A few more pictures

A few more pictures I uploaded from Bill's photo albums. Hope to post again this weekend.

Washing clothes outside at Bethany. Their sink was out in the open.

The one at our guest house was at least under a roof.

They washed dishes and clothing here. See the clothes line near her head.

If you look close there is a tree growing inside this shop.

One of the malls in Addis.

Just a cow walking along the road, not afraid of the traffic. I was afraid of the traffic.

This is broken glass embedded in the top of a wall surrounding

a compound to protect the inhabitants.

Electric fence around a hotel.

Still on Thursday, I told you it was a memorable day.

Gretchen related this story to Bill and I. She went to the bathroom while we were at the Golf Course yesterday. When she went into the lavatory an Ethiopian lady said " You no want to go in there" and fanned her hand in front of her nose. She was embarrassed by the smell. Gretchen said " No that's ok." Reply, " No 5 minutes". Gretchen went in anyway. When she came back to the sink area, they stopped washing their hands and insisted that Gretchen go 1st. That's the way it was at every place I went too, they always let me go first no matter now I insisted that it was ok.

I was surprised not to see more handicapped people here. That seems to be what you see on tv. Remember there are many misconceptions about Africa and I can tell you that they are untrue. I have only seen 4 or 5 people walking with crutches. Just like the US. A club foot, only one woman, a double amputee, and one gentleman with a very, very, very bad looking stump. I was so sad looking at him sitting in the dirt. What kind of a life must he lead? Does he get any medical help? Will he eat tonight? We aren't really suppose to take pictures of people unless you ask but I have taken a few from a distance, the school children at the museum. Other kids at the lion cage. The kids that were there had on everything from party dresses with petty coats, to shirts and ties to shorts and tank tops with two shoes that don't match. And I was worried about what the mother of the groom wears to the bridal shower. It's cold here for the Ethiopian People, because of the rain they have been having. I am comfortable in short sleeves and Capri's or a skirt with no hose. Bur our guide had on a long sleeve tee shirt and an insulated vest. But then again I have seen a lot of flip flops. That's what gets cold on me first, my feet. I have also seen several winter coats and heavy sweaters. We had dessert after our meal today but Abel says usually they just have coffee. Of course it is probably strong enough to cut with a knife and if you add enough sugar it's like candy. It is so much fun to share our culture with them. The restaurants that we ate at the last two days have been "American". Though I think that I may go to Ethiopia just to show them how to really cook "American". Abel wanted to know of any of the food on the menu was from our area. Yonatan asked what the US was known for. I said I guess hot dogs and apple pie. Yonatan ate the rest of Bill's pizza last night and said it was good "for American food"

They must marry here later than I thought, another misconception. Abel is 30 and engaged but no plans for a wedding yet. We asked Phillipe if he was married and he shook his head and said,"I'm only 25." I know that's only two examples. Bill was married at 23, I think. Seth is 25 and the wedding is June 5th.

Last image for this entry. While we were stopped at one of two stop lights in the city, a guy hoisted himself up over the curb on his crutches, walked towards the wall and peed. OM Goodness. At least here we pick a back road. Oh yeah I guess there are no back roads in a city of 5 million.

Thursday Feb 11th, The Memorable Day Cont.

Yonatan was on his day off so we are not going to the Fistula Hospital. We met one of the Italian gentlemen who are here working on helping to build a farm. His English is so so, he understands more than he speaks. Phillipe, I think, I don't seem to have that written down. He wrote down several things that we said. Yohanna is spitting up most of what is fed to her. I am worried that she is not getting enough but she doesn't really cry and she has dirty diapers. Gretchen says that children in orphanages often do not cry out because they learn that their needs won't necessarily be met. The doctor told Gretchen when we got home that she will learn just what we teach her. If she cries and we pick her up she will understand that and cry more to get that reaction. Funny how we already knew that but needed to be reminded, that our kids are what we make them. I think that Yohanna is an exceptional baby as far as crying goes, because it was 1 nanny to 2 infants and I know that Yohanna was getting lots of love. It's sunshiny here today. We sent laundry to the ladies. I took a lot of pictures so far I hope that I remember what they are when we get home. One building yesterday was several stories high, wrapped in torn blue tarps. When you got closer the sign on it said "Waterproofing", ha that's a laugh. We went by the FBI building, NO PICTURES, but Terri got on off before Abel could tell us. I think the driver would be the one who got in trouble if we were caught. Stray dogs run the streets, I heard a cat yowling most of the night, kind of like home. Gretchen saw some guy dressed in a Bengals Shirt just like Bill has at home. A little boy came to beg for food when we were stopped at one of the few street lights in town. There really aren't many street lights, you know red/green/ yellow and if they are there they aren't working. I don't think the drivers would pay attention anyway. It's first come first serve or who every is daring enough to stick his nose out first goes. I told the driver through the guide that we would never be able to drive like this in the states and if I was driving the van I would have already gone through all my pain killers, new script, 90 pills because my neck would be so stressed. We are only on day 3 in Addis. Where ever we went there are fresh roses. There are Calla Lilies right outside the door. But then again there are trash heaps outside the compound gates. The guest house is very clean but very plain. Metal doors and latches, the metal binds and there is a loud clank. The guest house is very similar to Shalom where Yohanna was. Similar layout. There are 2 small lean 2 type buildings in the compound. The green space inside the compound is about the same size as my side yard between the house and garage but not nearly as long. The manager lives in one room 5 or 6 days a week and the ladies live in 1/2 of one of the lean 2's. I think the other lean 2 is 1/2 office and 1/2 storage. There is a motel behind us, Yonatan says he never sees anyone staying there. My lips are so dry and peeling even with chapstick. I made it worse by biting off a piece of skin and now they hurt too. The altitude here doesn't seem to effect us as much as I thought it would. Maybe climbing the stairs puts us out of breath but that might be because I am old and fat. Can't say that about Gretchen though. This morning I didn't feel very well but that could have been because my pain killer hit my stomach before the poptart. There is a fire burning somewhere I can smell it. The exhaust here is so bad. I know I said that earlier but unless you have been here you can't imagine how bad it is. I think that that is what is effecting Gretchen, she seems to sleep a lot. Chicago rush hour traffic is bad but this is 100 x worse.

