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I got the e mail while at work late morning of June 30th. Our travel date was scheduled for July 11th and our embassy appointment on the 14th at 1pm in Addis Ababa. Needless to say I was shocked. I needed to prepare to travel in eleven days. I spent the next two days frantically on the phone between my sister in LA (who's credit card we were reimbursing) and a travel agent from Adam travel (who I do not recommend...). I was also madly trying to reach Lenea who had chosen that week to attend a silent yoga retreat somewhere in Massachusetts which she did not leave any emergency information about. Truth be told we really did not anticipate leaving so soon. Lenea returned at the end of the week and discovered that her parents would help support her travelling with us which was great news. Then we took money out of Fred's IRA, I borrowed against our tax returns (which arrived while we were gone-yay!) and my parents ensured I would not be travelling to Ethiopia alone. Have I told you how incredible the people in our lives are?
Our tickets had us leaving with Northwest at 7:30pm from Logan airport in Boston on 7/11/08. From there we would fly to Amsterdam, have a two hour lay over, then fly KLM to Sudan and then to Ethiopia. Our return flight would leave 10:30pm from Addis on 7/20/08 straight to Amsterdam and then back to Boston.
On 7/9/08 in the evening I was organizing my paperwork in a binder my sister had made for me a few years ago when she invited us to her wedding. It was sectioned off and tabbed for me to get everything in order. When I got to the section of what I would need for the embassy appointment two majorly important forms were missing. I had completely forgot to do the I864 and get the vaccination waiver form notarized. So I stayed up late filling out the forms I downloaded offline (yay for high speed Internet) and pre paring all the duplicate tax forms. The morning that we left on Friday we were outside the bank waiting for them to open. An hour later we drove off to Boston- all necessary forms stamped and notarized.
We checked in six bags, two of which were full of donations for the infant rooms, the big kids house and for AHOPE. Our carry on was stocked with Luna bars and power bars, trail mix and a pharmacy of many health remedies. Since we were three adults, one child, a car seat, and six bags we had to take two cars to travel the three hours to my mothers, and therefor two cars to drive us 45 minutes to the airport. My family is so nice :)
Northwest to Amsterdam was a breeze. KLM to Sudan was awful. However it was amazing to look at the Sahara Desert as we got closer to Sudan. I wish I could have seen more than the little airplane window provided. I have never seen such an expanse of golden brown, the sprinkling of clouds creating shadows here and there over the sand. Occasionally a glimpse of an old truck rambling across the singular main road.
Sudan to Ethiopia was rough. After Sudan the elderly plane was crowded and stifling. I couldn't seem to get even close to being comfortable. How much more is business class?
Sudan to Ethiopia was rough. After Sudan the elderly plane was crowded and stifling. I couldn't seem to get even close to being comfortable. How much more is business class?Getting off the plane in Addis was wonderful, I was so glad to be on solid ground. Somehow we flew through the first line and rested in the next line for the 30 day Ethiopian visiting visa. That line eventually brought us to four people who passed our passports back and forth, discussing them and finally giving their stamp of approval. The next line proved longer as we waited our turn with immigration. When it was our turn he asked us why we were visiting, where we were going, how long would we be etc. We went to find our luggage with our passports stamped. We located all our bags, stood online to have our luggage tags matched, then through security again where they scanned our bags and our bodies. How many times had they done that during this trip? As we excited the very busy airport we were disappointed to find no driver waiting for us. We had attracted some attention, and I was not enjoying being in this predicament. Thankfully I had my trusty book that had the phone numbers for the house and the taxi driver. A young man commented to Lenea that she looked Ethiopian, and he was kind enough to allow her to use his cell phone as we called Yonas, the cab driver. While we waited for Yonas Fred struck up a conversation with the military man who was guarding the airport exit. Apparently men from all walks of life enjoy discussing the durability of their work boots.
Yonas arrived to pick us up in a little four door 1981 Toyota. As we followed him to the car many different men came up to us to try and "help" us with our bags. One man helped us squish the bags into the car and we were off to the guest house. Kiana sat on Fred's lap in the front seat and Lenea sat on mine in the back seat that we shared with several over stuffed luggage.
Finally we were going down the tiny unmarked single vehicle driveway which a guard let us through. We quickly tumbled out of the car and paid the driver. Then we crept inside the first baby room and saw Kai Misikir, in real life, fast asleep. I counted his toes and fingers and stroked his soft, perfect cheek. Fred got all teary eyed and Kiana held his hand. We decided to let him sleep.
