he looks like me. It must be the round pumpkin head or something. Did we mention he has a voracious appetite? This kid can down Cheerios and bananas like no one’s business. His motor skills seem great. He is crawling and cruising around while standing. He can’t walk alone yet but it won’t be long. He still prefers the nannies to Heather and I but has never been upset about us taking him or playing with him. We took him back to our room for the first time last night and he was a bit freaked out by that. Overall, we are having one of the better bonding experiences compared to some other families.
So……we hired a driver for a half a day. Yonas is his name and he is the driver the orphanage uses. He is awesome. He drove us to the market where you bargain and he stayed with us the entire time. He would hold our bags and just made us feel safe. It was much like shopping at the markets in Mexico…..lots of people asking you if you wanted this or that. They really wanted to show us their tablecloths, not sure why but they seemed to be especially proud of them. After only a few stops he suggested we go to the fixed price store. Once we arrived I realized why he had suggested we switch….. I was not negotiating very well. I was overpaying at the place that was supposed to be less expensive.
The museum was next. The museum our driver suggested is at the Addis Ababa University. It was really cool because in addition to having some really cool stuff, it was the former palace of Ethiopian dictators. The last dictator was killed in 1966 in a revolution. You know how they bumped him off? They suffocated him with a pillow. Not exactly the violent revolt you normally picture. Anyway, it was an interesting experience. There is a lot of security getting into the university. Bombings have not been uncommon in the city in the last year. Eritrean based Al Qaeda groups have been trying to solve border disputes by bombing various Addis Ababa targets. So…. needless to say the security is tight everywhere.
The grounds of the university were really beautiful. About 10,000 students go to school there. They have just about every academic course of study we have here…. engineering, medicine, business and so on.
Our driver, Yonas, showed us much of the city…..the parliament building, the Prime Minister’s palace and the like. What struck us was the amount of poverty. We expected it but every day you are exposed to it, the reality of the people’s situation just weighs on you. As we went through different parts of the city we saw people in misery that is hard to imagine from an American perspective. Many people had injury induced deformities that caused them to walk in unnatural ways. Some were just malnourished and others were lacking for clothes. It was also easy to tell the people with later stages of HIV/AIDS. They had the typical sunken cheeks and empty eyes that you see on TV. Many people see Americans and beg……which is not hard to imagine. We hand out small bills where we can but you have to be careful. It is very easy to cause a mob scene here by passing out money or food. If you give something to someone, it can lead to a fight over whatever you gave or cause a crowd to gather around you. You just have to be thoughtful of the environment and be cautious when handing stuff out.
Yonas delivered us back to the orphanage safe and sound in his 1984 Toyota Corolla that had 266,000 miles on it. I asked him how much I owed him thinking that $50US would be a bargain. After all he spent 3 hours with us and drove us all over Addis Ababa. He charged me 160 Birr, or $16US. I couldn’t believe it. I, obviously, gave him more than that. For those of you curious about gas prices here, it is 7 Birr per liter, or about $4US per gallon.
This afternoon as we were spending time with Greyson, a couple came to see their child they had left at the orphanage a few days prior. They had returned to the city to sign the final documentation which relinquishes custody of the child…….Permanently. It was an uncomfortable scene to watch as they spent final minutes with the toddler they had given up. They were not overly emotional…you could tell they were trying to be strong. But there is no hiding a mother’s pain. As she looked at Polaroid’s the staff had just taken for them to take as keepsakes, you could tell she was in deep pain; pain that I am sure is reserved only for mothers losing a child. As she thumbed through the pictures, slowly, one at a time, it is like she lost all touch with the environment around her. She was completely focused or maybe even lost in the pictures that would be her only reminder of the child she could not keep as her own.
So, later that night we had dinner with the other families here at the orphanage. the food was, once again, amazing. After dinner, Heather and I learned a very valuable lesson. You want to know what it was? OK……….
NEVER…and I mean NEVER watch a movie about an African dictator while in Africa!
Heather and I had brought the movie The Last King of Scotland, a movie about the brutal reign of Idi Amin of Uganda. It really freaked us out. It was a great movie and if you have seen it, you know why Forrest Whitaker won an Oscar for his role as Amin.
OK, so that was our day. We hope all of you are doing well. We really appreciate getting your emails because they make us feel closer to home! The internet is amazing. Plus, we really want to tell everyone that we physically feel the power of your prayers. In a part of the country where we feel vulnerable, God has provided much comfort due to your prayers. God is truly amazing.
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