So I left off as we
finally boarded a plane taking us from Chicago to Istanbul, right? Right.
Okay, so we arrived in Istanbul, had a comfortable layover and then took
our final plane from Istanbul into Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We arrived about 30 minutes late and it took
us quite a while to get our VISAs. But
we did finally make it out to baggage claim.
Remember those bags that the airline assured us were on the plane? Well,
yea, they weren’t. We waited around
FOREVER trying to get someone to help us on what to do next. Basically we left our names, baggage claim
ticket numbers, and phone number for the guest house with the airport and they
were supposed to call us when our bags arrived.
We were supposed to arrive at midnight and we left the airport (after
VISA and baggage delays) at 2:30.
So if you are keeping
track it is Thursday morning and we have now arrived in Ethiopia! We met up with the other two of our team
outside the airport and made our way to the new location for the guest house we
have stayed in for the past two years.
We finally turn into bed around 3:30, planning to be at breakfast at
8:00 the next morning.
The new guest house was
nice and it was quite large. However, it
was further away from the market than it had been before, nearly too far to
reasonably walk (and in fact while I was there we didn’t try to). But once we had driven around a bit I had a
pretty good sense of where it was in respect to where the previous location had
been. However, the next morning as we
were trying to figure out finances we discovered a problem.
The last two years in the
previous location we had paid $12 per person per day for lodging and $6 per
person per day for meals. Grand total
$18 per person per day for room, breakfast, and dinner. Unfortunately the prices had changed and we
didn’t know it. The new prices were
based on what you were there to do.
Since the first week (the time I was there) we were working with another
mission organization, our rate was $27 per person per day (total). That is $9 x 6 people = $54 per day more than
last year. So, a bit over $300 more
total for the 6 days I was there. Then
because the team would be working with the church affiliated with the guest
house after I left the price for the final 14 days would be $23 per person per
day (total). That is $5 x 5 = $25 per
day more than last year, which was another $350 more than last year. So our lodging and food would be $650 more
than we had planned for. Quite a shock
when all you have is the cash you have and getting more cash is difficult if
not impossible. But we ran the numbers
and we believed we would still be ok.
So, we tried not to worry about it.
Back to the adventure
now… So, we slept a little, like 4 hours or so and were up and ready to go on
Thursday morning. Our host, Alayu called
the director for the Orphanage, Fekadu and called a driver for us to head out
to the Orphanage. I was anxious beyond
anything to see my daughter. Then more
discouragement flew at us. We found out we
would not be going to the Orphanage that day.
We would be headed to the Drop In Center. The Drop In Center is a part of the Orphanage
and is located in Addis Ababa (the capital city). Basically the way it works is that kids start
out at the Drop In Center on a trial basis.
If they have been there long enough to establish themselves as
trustworthy, and if there is space, they are moved from this location to the
one where Our Girl is currently, which houses far more children and has TONS
more space for the kids. Hearing the
plans for the day, I. Was. Crushed. I
tried not to show it. I knew it would
not be helpful for the team or change the situation. I consoled myself with the fact that I had
waited 13 months to see Her, I could certainly wait one more day.
So we headed out. The day went well. The team had lots of fun sharing the gospel,
sharing songs, doing crafts, and playing in the small courtyard area with the
kids. The most fun, however, occurred
when the one male on the trip, Robbie, took hold of my English/Amharic book and
tried out some of his “skills” with the kids.
It was hysterical. The kids had
loads of fun trying to teach Robbie how to say different words and
phrases. Robbie got better, but mostly
he made them laugh as he attempted their language.
Me? I had been practicing certain phrases on the
different flights. I was working
specifically on the following phrases.
“I am your mommy. You are my
daughter. Let’s play. See you tomorrow. I missed you.
Night, Night. You are so
beautiful. You are so special. You are so smart. I will always love you.” Some I had down better than others. I was thankful for the book I had gotten that
had a CD with it. Jeff had downloaded
the CD to my phone and I was using it on the plane to hear and practice my
language skills. I have never been much
of a linguist, but this was important and I was going to do my best! I practices some with the kids too.
In the midst of my
practicing one of the kids figured out that I was Our Girl’s mom. He praised her. He said “She is so smart! She is 1st in her grade in the
entire school.” I also had a chance to
talk with Fekadu who also praised her for her hard work in school and for her
good behavior. I quizzed Fekadu on Her
sister and how he anticipated Her adoption process, well processing. That is I was trying to find out if he
anticipated problems. He assured me that
he did not expect problems with relinquishment (Her sister will have to go
before the courts to relinquish custody of Her before the adoption process is
finalized). I was relieved to hear what
he had to say. It also turned out that
he knew the director of the Adoption Agency in Ethiopia that we are using
personally! He also personally knew
another of the staff members at the Agency.
This made me feel good too, good to know that if/when there were
paperwork issues, etc. later maybe them being on a first-name basis would prove
helpful.
We ended the day back
where we began, at the guest house. But
I will say, we were exhausted. The
travel and jet lag were really catching up with us. We were also still without our luggage. So, if you are keeping track… this is going
into the 4th night (the 3rd night if you don’t count the
night aboard the airplane) that the four of us were living out of our
carry-ons. The other concern for us was
that at this point most of the donations we brought were also still not with
us, nor were much of the craft supplies and game supplies. We were starting to be anxious. Anxious about how little clothing we had. Anxious about what we were going to do with
the kids without our supplies. And
really just anxious that nothing seemed to be going according to plan.
To be honest, however, I
was most anxious to get to HER. I cared
about my luggage, but more than anything I was ready for Friday to arrive,
because I knew that on Friday I would hold my daughter again. On Friday all would be right with the world,
well more right anyway. And on Friday I
would get to practice my Amharic as I said “You are my daughter; I missed you; and I will always love you.”
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