Birth Family Meeting, Bright Hope School, Dinner and Dancing
Up bright and early. After breakfast, we took the kids over to HOH 1 and we went to the Bethzatha Orphanage there in Addis for the birth parent meeting. The meeting was supposed to be at the Bethzatha Orphanage in Awassa but because of the potential of civil unrest after the elections in May, for our safety, the meeting was moved to the orphanage here.
We did meet with a birth relative. Again, this falls into “their story” and we don’t want to go into who we met with and exactly what was said, except it was the saddest, most terrifying, heart wrenching, wonderful thing we have ever done in our lives. We were ALL crying and hugging. If anyone goes through this, definitely bring a picture book of all the pictures you have of your kid(s). They will treasure it. I was asked if I had a plastic bag to put it in, so it will stay nice. Luckily, in “learned it the hard way” parenting, I happened to have one on hand.
While there, we got to unload the majority of the donations which filled two suitcases and a duffle bag. We also spent time touring the facility and talking to one of the directors. By third world orphanage standards, it was a very nice, top notch facility. It was clean, it was colorful, and you could tell everyone who worked there had a calling for loving children. The children also seemed happy there, especially the toddlers. It was also heartwrenching sad hearing the back stories of some of the children. I wish I could find a way to send a case of donations there once a year. For anyone going anytime soon, what they need most is clothing for the older children (we did give them some).
We picked up the kids again at HOH 1 and came back in time for lunch and to have a bit of rest time, before we were back again to another heart string tugging experience at the Bright Hope School in Addis. It’s a school for under privileged children from the surrounding leper colony. The school is trying to build a self-sustaining farm, so the children can bring food home with them. Recently, they were finally able to dig a clean water well – 110 meters deep (more than a football field). Before then, they were without fresh water for decades. The school is up one of the mountains in a heavily wooded and lush green area. There were Eucalyptusan acacia trees all over and the smell was marvelous. It was a much needed break from the pollution. We are kicking ourselves for not remembering the official’s name who gave us the tour. He took us to see the well, and took us through the farm, down a big hill, over a wall, and up another big hill to the chicken coop. It was raining, muddy and very slippery. Also, the official had one leg and did it with canes in his hands. Who were we to refuse to follow him when he was willing to do that to show us. The kids were troopers, by the way.
I’ve been following the progress of the Bright Hope School for some time. Right now, they need to build a concrete wall to shore in the place because thieves have been stealing their chickens. L They need about $300,000 to complete the project, and people able to volunteer to build it.
We came back a muddy mess, cleaned up, and went to Abyssinia Ethiopian Restaurant, a traditional Ethiopian Restaurant that also had live music and dancing – located over by the embassies. It was fun, but the kids were getting pretty tired towards the end. The total cost for the wonderful meal and drink (Adam and I had our first alcoholic beverages since coming to Ethiopia. I had a St. George beer and he had Tej (honey wine)) was 1,200 birr and we gave a 400 birr tip. What that translates to is $120.00 or so total for 12 people for a fancy dinner with alcohol and tip.
More boundary testing with the kids, and a bit of drama – all normal, but wish we were at home dealing with it instead of here.
Forgot to add – Ashley tried to turn on her shower and the whole thing fell apart with water gushing out for about an hour. We don’t feel quite as embarrassed for breaking the table and chair.