Street Kids, Mums, and Wee Ones

UPDATED WITH TONS OF PHOTOS

As I am sitting here there is a terrific lightening storm going on. TONS of rain, thunder and lightening! We have really hit the rainy season now!! Dane tried to convince me that we were near the equator and therefore it was shorts weather. I *told* him to pack more pants! Hmmm.

The girls slept like a dream last night. New beds, alone for the first time, and not a peep all night.

This morning at 6:30 when I awoke I looked over to their beds and saw Gadisae’s big eyes peeping out at me. I smiled and lay down for a minute. I was so tired from being up to midnight the night before writing my post! Then I got up and took her potty and then we snuggled in her bed for about 30 minutes.


Ray and Mesai kept on sleeping, so I got her dressed in new clothes and then headed down for breakfast. Ray arrived shortly after I arrived and poured her some cocoa puffs type cereal. She said, “chocolate bono” – chocolate cereal. While she was busy with Ray, I went up and got myself showered and ready to go. Mesai then woke and she dressed and came down for breakfast. She turned her nose up at the chocolate bono. I then offered her cornflakes and she said no. Okay, so what does she eat? Ray offered her a piece of bun with jam – yes, to the bun, no, to the jam. Good, she will fit right in with my boys. They all eat dry buns as snacks on the go.

Gadisae and Mesai have not stopped wearing their backpacks, since they got them. They also love their stylish sunglasses! While they were eating Mesai brought out her magnadoodle. She wrote her name and showed me. I then wrote Daddy and showed her. She looked at it very carefully, clearly studying each letter – it was like she was photographing it into her memory. She then erased the board and wrote Daddy correctly. I then did the same with Mummy, and again she did it right. Dane – she needed to redo it a couple times. When I did Colt she said the letters while writing it and did it correctly. When Colt arrived about 10 minute later for breakfast, I asked her to write Colt again. She did very quickly without even putting any effort into it!!

Update: 2 weeks later, when I was writing the kids names on their Ethiopian hats, I came to Colt's hat and began to write. Before I got the first letter written Mesai began to spell it out loud for me. She was completely correct. Her Enat said she was always very bright; I find she absorbs like a sponge!

I have had four sons learn to read and not one of them absorbed as quickly as she does! Meanwhile, our cute little Gadisae was drawing little circles on her board. Ray thought she was writing Amharic. I told him she was doodling. *grin*

While we were waiting to go the girls huddled around Abebe’s oldest sister. She was playing a DS that was given to them by the Australian family that runs the orphanage. Our girls were entranced.

I have also noticed that they love the tv! Later today, when I went out in the evening for an hour I set them up with some playdough and tools and Amelech, who is 10. They would have preferred to watch tv. Uh, nope. Not in our house. They will soon learn that tv is not on very much! We will be learning new things all the time! Slowwwwly.

We did have one incident. Interesting!! Last night when the girls were playing and squealing and talking in Amharic Dane was recording them. I was watching the situation and was facing him and they were in the middle of us. Both of us *thought* we heard one of them say, “Shut up.” We looked at each other and our eyes bugged out. Dane quickly turned off the machine and said, “She said, Shut up.” I said, “No. It must have been Amharic!” LOL!

Then this morning Colt came to me and said, “Little Sister said, Shut up, to me.” He looked shocked. I knew he had to be right! I quickly got Amelech’s attention and asked her to talk to the little culprit. I spoke and Amelech translated. She was quite serious about it and the little one looked perhaps a little embarrassed.

“You love your brother,” said Amelech, and the little one just looked seriously. “Be nice to him. You don’t say shut up.”

So we have had our first ‘naughty’ word. It will be interesting to learn what exactly they have learned in their short life! It amazes me that they knew this English word!! Situation Number Two – Language: Handled.

