Day 6

Today was a beautiful day!! We went back to the same community that we had given out shoes.

These children do not have enough to go to school so an American family is connecting them with sponsors and preparing them for school. Tom (different than the shoes) walked us around showing us the beautiful land. The children would run up to us and hold our hands. The funniest part was they really wanted to wear our backpacks. The bags are as big as them it was too cute.

Soon it was craft time, Baby brought my now well travel suitcase, as I liked to call it the SUITCASE of FUN and we made our work area right in the grass and they got to coloring their own little book packs right away. How funny backpacks were all the rage!!



In the afternoon we went to the Fistoula hospital. Honestly, this was the hardest part of the whole trip for me. When I think of mothers I think of a woman in her late twenties or thirties but these girls were younger than me and some younger than my students. These woman had already been pregnant, lost a child, shunned by their community, forced to travel by foot for several days to come to this hospital to receive surgery. My biggest stress in life was which prom dress to wear. Each woman receives a beautiful blanket when she enters the hospital. The women clung to the blankets like they were gold. But a new lease on life is better than gold. As the woman grow stronger they make amazing baskets and platters for injera and other meals. The money make will help them to start their new life. When we left they were sold out! I was very overwhelmed when we left.

Day 5 TOMS SHOES

A wonderful man named Blake created a company called TOMS shoes for Tomorrow!

We had the honor of being shoe givers for a school in rural Ethiopia. When I think of schools I think of beautiful uniform buildings. Even Addis this true but in the country the "school" consist of ten "buildings" that are really tin sheds. Honestly, looked a lot like farm sheds. But these children are so happy to be going to school and they don't know any different.

In the morning, we played and it continues to amaze me how excited children are just to have me paint their nails. They are so sweet and respectful, as I look back to make sure I will not sit in cow poo a little girl come over with a large flat rock for me to sit on. I am a lucky woman.

My afternoon was spent on the floor helping children into their new shoes. The rubber shoes are made in Ethiopia and are made specifically to last during the rainy season. Children came in with no shoes, or shoes that were way too tight but mostly the shoes had holes where their toes stuck out or had holes in the bottom.

Now you never think, well at least I didn't think about the fact that a shoe giver means you are on the floor for hours with a constant smell of feet and some who do not have the luxury of pedicures or SHOES. But honestly, I never even noticed. It was so amazing to see the pure joy on the faces how thankful they were.

Our translators continued to be amazing. Men of the community were not happy there was not shoes for them. The men tried to pressure our translators but Nate never left my side. As he said, "Bridget, I am your translator / body guard!" How could you not love Nate!

All in all another amazing day capped off by more ice cream at kaldies and meaningful chats with my group.

Day 4

Ambo

Today we had a picnic with children who are sponsored so they can go to school. Every sponsored child also brought their siblings.

At first most of the children just stared at us. We were the first white people they had seen. Soon they were walking up to us making sure to shake your hand and say shalem (hello). A very cute three year old come walking over making a camera motion and wants to take a picture with me. These kids love having their picture taken, taking the picture, basically anything dealing with the camera is awesome.

Esp. these older girls love photos! I have many many photos of these beautiful girls.

We played games, did some crafts and I got to see lots of smiles. Then it was time for lunch. Now I am not sure whose idea this was but.. every child was presented a hamburger for lunch. Great for american kids but these Ethiopian kids had never seen a hamburger. Eating with two hands was also a new concept. The little boy next to me decided it would be better to spit it out. As I start to freak out that my little friend is getting sick I look around and notice he is not alone. Since they normally eat in rooms with dirt floors it is normal to spit out food that is bad on the floor. So anyways, my pasta is brought over and I have a table of cuties who wont eat their burgers so I start feeding them pasta. That they were ok with! Everyone loves pasta!


On our way home Baby took us to a park with a waterfall and the amazing tree, that I swear the lion king was based off of.

The day finished with ice cream at Kaldies and our meeting with TOMS

Day 3

After processing yesterday, I was left sad for all those sweet children and sad for my child who I could not be there to help her if something was wrong. I was also very apprehensive about our trip to Holeta! After having a wonderful facebook chat with my mom and getting a little more sleep I felt much better and started to relax a great deal. I enjoyed the beautiful drive out to Holeta.

When we arrived at Holeta, I was super excited to learn we would not be doing anything with the chicken coup cleaning or building.!!!

Then we started the tie dye and it was amazing AMAZING!

There had been three pre teen girls Pochi had asked to help me prepare the dyes and the joy started there!! It was so much fun to work with the girls and the shirts look good so far.

The three girls were amazing, so excited, and so helpful. So SWEET.

Later, the girls and I sat down and looked at the pictures of their forever family and at my family. They are so excited to live in TEXAS. They have very lucky parents. We picked out sticker earrings and had a wonderful afternoon.

While I was having fun with tie dye the men were roasting the goat for lunch. I also had my first Ethiopian coffee, I am hooked. We left in the evening and drove off in to the sunset to our beautiful hotel in ambo. I look forward to visiting here soon!

Day 2

Day two was an amazing day no pictures only memories. Government orphanages do not allow photos. I will do my best to describe what I saw. As the vans pulled up we could see the children about preschool age peaking out their door. Slowly the very brave would walk over to one of us and hold out their hands. Soon their friends were walking over too!! We met the director and went on a quick tour. As we spread out I found myself in the play room of one year olds. Again one sweet girl walks up to me holds her arms up so I pick her up. Now another baby boy comes up to me with his hands up. Now I have to sweet children in my arms. I decide it will be easier just to sit on the floor and now I have two more babies in my lap. It is so wonderful to have these sweet children playing all over me. They are so excited to play, but you can tell that they are afraid I will leave so they literally cling to you. Soon it is time for their lunch so the nurses ask us to play somewhere else so they will focus on lunch. I then ended up in the infant room and picked up a beautiful girl. She was so sweet and perfect but if I tried to put her down she would start to fuss. She was so happy to be in my arms. Such amazing eyes. I feed her and burped her (all first for me) and sang to her. I do want to make sure I note how amazing the nannies at the orphanage are. The problem is just the ratio. One nanny to ten babies. What I found most comforting about the whole day, might be selfish but I thought about the fact that when our Grace is waiting for us, other groups will come and hold and love her. She will be loved everyday. It was definitely a perfect first day with faces I will never forget.