Photos of Addis Ababa

The past two weeks I have shown various parts of Ethiopia. I want to make sure not to focus just on the poverty but also on the beauty and the people. I hope these pictures will show a little bit of what we saw each day.

 [On a side note- Gene and I had a competition over who could take better pictures of everyday life in Addis- I have to say many of these pictures Gene took- apparently he is a better photographer than I (insert groan from the looser) ]

Every morning when I woke up at 5am this woman next to the guest house was already up and cleaning for the day. I noticed these women are such hard workers and take so much care for their families.

Road construction outside the Yebsabi Guest House
 

How they do construction- no scaffolding, just some wood sticks.

 

 

Shoe shiners- in Addis the roads are muddy and dirty and shoes are very expensive and

so you will see shoe shiners on every street corner trying to make a living.

 

Street cleaners, Gene kept trying to get more pictures, they wear these really neat hats.

Sheep- aka dinner!

 

A woman selling roasted corn while feeding her baby.

These women are all over the city. We bought corn often and then gave it to one of the shoe cleaners or someone begging. The women stay out there from early morning until past dark, day after day hoping to be self sufficient.

A store front in Bole, where we stayed which is like the upper class shopping district.

Many of the clothes were really nice knock offs from Asia.

(I did refrain from shopping for a new outfit though!)

 

Two more shoe shiners, I can image this would have been our Nati...

 

The upscale downtown high rises by a round about.

 

 

Selling bundles of coal, one of the methods of cooking in ET.

 



Another woman selling corn and potatoes.

 

Unloading Coke bottles.

 

 

One of the girls by the post office stores (outside tourist shops) that was trying to sell gum.

 

An up close of some of the kids. Each one tries to sell you gum or asks for food. Whenever we had a chance we gave them food. Some have families and some do not. There is  a man with a big stick that tries to chase the kids off so they don't interfear with the stores business.

 

 Traffic.

There are no stop signs or lights, only round-a-bouts and a few

traffic policemen here and there.

 

 

 

 Children playing soccer

 

 

 

Women working at a construction site. EHE said this was

one of the better paying jobs for women.

 

An orthodox butcher. This is how all the meat is bought.

 

 

A home in Addis

What can I say???

- This Is Africa

 

These pictures remind me- I need Africa more than it needs Me.


And just a little plug---
Our next blog post will have VIDEO of us and a cutie pie!!!!

A Positive MOWCYA Letter !

This week we have been anxiously awaiting hearing the news of our MOWCYA paperwork court date. This was the date exactly one week ago that N's Aunt went to court to again confirm that he is an orphan and that she understands what adoption is/means and gives her consent and that the judge reviewed our paperwork and agreed that we can pursue adopting him.

Normally you hear from MOWCYA in a day or two but they were a little behind so each day passing has increased our anxiousness but we continue the mantra "In God's timing, in his way" over and over and over.

Well, today I had this in my inbox......

" I am happy to share that MOWCYA has written a positive

 recommendation letter for your family! We should receive

 a court date for your family in the next few days. I expect your court

date will be for sometime in mid-late June, so I’d encourage you to be

ready to travel in the next 2-3 weeks or so. "

 

 

Totally ecstatic over here !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

(at this point I would love to post an excited picture of myself but at several epic failed attempts by my co workers and myself I reside to a simple Yea!)

So now we wait to hear when our court date will be and we start packing things like mad. Gene and I are still collecting donations so feel free to continue collecting (or check out my last blog posts for the list of items in need).

  

Thank you Lori Ranfeld, Mark Campbell, Linda Dudley, Karen Bowker for your donations to the many mission programs in ET!

We still are not able to share any more details about N but I can show you his first official outfit. Saria and I picked it out together, we couldn't resist!

 

Can I just say he is going to look so adorable!

 

 

 

 

Update on ET Donations - and a new list

So I have to brag on a fellow counselor, Lori,  and her coupon queens. They have taken it upon themselves to join us in our mission to gather supplies for ET and are going to clip away for some great personal hygiene items! I am honored that they have chosen their time and precious coupons for our donation project.  (If you have never couponed before you may think "precious" is a strong word- as a former coupon clipper attemptee it is not, those things are like gold!) She has even partnered with a dental office to provide a box of toothpaste and toothbrushes!!!! Way to go Lori!!!

 

Another surprise- I stepped into my office this morning and found a big back with some children's pj's, books, medicine and band aids from our sweet LHS Librarian Karen.
 

