Saturday, July 20, 2013

Today we arrived in Addis Ababa after a long journey filled with no sleep. It took about 2 hours to get thru the airport after obtaining visas, exchanging money, and going through customs. Nesibu picked us up at the airport and we got our first experience of the city. Nesibu described the city as a developing city. There is construction going on EVERYWHERE you look. It's amazing. The traffic is so different from the us, no stop lights, people and animals walking in the streets and lots of horn honking. It's amazing there aren't more accidents but its a system that works. After arriving at the guesthouse, we got the privilege to go meet and serve the children of the yzm at the Saturday feeding program. We got to hear about all of the programs yzm runs and what sponsorship money goes towards. We then went over to the feeding center/school and it was an eye opening and amazing time. We met many children, many who came up to us shaking hands and introducing themselves. All with smiling faces. We got a tour of the preschool and kindergarten rooms, and then went and helped serve food to the children. They received a main dish of rice, beans, and a vegetable served with a roll and banana. The rice was in a very large vat that was very heavy. The children kept asking for makayla.....which means spoon. Birtukan said it costs roughly 3000 birr each Saturday to serve all three locations. We estimated about 75 kids at our site. After serving the food we hung out and played with the children. They were a true joy and loved the simple things. They enjoyed taking and being in pictures, wearing my sunglasses, listening to funny noises, faces, and hand gestures. They found my bracelet and our tattoos interesting. They also loved thumb wars. After yzm we went back to the guest house and had spaghetti for lunch with yummy rolls and an Ethiopian spice sauce. That was followed by a coffee ceremony in the guest house in which they roast the beans and crush them by hand. Water is added and then cooked over a charcoal fire inside. Incense was burned while the coffee was cooking. Amy and I had our first taste of coffee in the form of machiado. It was bitter even with added milk and sugar; however, we both drank some and now can say we have had coffee in our lives. At 2:30 we were picked up by AAI driver and social worker to go to Hilawe (orphanage) and meet Rediet. It was about a 30 minute drive thru a lot of different scenery and scenarios. When we arrived at the orphanage and the gates opened our daughter was waiting with a huge smile on her face and her arms out to embrace us. We can't describe the amazing feeling it was. Rediet instantly gathered all of her friends one by one to meet us, took our hands, and gave us a tour of Hilawe. It was a nice facility with about 40-50 children we are guessing. We talked with rediet for a while and listened to her tell us about Jesus, her bible, and her church teaching. Rediet and the kids enjoyed the cameras and sunglasses as well. We played ball with the children and asked questions thru Mitin. We connected with three siblings that we heard were going to be adopted via a connection with Tiel. It was hard to leave Rediet but she understood the schedule and when we would be back. At one point we asked her if she was okay with us adopting her and she replied with a big smile and a Yes. We returned back to Morning Coffee, chatted with Jerome and family, took a short nap finally, and had dinner with our friends. At this point we had gone approximately 30 hours without sleep prior to the short nap. Dinner was a vegetable pie with salad. It was delicious. That was followed by tea and watching The Sandlot with everyone. Halfway thru the movie the power went out which is common. We headed upstairs to get ready for bed. The power was not off too long this time. We have plans to go to church and spend time with Nate and Andrea tomorrow.