Our driver for the day was a bit messed up and so our plans were changed. We ended up hiring a new driver and went to the Orphanage for Street Children and Mothers with Babies first. We had a long list of things we had to do today:

Orphanage
LIGA School
Postage stamps for birthmum

Photo copies of adoption papers for Embassy

Entoto Mountain and buy dresses and head wraps for girls

Market

Sheraton to try to upload photos

Well, our day did not go as planned. Each and every day that we have been here has been jam packed!!! We have not gotten home before 8:30 and not to bed before midnight. We have accomplished a lot. I am looking forward to a couple of days of rest and ‘tourism’ when we are done at FAYA. A bit of rest before we head back home.

We arrived at the Orphanage and found it to be a corrugated tin fenced compound. The buildings were all corrugated tin and metal bars. It was very impressive though! The history of this place is quite simple. An engineer with an incredible career including the UN and other type employers was challenged once. He was told he was selfish. He was in a career to get and not to give. He was injured one day and nearly died. He promised God, who he did not know up to this point, that he would take care of the poor, if he could just live. That was a man who was in a coma for two months, had three broken ribs, leg broken in five spots, long gash hole in his skull – his car went 135 metres over a cliff and he survived! As I said to him – God had a plan for you, but first He had to get your attention!!

This man took a garbage dump and while still on his crutches, he threw up some tin walls. Bit by bit, his walls crept further back, until he had this huge compound. It is free of rent because it was just a garbage dump! It is clean and organized and quite amazing now. Yes, it is 3^rd world looking, but oh, so clean!!

When we visited one of the houses where the mums live I was so impressed. Shoes were lined up at doors, beds were army style made, not a scrap of paper on the floor, cups were upside down on upside down plates – waiting for the occupants to come home and use them for the next meal. These girls were being taught self respect!!

Mother's Bed With Baby Bed Along-Side

This Young Mum Takes Care of the House

While the Other Mums Work

But back to my story.

As we walked through the gate – many, many, many little ones of ages 2-4 came running to see us. Even though they were obviously seriously poor and not the healthiest children, each and everyone wore a little purple smock. This was their school uniform. There is something about these countries that has a self-respect. You may be poor, but you can still be respectable. These little smocks were wrinkled, but they still owned one each.

The Entry Gates

The Playground

The children looked like street children. Our little girls were certainly more healthy than them. These children had runny noses and some had little sores. But they were still children! I quickly remembered the soccer balls in the van. We were heading to the LIGA School with one. I ran back to the van. You should have seen the delight when I stepped in and tossed the ball up in the air over the heads of these little ones!!

Look At Those Future Stars!

The way those children played soccer at such a young age, makes me think there are some future soccer stars in the mix! You should have seen how naturally they all kicked the ball!

When I saw how delighted they were with the ball I ran back to the van and brought them a second ball. You think you have enough stuff and then you start delivering it and see how big the need is, and you wish you had so much more!

This compound is a place where the young mums learn trades. They do hairdressings, sewing, literacy, cooking, incense making, candle making, sweater making, weaving, and more. There is one metal work shop where a few guys work to continue to make the compound. They do repairs there.

Hairdressing

Hand Sewing Room

Sweater Making

Incense Making

This Mum is 15

The Young Incense Maker's 18 month old Baby!!

Machine Sewing Room

There have been 1065 mums come through this system and out of that he has only had 25 go back to the streets. The rest of them have gone on with their babies and made a future for themselves!! He is the *only* shelter of it’s kind in Addis Ababa!! While other people encourage giving up the babies born to these young mums – most of which are rape victims, he doesn’t. He does the opposite. He encourages them to keep their babies.

They live in one of four houses. Each of these houses costs him $250 a month to rent. He does it solely with faith that will provide what he needs! This man needs $1000 US per month to keep his mum’s houses running. He had a fifth one but had to shut it down due to lack of funds. He provides meals for ALL of these 140 children, plus the mums!! He goes through $12 of milk a day – that is nearly $400 of milk a month!!!

