Day 3 in Ethiopia

I’ve already posted on this visit so I’ll try not to repeat myself.

On Sunday, July 29, 2007, we left for our birth family visit at 6:30am. Luckily for us we had packed the day before. It was an overnight trip and when we woke up there was no power. So happy I brought a flashlight. As we walked out of our room someone had placed candles to light our way through the halls and stairs of the guesthouse. Down stairs were a few others who couldn’t sleep and our travel companions.

Our travel companions were the only other family in our group who adopted siblings. They have two 10-month-old twins, a boy and girl. Their children were brought to the orphanage the same day as our boys and from the same village. Their region is called Kambata and its in Southern Ethiopia.

It seemed to take us an hour to leave the city to the more rural part. On the way the whole capital was without power. It seemed so quiet. We saw families walking in the road wearing white shawls. We were told they were most likely going to church. It was softly raining. How I wanted to go to church service while there but it wasn’t meant to be.

As we drove out to the more rural parts we saw cactus grown has hedges. Many thatch "houses." Agriculture seemed to how people generated money. It appeared families were self-supported by the land. At one point we saw a chalkboard attached to a tree with about 30 children learning the English alphabet. We were behind a truck full of camels. We thought that was the funniest thing. When we asked our driver where they might be going he told us to slaughter because the Somalians ate them. Our social worker told us she saw about 100 of them out wild. That must have been a wild sight. We saw lots of people carrying plastic jugs for water. We saw many people relieving themselves right on the street. Many men walk with their arms around other men. One sight that is forever etched into my mind is one water area where I saw one person washing clothes, another relieving themselves and yet another filling up a water jug. We had entered the part of Ethiopia where people have to walk miles to get dirty water that will make them sick.

It took us 4 hours to drive to Awasa the closest "city" to where our birth parents live. That was where we picked up the three others who were apart of our group. It took us another 1-2 hour drive to reach our birthmother’s home. Awasa was where we slept that night after our birthmother visit. It also had a lake behind it that had hippos. We didn’t see any.

Our birthmother grew her own coffee, bananas, ensete, and avocados. The ensect is something that takes like a month to make but then can remain eatable for 3 years. It helps sustain them at times of famine. Her husband had built the house prior to his passing. Before they all lived in the thatch house he grew up in. The new house was a mansion compared to what we saw. Our birthmother decorated the house with flowers on the walls and entranceway, tablecloths and hay on the ground.
Well we think the hay on the ground was decoration. We didn’t see it on the other homes we passed. When we asked our driver if the hay was to decorate the house he misunderstood me and said, "No the floor is made of cow shit." Call it jet lag or poor manners but this struck me funny. I tried to repeat my question but his answer remained the same. He then went into detail of how they make the floor out of cow shit. We were all kind of amused by his answer. I repeated what he said, "So what you’re saying is the floor is made out of cow shit!" When he heard me say "cow shit" he and I started to laugh and continued to laugh for a long time (it was a bonding moment).
During the birthfamily visit I kept trying to soak it all in, memory storage. I remember looking at the birthmother’s father and seeing his eyes as so soft and warm. When I looked at our driver, Joseph, he appeared to really be enjoying himself. Everyone was happy and made us feel so welcome. It was one of the best days of my life. I was so thankful to have been able to have such a wonderful experience.
Our sons birthmother was outgoing, regal, friendly, a great communicator and strong. She was adamant the boys are raised Christian and is in constant communication with God through prayer. She had asked when we would bring the boys to see her. I told her it was my dream for all of us to return when turned 18. She thought that was so long. I thought from your lips to Gods ears maybe it will be sooner.
At the end of the meeting she offered us to stay to eat. This of course made us all nervous. We said a little prayer asking God to protect us and he did. The food was very good. It seemed extraordinary that she pulled out her most valuable resources to offer us, food. This was the one thing she couldn’t provide sufficiently for her sons. This was one of the reasons she made the adoption plan but she opened both hands to share with us so freely. Being in her presence humbled me. Our meeting was long but we didn’t want to say good bye. She filled Rick’s backpack with banana’s and avocados. When we returned to the orphanage we learned T loves bananas and avocados and ate most of what she gave us.