ETHIOPIA TRIP: Part 1 (Days 1-4)

Selaam!

It's difficult to know where to begin really. Since arriving home on Sunday night (April 24) from our first trip to Ethiopia, I have felt quite out of sorts. I am sure much of this has to do with the jet lag, as it is difficult to adjust one's body to ten hours of time difference. But I also know it is because I have experienced something profound and life-changing on this trip. Of course my life is forever altered because I am now the proud mama of two beautiful little boys, but it is more than that. Experiencing the culture, people, and poverty of our boys' country has changed our family for the better. My sister-in-law bought me a shirt for Christmas that has a picture of Africa on it with a heart over Ethiopia, and it reads "My heart is in Africa." That shirt sums up how I feel, except that I would say, "PART of my heart is in Africa". I love so many things about America and my family and being home, but I truly feel like I'm a part of Ethiopia as well. That probably sounds really strange since we were only there for less than a week! I know that I feel that way in large part because our boys are still there, but I also feel that way because of our experiences there, and because of our boys we will be forever linked with that country. America and Ethiopia are dissimilar in so many ways that we have felt major culture shock entering and re-entering both countries. It's a very odd feeling; I think the only way for someone to truly understand how I feel is to experience it personally for themselves.

I have a difficult time being short and concise, as most of you know, so I think I'll write this blog over several days in a three-parter. Sorry if you get bored along the way, but I'd like to use this blog to chronicle details about our trip so I never forget them and can pass this on one day to the boys. I will begin with Day 1 of the trip, but just so I don't have you in suspense too long, I will introduce you to our boys: Milkanu (mil-KAU-noo)Elijah Baker is 5-1/2 years old and Tadesse (TAD-u-say) Ezekiel Baker is 18 months old. We passed court with no problems, so the boys are legally our sons. Praise God for His goodness and faithfulness!

Days 1 and 2: We left Phoenix at about 8am and flew 5 hours to Washington D.C. We stayed overnight in D.C. and left for Ethiopia Friday at noon. While in D.C. we rode the Metro to the Mall area and walked quite awhile to see the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, Vietnam Memorial, and Korean War Memorial. It was really pretty walking around at night and seeing everything lit up, but it was very crowded (we didn't realize it was spring break for those on the east coast!). Friday's flight took a little over 13 hours, but it went better than we expected it to. I didn't sleep at all, but I watched several movies (all free), read books, and journaled. It went by more quickly than I expected it to, and the food was actually pretty good. I think Brian and the kids had slightly better luck with sleeping than I did. I was fortunate to have an empty seat beside me, which allowed me to stretch out a little more. Two of the families traveling with us were also on that flight, so we met up with them once we deplaned in Ethiopia and stood in line to get our visas (seemed like forever).

Day 3: We arrived in Ethiopia at 8am, went through customs, exchanged American money to Ethiopian currency (birr), and met our driver who took us to our hotel. Some of you read Brian's email regarding traveling in Ethiopia. Let me just tell you that it is nothing like I have EVER experienced before! With no seatbelts, no traffic lights, no yellow center lane lines, few stop signs, no pedestrian right-of-way, no speed limit, and lots of honking horns, it was truly miraculous that we made it to all of our destinations. Crossing the street on foot is even crazier. Do you remember that old Atari game "Frogger"? Yep, that's exactly what it felt like. Drivers definetely have the right-of-way. One person in our group jokingly asked the taxi driver if they hit people very often, and he responded very seriously, "All the time." Nice. At intersections, all the drivers go at once and then just inch their way through. And they are extremely horn-happy, but they use them for a very different reason than we do in the U.S. They honk not out of annoyance or impatience, but to simply let the cars or pedestrians know they are coming. Crazy, crazy, crazy. Brian actually thought it was fun, kind of like African Nascar or something. He's not all there...

