Celebrating the 5th of July

Day two has come and gone and I already feel as if I have been here for weeks. I have met so many fascinating people and it is amazing to see how our lives intertwine. One day, before I arrived, Lyston reconnected with a woman we had both met in India two years ago – the same trip on which he and I met. It was by complete accident that she was detoured in Addis this week. I got to visit with her tonight and we were in awe of this random reunion.

Last night I awoke at 2:00 AM thanks to jet lag and remained awake the rest of the night paranoid by the noisy mouse in our room. After a breakfast of banana bread and coffee I went with Rachel to Moses where she has been teaching 17 orphans math and English. Our taxi ride took us in the opposite direction from yesterday’s trips so I got to see a new part of town. It’s funny asking for a taxi to Mexico, but that is actually a big part of the city.

The children at Moses are very bright, which makes it very hard to leave them at the end of the day knowing they have no outside activities. Rachel has no teaching background and is going into her senior year of college; however she did an excellent job teaching the kids. We played hang-man and solved word problems. When we returned from lunch the kids had drawn a heart around the letters “r” and “j” and had written, “We love you very much.”


Children at Moses Orphanage.

Then, after class we went to the Mother Theresa’s hospital for the sick and the dying destitute. We went directly to the children with special needs ward. This room had about 12 young children with severe mental and physical disabilities. It was a very difficult place for me to be with the smell of urine and constant noise. The kids have diapers that are wrapped in garbage bags to try to keep the linens clean, but the task is too overwhelming to maintain cleanliness. Rachel is gifted with a joy and energy for these children and is working to spend all of her time with them. For me, it was a struggle being there for just a few hours. We stayed to feed the kids and prepare their beds. It is a massive undertaking, but the staff is very talented and understands each child’s personality. It is impossible not to get emotional at a place like this, and it is exhausting. I admire the doctors and nurses that are there from all over the world volunteering their time.

When we got home the festivities for our 5th of July party had begun. The sheep had been slaughtered earlier in the day and were already on the grill. So many people from the various organizations Cherokee partners with came and visited. It was a great gathering and the meal was tasty.
Now, I’m off to bed and the mouse traps are set.

Fixing dinner.

Lyston and the crew.