I do not even remember falling asleep that night as we threw down our bags and crashed. Fred and I shared two twin beds pushed together (a king?) Kiana had the couch and Lenea had a cot mattress. We had to leave at 5:30am for our overnight trip to Awassa to meet any birth family members. The coordinator Mulat assured us we would get a wake up call at 4:45am. At 5:00am Fred jumped out of bed and we all rushed around to get ready and get the overnight bag packed. We pretty much missed breakfast but joined the other families out front that were also travelling. It was rainy and chilly and we all had sweatshirts and jackets on. I grabbed the photo book I had made on snapfish and overnighted to my parents (did I tell you how unprepared I was?) and the letter I had written to the birth family the night before we left. I was so nervous to find out- who would be at the visit? I had no idea what to expect.
The drive to Awassa was beautiful and heart wrenching. Driving out of the city was our first experience viewing Addis Ababa in the day light. Unmarked dirt roads with no traffic lights or signs. Vehicles broken down in the road as the traffic winds around it. The smell of diesel and the lack of oxygen in the air as we drove out of the city through the industrial section was shocking. I tried not to be nauseous as our driver expertly got us through the roads and ditches and into the country.
The country side in Ethiopia is nothing short of breath taking. We were visiting during the rainy season, and all the fields were a luscious shade of green. Acacia trees and cactus's sprinkled the fields and live stock seemed to wander without a destination. Every twenty miles or so we would come into a tiny town where people were mulling around. Since it was Sunday not everyone was working. Everywhere we drove there will children; in the fields, in yards, washing clothes in stagnant water, playing on Foosball tables, herding goats or donkeys or just watching one another. Maybe I just didn't notice the adults as much, as it is so foreign to me to see so many unsupervised children. My American eyes saw only the possibility of them running into the street, or getting sick from animal waste their bare feet walked through. Many little children were carrying or caring for even smaller children, as I am sure the older children are expected to assist in working the fields. I watched in awe as we sped along the road our driver told us eventually would lead to Kenya.
The country side in Ethiopia is nothing short of breath taking. We were visiting during the rainy season, and all the fields were a luscious shade of green. Acacia trees and cactus's sprinkled the fields and live stock seemed to wander without a destination. Every twenty miles or so we would come into a tiny town where people were mulling around. Since it was Sunday not everyone was working. Everywhere we drove there will children; in the fields, in yards, washing clothes in stagnant water, playing on Foosball tables, herding goats or donkeys or just watching one another. Maybe I just didn't notice the adults as much, as it is so foreign to me to see so many unsupervised children. My American eyes saw only the possibility of them running into the street, or getting sick from animal waste their bare feet walked through. Many little children were carrying or caring for even smaller children, as I am sure the older children are expected to assist in working the fields. I watched in awe as we sped along the road our driver told us eventually would lead to Kenya.
We watched the sun rise as we stopped for machiato's at a tiny motel/diner. The bathroom had no running water or toilet seat and we were glad to have remembered the toilet paper. I regretted not having any birr on me to tip the tiny old man who was pushing a mop back and forth across the dirty tiles. After each person used the toilet he would bring a small bucket of dirty water and pour it down the toilet bowl. I wondered where exactly the sewer went as the smell was quite strong. By the time we left our vehicle had attracted young boys selling gum out of cardboard boxes. The gum had strange names and flavours and seemed to all be made in China. Lenea and Kiana each bought some and the one particular boy was very pleased.
As we came into Awassa our driver, Moola, pointed out the colleges and explained that it was an educated town with many young people who were working towards degrees. People stared at us as we pulled in front of a run down government building guarded by a man with a machine gun. As we got out two children ran towards us asking for food or water. One child was missing an arm and the other child seemed blind. As we walked more children gathered around and our driver reminded us not to give anything as he said something to the kids we couldn't understand. It was very difficult not to give them our power bars or water bottles. When we approached the gate the children ran off and we were led inside to meet the social worker, Girma.
***p.s. I feel the need to add something after reviewing this post that took me darn near all week due to time constraints and the fact that the photos all loaded onto the computer in a completely un-orderly fashion -plus my mouse is dying, and will not obey my commands. I do not mean to sound insensitive when my descriptions are blunt. Understand that I do not compare the conditions and living opportunities in Ethiopia to that of the United States. There is no comparison. It is with utmost respect for the people of that country that I write in my descriptions exactly what I saw to paint a visual of the reality. I will continue to do that as I write additions to my travel story.***
