(OK OK I haven't posted for almost a month...sorry)
I wanted to give a few impressions of beautiful Ethiopia before I talk about leaving Africa, returning home and starting life as a family of 7.
We loved Ethiopia. Yes, it is sad and haunting and incredibly heart wrenching. It is also joyful, exhilarating, beautiful and captivating. Much like the Ethiopian people themselves.
So, I am going to do a couple of posts with some of my favourite pictures capturing what we saw of Ethiopia, just to give you a taste of it.
These two boys were very persistent in trying to sell us gum etc through the van window. They were funny, they kept trying to do sad faces and then, they would burst out laughing. They were very taken with our girls and their friend in the back of the van. They were typical little street kids and (we asked ) of course, did not have the chance to go to school...
Another example of creative employment...a very typical scene of a teenaged boy trying to make a little money. If you gave him a "birr" (approx 7 or 8 cents), you could take a picture of him with this cute little pet monkey or have your picture taken with them.
Of course, we had to take a picture, so we gave him a bit of money and he smiled and got the monkey to run up and down his back etc.
For some reason, I always felt sad when kids lined up at the van window trying to scrape a living from the white people....
This is the foyer of the Hilton Addis Hotel where we had to go to exchange money. I say.."had to" because it really was a bit gross to be in a place of such extreme wealth and luxury while kids are lying with their begging mummies outside on the street. I could not stay here.
To even get in, you have to drive through a very poor area and then your vehicle is searched and you go through metal detectors to enter the building. Incidentally, our driver, our wonderful friend, was not allowed to even park in front while we exchanged money...he had to leave and they called him when we were ready to be picked up. As the bank was "not available" for about 40 minutes, our poor driver had to just sit outside the gates waiting for a call. I felt horrible.
Remember when I posted about meeting our Compassion child? Well, this is the group of kids that were watching us meet her. There was a stampede when we got the granola bars out and I tried to make a point of at least shaking hands with each child. They were so lovely, so beautiful, so completely desperate for a loving touch...do you sponsor a child? Doesn't have to be through Compassion.
To even qualify for this program these kids are classed as the poorest of the poor. I like this picture because despite their harsh lives, they are all smiling (and the little girl with a blue hoodie in the top right hand corner has to have one of the sweetest faces I've seen. )
Well, Blogger only allows 4 pictures, so I'll do a few more favourite pictures in the next few blogs before embarking on the trip from hell ...also known as flying back to Vancouver.
