Time is Winding Down

Since I last wrote, four more girls in the house have left and four more guests have arrived. But things are going to get real quiet, real fast next Tuesday when the last one leaves and I have the house to myself. When I got here that moment was the thing I dreaded most and now it is here. I think I’m ready for it, but I am going to miss everyone terribly. If I had my choice between a full house with no privacy and an empty one with no company I would choose the noise, but I know that the two weeks will be good. My goal is to surpass Watt in speaking Amharic and to exercise every day. When the house is full of people you don’t want to do anything that doesn’t accommodate the majority, so now I’ll have some time to think about the next 2 ½ months and what that looks like for me personally. I can’t believe that I have been here 6 weeks already. In a blink I am going to be at my half-way point.

The last week was quite busy and flew by in its typical fashion. Monday was Hareg’s first day back at school. Her family has been bombarded by guests coming to grieve with them. I’ve gotten to see what a burden this type of mourning can be on the family. They have had to prepare meals for up to 30 people at a time for the past two weeks. Tenagne, Hareg’s sister, is wearing down and finally expressed her frustration at this aspect of their culture. And yet, they willingly provide and let their grief re-surface every time someone comes by to pay his respects.

That evening Hareg and Yunatin came over to say bye to Bethany, Victoria, Martha, and Page. It was so sad to say goodbye to them and it was a whirlwind departure following our awesome weekend at Lake Langano. I accompanied Matt and them to the airport to learn the ropes since I’ll be responsible for the last few groups to leave this week. It was quite interesting trying to finagle our way past security. Anyone entering the airport has to pass through security and for visitors that means standing in an incredibly long line.

Tuesday night with our group reduced to 7 we decided to eat out rather than wait until the weekend. We went to an Italian restaurant which also served as an art gallery. It was my favorite restaurant yet. The art included a wide variety of paintings featuring the beautiful African culture. Too bad we couldn’t afford anything.

Wednesday I got to go with Yunatin to hear him speak at a college seminar. It was a gathering of top university students throughout the country. Yunatin’s message was on “youth and its challenges.” I was lucky that he gave most of it in English. I enjoyed hearing him talk of the work he is doing with the youth here in Addis. Until then I had not realized how much he is doing. He and Hareg are approaching their vision of helping the youth differently, but both are making such a huge impact.

Thursday was a gorgeous, sunny day. Watt and I managed to leave work early in the afternoon, stopping at the pink coffee shop in Tor Highloch to grab a macchiato. He wasn’t in good spirits until on the taxi ride home he was able to use his amharic to get the cab assistant (the money collector) to cough up the change he owed us. He told the guy his math was as bad as Watt’s amharic. The van burst out laughing. That kind of thing is always touch and go. Even though we’re fighting over pennies the principle of the matter makes it imperative that we demand equal charges. Watt’s triumph actually arrived when we got to Tor Highloch and a boy said, “hello, how are you.” We started to walk right past him until Watt recognized him as the first boy he had taught on the street. A few days prior he had written a few English phrases and given them to the boy to learn. This was just a random kid we met at our bus stop and here he was speaking English! Watt and I were floored. Now Watt has handouts that translate basic phrases from Amharic into English and he is giving them to the street kids. Watt is very passionate about his “street teaching,” and in a city of millions he is quickly becoming a local celebrity. He even claims it’s the reason he didn’t get charged on a taxi one day. I wouldn’t be surprised. After our coffee we went back to the house and changed into our running clothes. Our destination: Total (named after the Total gas station). Our mission: ice cream and exercise. It was a great run even though I need to do a lot more if I want to make a dent in the amount of calories I’ve consumed in cookies thanks to lovely Asni. On the way back a man tried to buy me and Watt almost acquiesced. I’m sure I won’t forget it, but I must also mention the bug that we saw floating in the sky for it was the strangest insect either of us had ever seen (I’m not usually self-conscious about my blog postings, but this may be the lamest one yet, it all seems a bit mundane.)

Anyway, that evening was our traditional taco night…our favorite meal at the Cherokee house. Then Matt and I went to the airport to pick up Jonathan and the “quilt ladies.” All four are guests of Cherokee and staying for less than ten days. I actually made two runs to the airport that night bringing Jonathan back and then returning for the rest. It was good practice and I successfully shimmied past the guards on my own.

Friday, Jonathan, EJ, and Mary joined me and Watt at Destiny. Since it was Jonathan’s first day and because we had so many in our group we decided to take a contract taxi for 30 birr ($3.) By taking a contract we get the minibus to ourselves and are dropped off at Destiny without making any other stops. It was our best car ride in Addis. The driver played old-school American hits such as “Red, Red, Wine” and something by Celine Dion (she is idolized here.) We sang at the top of our lungs the whole ride to work. We even got there in time to play with the kids before classes started. My class had their test and I was thrilled to see that they had improved since last week’s. For lunch we took the group to the Habesha (Ethiopian) restaurant next to the school. Then Yunatin took us to his youth leadership center which is very close to Destiny. It is a very nice house set up as a community dormitory for 12 mentors to live for a year. This is the 7th group to go through this mentor training program. We sat in the conference room and gave our stories and heard how each one had come to be a part of the leadership program. This program falls under an organization that Yunatin helped start called Youth Impact Development Association (YIDA). In it they also run a leadership program for university students, a street dwellers’ program, and an orphanage. (In order to give an accurate depiction of what they are doing I think I’ll reserve further descriptions for a separate post.) Needless to say we enjoyed a long discussion at the center.

Saturday, Mary and I left the house at 7:30 am to go with Jeremy and Reid to the Mother Theresa Hospital for the Sick and the Dying Destitute in Sedist Kilo. On Tuesday and Saturday the hospital has an open wound clinic in which anyone can come and get a wound cleaned and any other medical need addressed. Most of them are treated and given outpatient care, but a few get admitted upon inspection by of one of the head sisters. There were actually too many volunteers there so we couldn't help at the clinic, but one of the social workers showed us around the entire hospital and then we got to assist in the kids with special needs room. It is the same ward I had worked in during my first week. That first visit had been a shock, but this time I was looking forward to being there and loving on those precious boys. Abugayu, the one they have to keep restrained, is now allowed to walk around with a chaperone. That is in large part to Rachael’s time and persistence. We got to assist with feeding time. Lunch was spaghetti and the boy I fed didn’t want to eat. So I had to shove a spoonful in his mouth everytime he screamed which was often enough to give him some nourishment. Jeremy and Reid found my situation humorous, which it was.

Afterwards we picked up a cake and went to Destiny to celebrate Samrawit’s graduation from university. She is one of the teachers at Destiny. The party was in the main part of the school and there was a ton of food prepared. Samrawit was overwhelmed by it all, which was wonderful to see. She definitely deserved the celebration given to her.

I’m still behind a few days, but this is all I can write for now…