The Wrap Up

OK, so since I have been BOMBARDED with school work, lesson plans, grading papers, nannying, and my RA job...I am going to wrap it up in one last blog entry. The last few days were spent handing out toys and treats to the kids. One day we handed out McDonald's toys and it was amazing how excited these children got about something as simple as this. Their smiles were huge. We ate our meals with the children, played with the children, and said heart wrenching goodbyes to the children everyday. Amir brought more joy into my life the last couple days than most people have shown me in my lifetime. He is a beautiful child and will have a beautiful life ahead of him, since I just heard the other day that he's been adopted! He will be living in Washington so I hope that I will get to see him someday.

My journey to Africa is one that I will never, ever forget. It has changed my life forever and the smiles of these children are forever embedded in my heart. I hope I have made a difference in their lives, even if it is in the smallest way. I am so grateful for everything I have and remind myself on even my worst of days, that someone always has it harder than I do and going to Ethiopia has helped me realize that. I hope that I have the opportunity to go back because being there was the happiest I had been in a long time. I met some amazing people that traveled there with me and know I will keep in touch. I met some even more amazing people, children, at the orphanage and even though I can't keep in touch I hope they know that they have changed my life in ways they could never imagine. I am so lucky to have had this experience and I never thought seven days would turn my life upside down, but it has happened and in the most wonderful way I could have asked.

Meeting the children for the first time...

February 14, 2010

Let me start by wishing Mike a Happy Valentine's Day. I know you probably aren't even awake yet, but I miss you.

Today we started by going to an Ethiopian church service. Although the whole service was done in their language, Amharic, it translated over in their emotion. Especially when the choir began to sing. This was my favorite part. The singing was just gorgeous and the passion they has was just great. I took videos, so I will be attaching them ASAP. On our walk back to the Widow's Home from church, we saw a camel eating in the middle of the road. CRAZY!!

We had lunch at the Widow's Home and I played catch with my FAVORITE 2 year old boy, Amir is his name. He is the most precious child I have ever met. He has the most amazing blue eyes that I'm sure will keep me wrapped around his fingers and the cutest dimples when he smiles his genuine smile. Amir was abandoned at the hospital a few months ago, so his back story is yet to be determined and probably never will be. It is unfortunate that someone would leave such a loving child behind.

For lunch, the women cooked the goat that had been killed yesterday. They were serving the stomach for lunch. I am not so sure I can handle that. The children are so polite here. They help serve the food and get out the chairs.

After lunch, we drove over to where they are building the new Widow's Home. Let me tell you, driving here is something I could NEVER do- it is worse than the driving in New York City! In the taxi, "Yeah" by Usher was blasting. The taxi driver laughed as we danced and sang along. We were able to see the start of what will be a brand new 4 level home for the widows and orphans.

Now, the moment I have been waiting for. We pulled up in our taxi to The Josef Home. The children came in a swarm and were excited to see us. They were even more excited to see the familiar faces in our group that had come to visit them two years ago. The whole trip here I had heard many stories about a special girl named Jerusalem and walking through the doors, I finally got the chance to meet her. She is the sweetest little thing and has an adorable little face. I was told right away that she has a family and will be adopted to America. Oregon to be exact. This is surely a lucky family that will be taking her.

We got a tour of the orphanage and the conditions were not exactly ideal, but the alternative is much worse. The children do not each have their own beds and the bathroom situation is one that would take some getting used to. Each children has only enough belongings to fill a plastic bag, and that is all. The orphanage did have beautiful gardens though where they grow the majority of the food they eat. The people of the orphanage treated our group like royalty. Hanging out with the children for a little bit before the week really started was great... they are ecstatic to have us there and could not stop saying "Welcome!"

We returned to the hotel and had cheeseburgers for dinner! Different than the cheeseburgers at home, but still good. There is no diet soda here, but the soda is served in the old fashioned glass bottles, which is cool!

Thank you to our host, Abebe. He has already been wonderful and let me use his computer to check my email and contact my parents at home!

Day One in AFRICA!

February 13, 2010

It is now approximately 2am and we have just landed in Rome, Italy. At home, it is only about 8pm! We don’t get off the plane here even though I really, really wish that we could. I would love to see what Italy looks like. Anyway, words cannot express how tired I am. I can barely keep my eyes open to write this. I have been sleeping alright on the plane though, just can’t find a position comfy enough to sleep through the night. We have 45 minutes here before we take off again and from there, it is only five more hours until landing in Adis Ababa, Africa! I can’t believe this is really happening and in the amount of time it takes me to get from home to New York City, I will officially be on another continent. Back to sleep for now- talk to you when I am all checked in to the hotel.

So we’re all checked in. We had a few minutes to get ourselves cleaned up before we head back out the door. The hotel is nice. I am in room 102 and there’s even a mosquito net above my bed. The bathroom is much different from the bathrooms at home. Before showering, you have to turn on the hot water tank every time. It is also an open shower that just has a drain built into the floor, so needless to say I flooded the entire bathroom during my first shower. You also can’t use the tap water to brush your teeth here either; so bottled water is used for everything!

