Day 2 – Saturday

Saturday started early – way too early for our tastes considering we hadn’t slept in over 30 hours. The night didn’t go so well; dogs barking, Muslim horns and prayers via loudspeaker and some snoring bunk mates. So at 5:00 am we were up and ready to start our day. We left in two vans at 6:30 am to Ebenezer House, a care point located about 3.5 hours from Addis. The driving in Addis would put Massachusetts drivers to shame – the busy city streets are filled with people, goats and cars all trying to get to some destination point. When people or goats want to cross the street, they cross the street. It’s hairy people..

Slowly we made our way to the countryside. Pictures could not do justice to what our eyes saw. It was beautiful – rolling mountains with brown and green patchwork, small villages of grass huts, children herding cattle, women carrying water, people on the go through the countryside. Every so often a small village center with shops and masses of people would spring up out of the country side. Onlookers peered into our vans and children smiled and waved. We stopped once on the way up and once on the way back for the purpose of 1) letting the other van catch up to us (we were on the speed van, called “red devil”), or 2) to stretch or even a possible bathroom break (au natural). At these little stops, children would come out of nowhere and come over to us. They were so cute and so interested in us.. Luckily we had some lollipops in the van and were able to hand them out. They would take one and bow their heads in appreciation.

We finally made it to Ebenezer where we were greeted by 95 children who are in the care of Ebenezer and a few stragglers who wandered from nearby. They would greet each of us with their hands extended and their other hand on the elbow, in a sign of respect to us. These children are either orphaned and living with a guardian, have only one parent, or both parents but are destitute. Their guardian/family members were also present. The beauty of this sponsorship model is that by providing these children with one meal a day and educational resources, it enables them to stay with family members. Many times children who are placed with family members are eventually given up because the extended family can’t support another mouth to feed. This care point lightens that burden. These children are so worth it. It’s almost always preferable for children to stay with family than have to go into an institutional setting.

What was special about this site was traveling with Debbie and Steve, who pastor a church in Macon Georgia. Their church sponsors the children at Ebenezer, so it was really meaningful for them to be there interacting with the children who are sponsored by their church.

We played with the kids for a while, each of us separating with a certain group and entertaining them as best we knew how (one member of our group tried juggling with rocks). Erin would take pictures of the kids and then show them their picture on the camera – they found that so fascinating. I have to assume that these kids have never seen what they look like, so it must be pretty cool to see themselves. Erin and I brought nail polish (in the form of a pen) and the kids went crazy over that. We both had kids rushing at us with their hands held out in anticipation – girls and boys.

Communication was difficult because these children did not speak any English. Their smiles and ours spoke volumes though.

The children were then given a traditional Ethiopian meal and a bottle of soda (which we were told was a very big treat). Erin and I were watching the children eat (they were eating inside a building that is currently being built and sat on cinder blocks), and we remarked on how they eat it all (unlike our kids). Well, next thing you know, two little girls handed their almost-full plates back to one of the care providers. I have to believe they must have felt sick to have turned away a plate full of food, or maybe their stomachs aren’t accustomed to eating too much in one sitting. That’s when we overheard one of the guardians say to them, “you better eat all that food on your plate, don’t you know there are children in Africa who don’t have any food?”. JK!

After lunch, the children were each presented their own blanket, a backpack with six books and a pencil/pen and a kazoo. It was so cute to see each child take their stuff, sit down and try to figure out their kazoo. Within minutes the place was humming with laughter and kazoo sounds!

We then left Ebenezer and headed over to a nearby home of one of our interpreters (we had two drivers and four interpreters with us) for a traditional Ethiopian lunch. The house was very basic (it had mud on the outside walls and a tin roof), but they did have electricity and a TV on (a Lionel Richie video was playing!). There was long grass scattered all over the living room floor – this is a sign of welcoming guests into your home. We all took seats and a young girl came around and poured water over our hands to clean them. Then lunch began.

First they passed around rolled up injera which is similar to a pancake except it is thinner and spongier (and has a sour-like taste to it). You are supposed to roll it out on your plate so they can then ladle the “stew” onto it. Different types of stews were spooned out – I believe one was lamb but the rest was pretty much unrecognizable meat (we later learned they had killed a lamb for us). Some sort of cheese, similar to cottage but more dense was also served. Erin and I tried to make it appear that we liked it (she’s a vegetarian), but it was difficult. I am normally the type that likes to try different foods from different cultures, but even this proved beyond my cultural palate. So shuffled things around on the plate and hid things under the injera. It was sad to waste food, but it would have been worse had we eaten it.

After lunch, the coffee ceremony began. They don’t just throw some grinds into their Cuisinart Coffee Maker – this is an hour-long ceremony. It is all done on the floor and starts with a small pan put over a charcoal-filled (container). The coffee beans start green, but as they cook they “roast” and turn black. It gets smoky, but it is a good smell (which in Ethiopia is rare). This takes at least a half-hour. Once the beans are roasted, the girl roasting them lifts them up and walks around to each of us and blows the smoke into our faces to smell it. The now-roasted beans are mashed up and thrown into a kettle of water which is then placed over the charcoal to boil. Once it boils, the coffee is then served into small tea cups and served with sugar. It’s good – dark and rich, but good.

We then headed back towards Addis. We had one more stop – Hope For the Hopeless. This true orphanage (I say true b/c these children live here and have no family or guardians) is home to 32 beautiful children.. Dusk was on us as we arrived at the gate, and the minute we got out of the van, the children approached us. This place had the most amazing spirit about it!

The children were so happy and again shook our hands with their other hand on their elbows and greeted us with hugs. The children here had much better English skills and ranged in age from approximately 5 to 16. Two little girls immediately held my hands, and I noticed other children were doing the same to the other members of our group. With darkness setting in, the director gave us a tour of their facility. There was no electricity so we were led by a flashlight. The children never left our sides. It was a little chilly at this point, and so I held “my” two little girls tight. They kept looking up at me with their beautiful smiles. I would rub their backs and kiss them, and they told me they loved me. I felt very choked up and emotional.

Erin was with 3 boys ages 8, 14, & 16. They held her hand and toured her around the compound. These children were utterly amazing. Unfortunately we had to go as it was completely dark. Each child again came to each of us to say goodbye. I hugged each one of them tight, and gave kisses to their cheeks. There were no woman caregivers there, and I can only imagine how nice it must be to feel a mother’s touch. Erin hugged and kissed her boys and told them “I love you”, which would seem odd to an American child, but again, these are mother’s words – words that these children haven’t heard in a long time, and I’m sure if felt good for them to hear. One of the boys seemed to tear up when we left. The 16 year old told Erin that he would pray for her. Isn’t that amazing….an impoverished orphan telling us that they would pray for us? I got back into the van with a heavy heart. I wanted to stay longer. We all did. Everyone on our team fell in love with “their” children. We left hoping that we could convince Tom to let us come back. We just didn’t have enough time there.

On the way home we took our pit stop along the side of the road. As soon as we got out of the car, kids came by. One of the team members had given Erin a cookie because she hadn’t eaten anything. As Erin bit into the cookie, a piece of it fell on the ground. Just then, a young boy, maybe 6 years old, came up to her and picked up the cookie crumbs from the ground and began to eat them. She then handed him the remainder of the cookie, which he promptly ate. It was a sad reminder that these kids are so deprived, they will eat dirty crumbs.

We then journeyed back to Cherokee House for another traditional Ethiopian dinner (luckily this time there were some lentils and potatoes for Erin and I to eat). We went to bed early as we were still very tired and were optimistic that we would get a good nights sleep.

…but that was not to be…