Driving through Addis Ababa, the capital city was a real eye-opener, and not just because of the insane driving. I have never seen poverty like that. (I'll share more on that later.) Our hotel was actually very nice, especially considering where we were. There were quite a few guards in front of and inside the hotel lobby, which made us feel safe and unsafe at the same time, if you know what I mean. They always opened the doors for us and saluted when we came in. We had a two room suite on the 4th floor since we had the kids with us. Normally, the 4th floor wouldn't be so bad, but since there was no elevator and we were at 9,000 foot elevation, we felt like passing out by the time we made it to our room every time! Our room was nice and very roomy, the staff were so warm and friendly, and the food and coffee in the restaurant was very good (plenty of American food!). However, sleeping was very difficult for all of us because we were right on a very busy main street of the city and it was very noisy with cars driving and honking, the nightclub's music, and people shouting. It was too warm to shut the windows since there was no a/c. Also, the mattress was just a piece of foam over a box spring, so it was quite hard. We had many a sleepless night, but once I learned to take two sleeping pills before going to bed, I did much better! Forgot about the ear plugs I had brought. That would have helped... :(

On Saturday, even though we didn't get much sleep on the plane, we knew it was important to stay awake so we could get acclimated to the new time. We decided to walk around a little bit in the neighborhood around our hotel, which we had been told was pretty safe. That was our first experience with beggars. The children in particular actually ran across the street when they saw us come out of the hotel. We had previously been warned about not giving money to them because it perpetuates the problem and encourages the kids not to go to school because they can make more money begging. But when faced with those precious, desperate and dirty faces looking up at you, saying, "Mother, please? mother... hungry," it's difficult to keep your resolve. It was even worse when the driver took us shopping that next day (Day 4). We went to a place called "The Post Office", which is a section of shack-like shops near the post office (obviously). Although I never did actually see the post office! Anyway, the begging there was like nothing I've ever experienced, either in inner cities of America or even in Mexico. We were swarmed, really. I have never felt more guilty for having money and not sharing it than I did during those times. It was profoundly humbling and sad. The hardest part for me was when a mother came up to me with a baby clinging to her breast and she said, "sister, baby hungry... please, sister". It was truly awful. The young children and the mothers with small, malnourished babies were the most gut-wrenching. How do you say no to them? As I looked at each poor and hungry child, I immediately thought about my sons. It could have been them on those streets asking for money. After that first trip, once the driver herded us back into the van, we were all silent. I cried as we pulled away. I know the kids were very affected by the experience as well, especially Taylor, I think. It was quite overwhelming for us all.

Day 4: We were supposed to drive to Hawassa to meet the boys on Sunday, but once we got to Addis on Saturday, we discovered that we wouldn't be leaving for the orphanage until Monday. We never really received a good explanation as to why, but we assume it's because it was Palm Sunday and most Ethiopians are primarily orthodox Christian. Sunday night, after the shopping experience and relaxing (decompressing) with some coffee, our family and one other from the group went across the street for an authentic Ethiopian dinner. Jenny, Brandon, and Burktuwit (their 11-yr-old Ethiopian daugher adopted two years ago) had also been on our flight and we hit it off with them right away. We ate with our fingers (right hand only) in the traditional way while listening to a live Ethiopian band. It was a great experience, but the food wasn't a big hit with my family. We did like some of it, but had a difficult time eating the injera, which is used to pick up the food. It's a spongy, pancake-like bread made from teff flour that is quite sour. It is also the staple food at the orphanage and among most traditional Ethiopians. So we better learn to like it! We tried it several other places during the course of the trip and it was slightly better, but still not my preference. I guess it's an acquired taste. I don't remember the names of the other things I tried, except that there was different kinds of wot (another staple food, stew-like meat). The food there is quite spicey, so that takes some getting used to. I definetely plan to order injera online, try to get it from a local African store, and/or make it myself for the boys, though. They mostly eat injera, rice, macaroni noodles, false bananas (look like bananas, but no fruit, somehow the root is used), and fruit like mangoes. By the way, the coffee and fruit juices in Ethiopia are the bomb! Seriously great-tasting. For drinks, we lived on mango juice (mostly me), Fanta orange or pineapple (my favorite), Mirinda, which is much like orange Fanta, Coca Cola (big over there), and bottled water. We used bottled water for everything; no ice. Always avoided tap water. And we never had fresh vegetables or fruits because they could have been washed with tap water. I was craving a salad so badly!

Okay, I'm going to head to bed because I'm still getting over the jet-lag and I also have a cold. I'll pick up tomorrow with Part 2 and Day 5: the day we met the boys!

Stay tuned...