The Longest Day, The Shortest Hour: March 11, 2011

This morning we set out at 6:00 am from our bed and breakfast in the capitol city, Addis Abeba to travel to see our kids in the southern part of the country.  There are six couples all traveling.  We crammed into a van and Leigh and I were in the very back seat.  For the first three hours of the trip, the road was paved, but still with lots of bumps and Dawn got a bit sick from it.  After three hours, we all piled out of the van to a cafe where we had a short break for bathrooms and refreshments and Leigh stayed in the back, Dawn moved to the front.  Two hours later (five hours total), the van turned onto a rough dirt road and another van met up with us to take the two of us to where are kids are in Woylaita, a different location than the other families whose kids are at a care center in Durame.

We then travelled another hour, had lunch in the small village where our care center is (see picture below) and proceeded on to see the kids.

We were expecting that we would be brought into the center, introduced to the staff and then brought to a room where the kids were and introduced as visitors.  In fact, we walked into the front door, and there they were.  Beautiful Endrias and Bethelihem.  They were expecting us.  They were told we were "mom" and "dad."

I had sent them cards in November with our pictures in them and explaining who we were and why it would take so long for us to come and get them.  They still had the cards and they knew what we looked like.  Endrias had been asking his nannies when his parents were going to come and today was the day and he knew it.

It's hard to explain the surreal experience of walking into a room and meeting your kids.  That's just what happened though.  Endrias is very emotive with a warm smile and very affectionate.  He sang a couple of songs to us and he has a beautiful voice with perfect pitch and rhythm.  He has such wonderful expressive eyes (again, to protect their privacy and out of the respect of the Ethiopian people and government, we can't show their pictures).

Bethelihem is stunningly beautiful with a perfectly shaped face, eyes and lips.  She is very reserved around adults.  The nannies said she interacts and talks to her peers and to her brother, but it's very difficult to get her to interact with adults.  That said, she was content to have us hold her, cuddle her, feed her.  She was happy to have Leigh carry her around, and the only emotion she showed was a reluctance to let go of his neck when it was time to put her down for us to go. 

The children and their nannies speak Woylaita which is one of 80 languages spoken in Ethiopia.  The national language is Amharic, but in this remote place, most people don't speak it.  As such, we won't have a dictionary to look up what are kids are saying, so the first several weeks/months is likely going to be frustrating for everyone.

All told, we spent an hour with them.  Playing with them, asking their caretakers to tell us words for common things like "I'm hungry, I'm tired, I have to go the bathroom," what they like to eat (Endrias says "meat, eggs, spaghetti and macaroni"; all stuff I can cook) and what their sleep schedule is like.  We found out what types of toys they like to play with (mostly blocks) and what they like to do.  It was precious, and then it was over. 

The hour flew by and it was time for us to go.  Leaving them was one of the hardest things we've ever had to do.  We asked the nannies to tell them that we are coming back for them, which they did several times.  The children have seen this many times: parents coming, meeting kids, and then around 2 months later the kids get transported to the capitol city in anticipation of the parents return.  We were so afraid they thought that we didn't want them, but the seemed to understand what was going on.

We got back in the van, and cried as it took us to meet the other group of parents as they left their care center in Durame.  Once we met up with the other group, we all piled into a van together and were taken another three and a half hours up a bumpy dirt road to Awassa to stay the night.  We were exhilirated and exhausted, elated and depressed.  We settled in for a good night's sleep.