The group gathered back on the bus and we headed off to a home for widows and orphans. Pastor Welling and his wife, Peggy, had gotten the widows Christmas gifts so we went there to deliver the gifts and celebrate a late Christmas. This was very touching and the women were really excited. They were each gifted a brand new traditional African dress. Some of the women informed us that they had never, ever received a gift in their lives. Some even shed some tears. Since they didn’t speak English, they could only thank us through handshakes, hugs, and kisses. Which I think was even more gracious than anything else. The home also served us an Ethiopian dinner consisting of beef, rice, potatoes, carrots, corn, some spicy sauce made of peppers and pimento, and injaro. Injaro is the Ethiopian form of bread. It is gray in color and spongy in texture. They use this instead of silverware to pick up their other food. After dinner, we just got to know the women and children of this home. In addition to the widows, a sibling set of 3 orphans and a darling 2 year old orphan also live here. We discovered that the children were OBSESSED with digital cameras. They kept asking to take pictures with us, then they even took our cameras to take pictures for themselves. I have some interesting new pictures on my camera. The children here speak broken English but were very eager to learn and asked a lot of questions about our language and about America. I taught them the word “freckles” because they were completely mesmerized by all of mine. They seemed to really like them.

However, although all of this was a really amazing first day of my trip, I do have to say that the most memorable thing I saw all day was some of the older boys slaughtering a goat right at the house. As they tied up the legs, I didn’t think I was prepared to watch. But from this point on, I couldn’t peal my eyes away. Even though this was definitely sad to see, an animal dying a slow death, I am glad I got the chance to experience this since it is something I definitely do not see at home. It was proof in front of my eyes that the life I live is a much easier one than the children of Nazret, Ethiopia. I will be putting pictures up of this event, just in case anyone wants to see the process!

Also, thanks to Ruth Ann for letting me use her phone today to call home!

Off to bed. Goodnight all.

The Long Flight Begins...

February 12, 2010

Since I have still not been to sleep, we will start this entry where the last one left off. 4am. We arrive to the airport only for them to tell us that we cannot check our bags until 6 am, so more waiting and more lying on the floor. I grabbed some airport breakfast and found my place on the tile. 6am came and went, our bags were checked and we hurried to security check. Due to the snowstorm I mentioned before, I can tell now that this airport is trying to catch up on the flights they have previously cancelled. In front of our group in line stands about 200 people. We wait patiently and by the time we get through the check, it is about 8am. It has been a long, long night. Our flight was a little delayed, but we’ll make it there nonetheless. Around 10:30am we finally board Ethiopian Airlines Flight 503. It is the biggest plane I have ever seen. I find my seat, seat 31D- thankfully it is on an aisle. I am about to tell you about the most exciting part of the trip SO FAR, the throw blanket provided by the airline. It is so great and I will be strategically sliding it into my carry on to even more strategically take off the plane. It matches my dorm room perfectly, so thank you Ethiopian Airlines for the free souvenir. They also gave me a cute little pillow, an eye cover, headphones, toothbrush and toothpaste, a questionable pair of slipper socks, and I think that might be it for now. But the gifts just keep on coming. I could get used to this. I am pretty sure I fell asleep before the plane’s wheels even left the ground but it is now currently 2:17PM. We just finished lunch, which wasn’t that bad! We had a choice of chicken or fish; from which I chose chicken- I decided I don’t trust fish from airplane kitchens. It came with some rice, cheese and crackers, a side salad, and a great piece of cheesecake for dessert. Yes mom, I took my Benadryl and malaria pills with my lunch. Now, I think I will watch a movie and try and get some more sleep. I need to be rested up for my arrival in Ethiopia. I’ve been waiting a long time for this; no way I’m going to miss even a second of it. So long for now, another entry to come when I land safe and sound.

Oh and P.S.- Colleen, I read my card that you hid in my carry on. It is beautiful. Thank you so much for taking the time out to let me know that you support what I am doing. I had tears in my eyes and was flattered by your words. It really means a lot to me. And the quote was so perfect! Love you, Coll.

AND WE'RE OFF!!!!

So, the day has finally arrived. After many cancelled and delayed flights, we are finally on our way the ETHIOPIA!!!!

February 11, 2010

Today, I met up with the rest of the group at the church around 9pm. Saying goodbye to my mom I did get a little sad. I have never done anything even close to this big before. I am definitely nervous to go on this endeavor. From here we drove through the night on a very spacious limo bus to the Dulles International Airport in Washington D.C. It has been a long time since I stayed up all night into the next afternoon, but this bus ride was the beginning of that. Lying on the floor of the bus, I hoped that I could at least get a couple hours of shuteye in before we reached Washington. Since they had just gotten hit with an awful snowstorm, the city was still not fully prepared. The snow banks lined the sides of the highways, some up to 15 feet tall. Around 4am, we finally arrived in Washington, for more waiting.