We were able to give him a month’s rent on ONE of the houses and enough milk for one month. We also gave him a suitcase full of school supplies, for which he was incredibly grateful. When we gave him the stuff he called me: Mother Christmas. I had one Bible in the box and when I put it on the table, he immediately asked me to open it up to Psalm 41:1. He asked me to read it. It was the verse God gave him years ago telling him to take care of the destitute and the poor.

When I told him what the fungus cream was for he was THRILLED!!! He NEEDS this desperately. We are going to try to buy it here as he says it is quite cheap.

But PLEASE, if you are reading this post and are coming to Ethiopia, PLEASE buy this cream. It is not cheap – about $15 a tube, but while I was standing there, he called out of his office and soon we had a line of young mums carrying babies that NEED this cream!! It is just one more expense and he already has so many. This is an ‘antifungal’ cream. I don’t have the box with me, but it starts with the letter Clotrimizole (or some such name). PLEASE if you can bring some, call Abebe, at the http://www.oziopia.org/ guesthouse and he will direct you how to get to this man and his children. If you want the number before you go, please email me privately.

Also, not only the medication. If you are coming to Addis and want to have a simple job of helping some amazing people – I have done your research *grin*. You simply have to email me and I will get Abebe to take you to (or direct your driver to) the Baby House with eighteen tiny, tiny babies, or the Street Children and Mothers Shelter with 140 children and their very wonderful young mothers! These two places are simply run on the goodwill of others. If we spread the word *neither* of these places need go hungry. They can thrive and maybe be able to expand and bring in more children! Please consider this.

The two things that are most needed: Baby House: MILK – they will tell you which formula – as the wonderful lady wants the best for her babies, so she has a special brand she likes. The Shelter: MILK – Nido brand, RENT – 2500 birr per month PER HOUSE – he has FOUR.

He told me that the Nido was 1300 birr not very many months ago. It is now 2600 birr – about $12 per day to feed his children!!! Inflation.

We went through each of the rooms and saw the mums at work. Each of them was young – many were as young as 14 years old, but they all had their babies. The babies were nearby, either sleeping or playing.

I cannot tell you how many times my throat felt too full to swallow – the tears were so close all the time. These mums and their babes were given a rough start, but through the love and devotion of this ONE man, they have hope for the future.

Babies in the Sewing Room

Wee Ones Play While Mummies Work Nearby

Babies in the Hairdressing Room

The babies are born in the mum’s home and then they will live in the program for 2-4 years, before they graduate with skills.

Doing Laundry With Her Little One

Meanwhile, these little ones are not idle!!! We were blessed with a performance from each little classroom. These children are all ages 2-4, but you would not know it from their smarts!! The first classroom the children sang us a song. They were loud and clear and had beautiful little voices. The second classroom had a teacher in a doctor’s white smock coat. He was taking these little children through their English lesson: A,B,C,D,E – all the way through. They went on to do their numbers, and then again in Amharic. Tiny smart little children who are being given a future, simply by the love of one man! I don’t know who his teacher was, but the rest of the workers are all the mums. They all work and run their own centres.

These Little Ones Sang Beautifully


These Little Ones Recited Numbers and Colours in Amharic and English

We went through the rooms and finally we were taken to the bathroom. My goodness, that was archaic!! There was simply an oblong shaped hole on the floor. Then there was a wash trough with taps.

The Toilet Hole

We were initiated into how this is used because Gadisae decided she needed to go, Shinty. So off we went. Hygiene 101 – out the window again! No questions. She went in, pulled own her pants, held onto the bar in front and did her business. This little one has been around! Such an eye opener. If any of our other children were to see such a horrid place they would have been horrified and held back. Gadisae didn’t even blink.

