Monday, June 14, 2010 "Gotcha Day"
We were both awake by 5am, excited and totally ready to get the kids! We were rested and fed and really anxious to get on with it. We went for a swim in the pool at 6:30am. It was a beautiful morning and the pool was fed from a natural hot spring so the water was warm and the air was cool and there were clouds of steam hanging in the air. We got dressed, had breakfast, packed everything, checked out, and were waiting in front of the hotel at 9:30am. A van arrived from Layla House with Jessica, one of the American orphanage employees. We loaded all four enormous suitcases and drove off. We went immediately to the Ritmo Guest House where we were going to stay for the rest of our trip. It is a privately owned house that is affiliated with the agency to house American families coming to get their children from Layla. It was only a 10 minute walk to the orphanage from the Ritmo guesthouse. The Ritmo, like most homes in Addis, sits within a walled compound. A guard opens and closes the gates, there's razor wire on top. The actual house has several large bedrooms, several bathrooms, a common living room and kitchen, plus another smaller building behind the main house which holds another two bedrooms and bathroom as well as quarters for the guard and other employees. We stayed in this smaller building which worked out perfect for our family. We had a bedroom for Brian and I, a bedroom with bunk beds for the kids, and a bathroom to ourselves. It was private and quiet (mostly, more on that later!). So we dragged all our bags into our rooms and turned around and immediately drove to Layla. Brian handed his precious video camera to Jessica as we drove up so she could get footage and we could focus on meeting the kids. The driver pulled up to the gates, honked his horn, the gates opened, and we immediately saw Tinsaye peeking around the corner waiting for us! As soon as she saw us drive in, she screamed and ran away! When the driver stopped we jumped out of the van and she came running back. She threw her arms around me screaming "Mama, mama, mama!!!" Then she jumped on Brian the same way. When we all disentangled ourselves from the hug-fest, we said, "Where's Solomon?". She turned on her heel and started screaming, "Solomon! Solomon!" and ran back in through the maze of buildings that comprised the orphanage. Jessica turned off the camera and helped us navigate our way into the compound. Most all the other children were in class, so it was pretty deserted, and Solomon came shyly out of a building, being dragged by his screaming sister. He was quiet and shy, but gave us big hugs and high fives. They took us to their rooms and showed us all their belongings, which consisted of the photos we had sent them, some letters and photos from friends that had gone to America, a Bible, and their school notebooks. [Think for a moment what would happen if you asked a typical American child to show you ALL of their belongings.] They showed us their beds, one of 10 or so steel bunks, boys and girls in alternating rooms.
They were very excited to go to the guest house, so we left with them on foot after about 30 minutes at Layla. The guest house was thrilling to them, this was the closest thing they'd ever had to a vacation. When we got in our rooms we gave them their backpacks full of goodies from America. They could hardly take it all in. It was just like opening presents on Christmas morning. Every item was analyzed and celebrated with joy and awe, from a digital camera to a matchbox car to a new box of crayons to hair ties. Tinsaye said, "Me have clothes too?" and sure enough, she had an entire suitcase of perfect, bright, clean American clothes. She put everything on, took it all off, put it all on again, dancing around in everything. While she was having a fashion show, Solomon was completely focused on his tiny digital camera. He took about 300 photos in the first hour.
They changed into new clothes (the clothes they were wearing belonged to the orphanage and needed to be returned) and packed everything into their backpacks and we went back to Layla for lunch. When we got there the other children were out of class and came crowding around us to see us, touch us, and look at all the goodies in Solomon and Tinsaye's new backpacks. We went in to the dining hall which had a huge map of America on the wall. The other kids dragged us over to the map and showed us where Michigan was (to let us know that they all knew where Solomon and Tinsaye were going) and then started showing us where THEIR families were. Many kids didn't have families yet and they showed us where their friends' families were. Every child there had a better understanding of American geography than most American kids their ages!
Lunch was injera (bread) and miser wat (spicy lentil stew). All the kids said a prayer, then served themselves cafeteria-style from huge dishes at the front of the room. [Can you imagine American kids as young as 5 or 6 serving themselves bread and stew, carrying the plates to a table, eating, and cleaning up after themselves? Without whining or asking someone for a juice box and a Gogurt?] One little girl was a good friend of Tinsaye and she started crying during lunch. She was sad that Tinsaye was leaving her. As soon as the tears started, all of the other children immediately hugged her or moved closer to her. Several kids started playing games or making jokes to cheer her up. It was very clear that these kids were a family to each other and they had developed ways to help one another through times of sadness. During lunch, all the teachers sat together at one table. We spoke to Solomon and Tinsaye's teacher and he told us, "they are both genious, so smart, Solomon especially so quick". Every parent loves to hear that!
When lunch was finished the other kids went back to class and the four of us returned to the guest house. It felt a little weird to just sit around with them. I kind of wanted to inspect them like you would your newborn baby... really feeling their toes and fingers, feeling their hair, inspecting everything, but they were totally PEOPLE not little blobby babies and they were actually strangers to me, so it seemed inappropriate. Plus I wanted to scrub them for about an hour to get them really clean and inspect them for lice, but again, I wasn't feeling like that was exact;y okay. I did check for lice (I am a teacher and I know lice when I see them!)- all clear, hallelujah! When I asked if Tinsaye wanted to take a shower, she said "Yes! I love shower!" and she ripped all her clothes off immediately, so I took that as a good sign that she was feeling comfortable with me. Unfortunately, there was no light in the bathroom and only a very small, covered window, so I couldn't exactly tell if she was getting clean or not in the near blackness! Solomon was much less enthusiastic about his shower, but Tinsaye yelled at him in Amharic and he reluctantly put down his camera and took his clothes off too. We spent most of the rest of the afternoon looking at the stuff in their backpacks and getting to know the other American families at the guest house.
For dinner we walked to a American-style restaurant and ordered pizza, but it turned out that Tinsaye hates pizza (even though she claimed to love it). She talked her dad into a huge piece of chocolate cake in lieu of actual food. We started walking home and realized it was getting dark very quickly. I didn't want to be out after dark and the kids started getting very nervous and walking faster. By the time we got to our street we were practically running! We made it back fine and were really ready to put on PJs and hit the sack. The kids climbed into their beds, said their prayers and were asleep immediately. We did the same. It was a REALLY exhausting, amazing, wonderful day.
No comments:
Post a Comment