Tuesday Day 5 in Ethiopia

On Tuesday I woke up feeling very nauseous and tired. At first I thought I was getting some terrible travelers disease but the symptoms seemed to pass mid morning. I now think it was a side effect from the anti-malaria medication I was taking. (I loved the medication because while in Ethiopia I lost 7 pounds.) I asked Rick to bring the boys up to the room because I wasn’t sure I could leave. By the time he brought them up I was feeling much better.

This was the first day K opened up to us. Prior to Tuesday he wouldn’t make any eye contact, sat like a lump when we put him down and didn’t make any sounds. After about three hours he started talking, smiling at us, making eye contact but still not moving too much. At lunchtime we dropped them back off to their rooms because we were going shopping that afternoon. Where we were going wasn’t a good place to bring children.

First we dropped of K. He smiled and went to the nanny without any sign of duress. Then we went to drop off T. Solomon the security guard went with us. When we gave T to the nanny he threw a temper tantrum. (Little did we know we’d become very familiar with his temper tantrums. That’s for another blog entry.) We left and I cried the whole way back. Solomon was very caring. Without being able to speak to each other I knew he cared and was concerned that I was crying.

We went shopping after lunch. Someone very important must have been close to where we were shopping because on the two sides of where we shopped were two "undercover" security men. Parked was a Mercedes. The two men were huge, well dressed and just stood look up and down the street. They fit in as well as we did.

As soon as you step out of the car-actually before you even get out of the car-you’re surrounded by beggars and people who want to sell you stuff. There were a couple of people with sticks that would patrol the area to shoe away the people. Honestly a lot of the beggars acted like scam artists or actors. There were people you could truly see they needed help but at this market most would beg with a twinkle in their eye like they were just seeing if they could get you to give them money. It was recommended not to give people money on the streets. At times it is really hard not to.

When we returned we gave Horizon House the donation we had brought to the orphanage. Thanks to our church, New Hope Chapel, we were able to donate 70 lb. of much needed items. Everyone was so thankful and appreciative for the donation.

Then we went to get the boys. Rick went to get T and he ran into his arms. I went to get K, hoping for the same reception. K looked through me not at me. He came to me but I was back at square one with him. He gave no eye contact, no smile and didn’t say one thing to me. I was getting the cold shoulder from a 12-month-old. How did that feel? It sucked!

Between T’s meltdown when we dropped him off and K giving me the cold shoulder we decided to take the boys. Meaning having them be with us from that point on. Unfortunately, we had been scheduled to visit the Blue Nile on Wednesday. As much as we wanted to go, we were in Ethiopia for our boys not sight seeing.

That night they ate dinner with us and then we took them to our room to go to bed. This was the first time we saw T without clothes. As I undressed him to get his PJ’s on he was crying and very upset. It was amazing to see how thin he is. Once PJ’s on he calmed down until we put them to bed. They gave blood-curtailing cries for about 20 minutes. I was sure one of the nanny’s was going to bust open the door to see what we were doing to the boys to make them make such a horrible cry. The whole time we were there I never saw a nanny just let a child cry without trying to make the stop. Neither did I see any child receive any reprimand for any misbehavior.

Yes I am new at parenting but I knew 20 minutes of crying at bed time wasn’t a bad deal. It’s a no brainier this had nothing to do with me so I thanked God for our good fortune.

Here's a link to a YouTube post created by someone in our group from her trip to Awassa. We took the same trip but she's more talented because she could create this post. Click here to enjoy.