The Washing Trough

Once we had been through the building we went and got the lollipops. Now that was fun! We didn’t just hand them to the little ones – we instantly decided to hand them to the mums. These are not ‘women’ – these are children who were forced to grow up much too soon! You should have seen the joy on each mum’s face when we gave them the lollipops!! When I saw a mum with her tummy big with child, I reached out and handed her two lollipops and said, “Baby”. You should have heard the delighted giggle of laugher! It felt so good to affirm to these mums that their babies *are* precious and they are doing a wonderful thing in keeping them!!!

This Young Girl Was So Pleased To Get Her Lollipop

Dane Handing Out Lollipops to Mums

A Little Boy Bowing in Thanks For His Lollipop

His Philosophy - Basic Needs First, Eventually Help Others

This man introduced us to his sons – both well educated with Masters and BA degrees. He insisted that his boys go all the way to the top. His attitude was if you get the best education, THEN you are in a place to help others. If he had not had his engineering degree when he had had his accident, he would not have been able to continue (as he was fired due to inability to work for the company he was with). He would have been homeless. He really, really pushed this at the boys – get your education and then you can help others. “It is good to have a heart, but it only goes so far without an education.”

We finally left here after about two hours.

He Protects His Family

We were now pretty behind schedule. The girls were doing wonderfully!!! They have had an amazing day. No meltdowns, no tears, cooperation, happiness, - wonderful. We decided to forgo the LIGA school for the day and head to lunch. We went to a nice hotel for a meal. Just briefly, this is what we learned. You can be in a restaurant where your meal comes like a five star hotel, but it doesn’t mean there will be toilet paper in the bathroom. We had to ask for paper napkin. When they came they were nicely presented on a plate – two of them. They were obviously rationing! We managed. We are getting good at this. I am learning two things: we have a bathtub for a reason! And: our girls lived on the streets – I am sure they have encountered all kinds of situations that my mind can only begin to imagine!! We will survive and so will they. *smile*

When lunch was over I asked what would happen to our leftovers? I didn’t want to see them going in the garbage, but I didn’t think it was likely. Abebe told me that he would take them to the driver. Now *that* was humbling!!!!! On one hand you want to be able to give them a fresh meal, because you feel icky giving them your leftovers, but at the same time, you need to understand that they are grateful for the meal that you present them with.

We asked for a leftovers box but they did not have any. Abebe went to the kitchen and came back with a plastic bag. He then carefully poured the leftover vegetables, rice, and steak into the bag. These drivers that we have had do not eat lunch. They patiently wait for us while we eat. When we stop for coffee or a drink, we always bring them something, but they never eat when we are out with them! I had not realized this until today!!

After I knew that we were taking the leftovers I suddenly noticed that the bread baskets at both ends of the table were full of about four buns each. I said to Ray to quickly dump them in his back pack. He looked at me like he didn’t know what I was talking about. So I grabbed my backpack, opened it wide, picked up the baskets, made sure no staff was looking and then dumped the content into my bag. I then realized that the four limes on the table were fresh fruit. So into the bag they went also. It was quite funny because while I was doing this Mesai was watching me with a quizzical look on her face! I later had Abebe explain that the food I was taking were for the hungry people. I could just see her at a restaurant in Canada dumping food into her backpack. *grin* I think we covered that one!

When we left the restaurant Abebe gave the guys the bag of leftovers. I offered the door boy the buns and limes. As we drove, I saw him eating the buns and limes. That was pretty humbling. We thought we bought a meal for seven people, but before it was done it fed two more people a complete meal.

We then handed out lollipops to everyone and went on our way. We were now heading up to Entoto Mountain. This is a beautiful mountain. Women come down this mountain with huge stacks of firewood on their backs. Because it began to rain I didn’t get great pictures like I could have done.

Going Up Entoto Mountain

Once we reached the top, we took pictures of the girls with us on the big rock overlooking Addis Abeba. That is a traditional place for adoptive families to take pictures.

While we were doing this Colt had fun playing with one of those large whips. This one, when cracked, seriously sounded like a shot gun going off!! It is incredibly how powerful those things sound! I have told the boys they should make some to bring home.