A Change of Pace

This week has been unusual and tuff. There are continued stresses at work everyone is on edge because of all the cutbacks at school and how many are loosing their jobs. My neck has been killing me, I hate how it hurts. At least I get to go to Reflexology on (this coming )Thursday that should help. Then on Friday when I got home I checked facebook and a friend said that one of our home town girls daughters hit a semi on Thursday in the fog. I called and talked to our pastor to make sure that he knew. He was at the hospital with the family, they were making the decision whether to take her off life supports or not. O M Goodness, how could anyone ever decide to do that. Randy says there is a 30 hour window that will allow all the transplant teams and recipients to gather before her bodies life is really over. I know that she wasn't really there but I'm not sure I could give up hope that Seth wouldn't come out of it if we were in that situation.

Seth no matter how mad I get at you or how mad you get at me. I LOVE YOU, never forget that. Mom

I know that something good will come with the transplants, but....................................................... I didn't know Chelsea very well, she helped with VBS a few times, but this is what everyone who knows her has told me, " She forever had a smile on her face, an easy going, happy, wonderful girl." I would like all of you to pray for her family, she leaves behind 2 sisters, her mom and step dad, her dad, and grandparents and many, many friends but most of all she leaves behind an almost 2 year old baby girl. My heart breaks every time I think of her. Rest in peace, Chelsea.

This is the second day we were home from Ethiopia. Gretchen brought Yohanna and Laural to Sunday School. Nancy Warner took a picture with the SS kids.

Barbed wire along the top of a fenced in Hotel.

School Girls

School Children at the museum.

G and B thought this desert spoon was cool and took a picture of it. Banana Split day.

Amharic COKE bottles

Continuing a Memorable Day

I'm still debating on telling you everything that happened this day. Gretchen will either appreciate those post or not. We'll see. After going to the museum, Able suggested that we go to a near by lion cage. We had extra time and I think that the driver Abeselom suggested it. Though I don't know why he was paid a flat rate per day, not by the hour. At the lion enclosure they charged us per person and per camera. And if you had a video camera it was more. We got out of the van under a millium (again sorry for sp, it will not give me any ideas) sign. Remember they are only in the year 2002. Emily forgot to bring her receipt to get inside the main gates so we waited on her. They were debating on whether or not we could all go in, they don't seem to understand that G, B and I are traveling together, even with the receipt. But finally they let us into the inter sanctum. I think I might have rather stayed outside. It was a circle shaped enclosure divided into 4 or 5 pie shaped sections. The center was probably where the lions slept. G, B and Able were in front of me and all of a sudden G jumped back. The attendants had just thrown a piece of animal over the fence to a lion and it was stuck on one of the trusses over head. The lion was standing on his back legs trying to get the meat down. When I say animal it was pretty much a 1/4 of something dead, not just a piece of meat like I've seen zookeepers give lions around here.

We could have touched the lions. There was a fence of chain link about 6 inches in front of a rebar cage. I took a picture through the chain link, it was unbelievable. They weren't very nice to the lions, to get them to move they sprayed them with water hoses. Terri got sprayed with the water. Ethiopian water, in the face. Oh yeah, she was sick later in the week, I wonder if that was what it was from. The smell was terrible. The cages were pretty clean but I think it was the temperature and the raw meat. YUCK!!!!!!!!!!! Able said he had only been there one other time, I think. I'm not sure he will ever take another family there even if they have extra time. The kids were very excited to see us. There was a school or group home there also. They weren't in uniforms. There was everything from party dresses to shorts, suit and ties to winter coats on the kids. We were stared at by several families. White people with black babies. We went to lunch at the Blue Top Cafe. Bill had fried chicken with lots and lots of breading. Gretchen and I had breaded chicken breast pounded into a huge piece, over 1/2 of the plate, spinach, potatoes, and carrots. We also had desert. G and B shared a banana split, only chocolate, no nuts. I had chocolate moose with ice cream, very, very rich. Very, very good, desert any way. I said we need to go back there and teach them how to cook American food. the soda is in bottles like we used to get out of the old soda machines, 8 oz or so. Amharic writing on one side COKE on the other, I brought some home, thanks Abel for bringing me some. After lunch we headed back to the guest house. This day will be several posts because it took me 16 pages to write it all in my journal.