We were going to go shopping for dresses for the girls, but we were rained out. It was flooding!!! Instead we headed down and visited the beautiful church on the hill. We visited the Emperor’s first house.

The First Palace

Trying to Get Pictures Without Getting Caught

Inside the Palace

In the church there were there little girls. They were all Orthodox Christians with their little headdresses on. There was one child drumming, while the others enthusiastically sang songs. I thought they were playing. Abebe told me that they came on their own – no parents – simply to sing their prayers of worship!! It was really quite beautiful to see and hear. They were no older than about nine years. One little girl gently took the face of a little one who was looking around and redirected their gaze forward – toward the drummer.

When they had finished singing (before I knew they were praying!) I said, “Tih roo sih rah” (this is a phonetic spelling NOT actual Amharic) and they said, “Thank you!! Well done.” So sweet!

Outside the church we had to remove our shoes. We did this and then were approached by an old woman. She spoke in Amharic to Abebe and he talked back. He then turned to us and said, “She is saying that her son has HIV and she has rent to pay.” Knowing that there are many rules of ‘do and don’t’ I was careful to ask Abebe what we should do. His response struck my heart.

He was clearly affected by his choice of words. I pulled out 100 birr and handed it to the lady. (Usually you give 1 or 2 birr). She gently took the money from my hand and then took my hand and held is close and kissed it repeatedly saying, “Amaseganelo” (spelled wrong) – Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I was overcome and did not know what to say. Ray reached out and rubbed her shoulder.

As we came down the mountain, we had four more little buns with us. The driver had had enough. So we watched for some little children. We saw a little boy, so we slowed down, smiled big, and held out the buns. We didn’t want him to see sad faces like we were taking pity on him. He beamed at us and accepted the buns. I then pulled out the stickers. Before I knew it I had ten little hands in my window and I was working as fast as I could! I didn’t want to get mobbed by the rest that would truly appear out of nowhere at any moment!

Hungry Children

Sometime during the day I asked Abebe if he could ask Mesai if she knew how to sing. Her reply was that yes, she does sing spiritual songs in Amharic. We are so blessed in this. Tomorrow we are going to try to get her and Gadisae to sing for us and we will record them. It breaks my heart to think that these beautiful Ethiopian, African ways will be lost, unless we live in Ethiopia. And even if we live here, they will be lost, as we are too Canadian.

Another example of their manners – when we sat to eat, we asked the girls to pray. They didn’t do the ‘shy thing’ like most kids would do. They simply did as they were asked, in public, with strangers. Also, when we reached for buns from the basket at lunch, the girls both didn’t. They were waiting for an invitation.

During our long day, Gadisae took a short nap on Ray’s chest.

Mesai was wide awake and was a real trooper. They were both wonderful and at the end of the day, while I was out (delivering the post to the internet shop for an hour), Ray fed them dinner and got them ready for bed and tucked them in. Quite amazing little girls.

Another full day. Tomorrow is yet another big day. Tomorrow we go to the German Embassy at 8:00 am, on from their to the LIGA School to deliver school supplies, and hand out stickers, bubbles and granola bars. From there we will then meet up with Yoseph, our Compassion friend, who has a number of families for us to buy food for. We will be going to the Teff mill and will buy 100 kilos of teff for each family and then will head out and deliver it to them.

What I have seen in this country is that the prices are *very* similar to Canadian prices, but yet the people earn so very little. We will pay a man to be our driver for the day and he will receive 50 birr ($5) per hour. At the end of a long and tiring 8 – 10 hour day, he will take home 400 – 500 birr ($40-$50). Out of that, he will receive about $25 (250 birr). The rest will go to the cab company. When we realized this, we began to give him a little more on top. It will go directly to him.

And that, is a good job! Many drivers do not get all day jobs! They rely on one job at at time, for 10 cents per passenger!! How is a man to feed his family on that little amount.