 

 

I even had one of our small group buddies and his son- Mark and Collin Campbell bring me by some unscented baby wipes and flinestone vitamins- bet it's been awhile since they have done down the diaper isle :)

 

 

After checking with sweet Stacy who will be running Project 61 for the summer, they have MET THEIR GOAL FOR NEW  Twin sheets for their boarding school that sponsors children to attend school who once lived in or around the city landfill. They also provide a feeding program, job support and a medical clinic as well.  Korah has a very special place in our heart and so does this agency so we are so excited to get to partner with them. Some of the other items of need are posted at the end of this blog or you can always donate some funds.                                                        

For my Lebanon Peeps- anyone recognize these Shirts!

 

Here is the new list of items since some will be covered by our coupon queens:

 

 

Vitamin D Drops

Flintstones Vitamins-Chewable

Lotrium for ring worm
Baby wipes- Unscented
Medical Gloves - Disposable Examination Gloves
Hand sanitizer
Tylenol -Infant and children's
Neosporine- generic or name brand
Lice kits
Childrens’ Clothing – Sizes 6 months to 3 T. Please, however no shorts nor tank tops.
Childrens’ Outerwear - Coats, Sweatshirts, Sweaters, Jackets. Sizes 6 months to 3 T.
Childrens’ Shoes – for Ages 9 months to 4 years old. No flip flops, please.

 

We are so blessed to have had so many people ask us how they can help fight the cause of poverty in Ethiopia and these are some tangiable ways to do that. Please do not feel that you HAVE to donate, we simply wanted to let the needs be known if you felt led to partner with us.  

 

 

-Amanda and Gene

 

 

Gena

After my last raw post I needed to take a little time away from blogging but now I am way behind!

This year we decided to celebrate Ethiopian Christmas with some traditional Ethiopian food and music. It was fun to think that we were celebrating and eating the same way our new son was on the same day and we had a little helper who told us how the transition home for our agency was celebrating too so we really felt connected to our little guy even though we don't know him yet.

 This is photo journal of my first Ethiopian cooking...our quest to make Doror wat and Miser Wat, two traditional Ethiopian meals. (FYI- Below may or may not be the actual instructions but an adaptation Collins style!)

                          Cut a million onions into pieces until your eyes burn. Add garlic and fresh grounded ginger root (which you can buy at walmart!) then make into a paste

the burning red face and eyes (not my most glamerous moment)

Add to some oil paprika and a few other spices and stir, stir, stir until your eyes STOP  burning (about 10 minutes)

 This one is the Doro Wat which to the onion/oil base you add a bunch of Berbere (an Ethiopian Spice I bought when I last went to STL for our fingerprints- hope it has a year shelf life!)

Add broth/water/wine and some cut up chicken then simmer for about 40 minutes, In the end you get to add several whole boiled eggs and simmer an additional 15 minutes. (Gene really had a hard time believing you put in whole eggs)

                                                                         

X

I forgot to take a picture of the Miser Wat at this stage but you take the onion/oil mixture and add some water/stock and a pound of red lentils and then let them simmer for about 30 minutes until the lentils pop and turn yellow.

Check out the hot cook!

(Literaly- I was burning up standing infront of some seriously hot spices and onion- you can see my face is still all read and puffy. )

 The other cook trying out the dish- he likes :)

Here was the start of an epic fail- I tried to make a quick Injera recepie. For those of you that are not familiar to Ethiopian quisen - Injera has a sourdough taste with a spongy think pancake consistency and is eaten with almost everything. You take a piece of it and scoop the stew/meat with it.

 Normally Injera takes 3 days to make

- my recepie used club soda and took 30 minutes -

 as Jeff Foxworth would say- Here's my sign!

So far not soo bad- looks kinda like a pancake but then.....

These 4 may not look to bad but let me tell you- I made about 12 of them and they stuck together or to the pan, were too runy or thick or just plain wrong.

 In this picture you can see the real Injera on the left and my imitation on the right.

See the differences in texture.

On a side note- that Injera was also from when we had our fingerprints done- aside from a little freezer burn on the sides we salvaged the middle parts....

The final meal- Yum!

The three infamous critics.....

Their first bites.

They all liked it and Jacob believe it or not had 3 servings of Doro Wat,

his only complaint- add more Berbere!

And to not let you miss out on the rest of our celebration- Kellsie searched youtube and found us this great Ethiopian music and dancing.

Melekame Gena!!!

Polio, MMR and Hepatitus

Gene and I had the pleasure of a fun date night in Springfield a few weeks ago and we shared it by injecting live deadly virusis into our bodies.....

                                            Hep A, Polio and Yellow Fever for Geno!

                                (I think the virus may already be active in that crazy face!)  

                               Hepatitis A and B, MMR, Polio and Yellow Fever for Amanda

                      That HEP A/B combo stung like a.....(this is a family blog people!)

    Our Battle Scars also known as band-aids....

Although our insurance did not cover our "Ethiopia Travel Vacines" we did have a very nice nurse that allowed us to be in the city limits according to our rental properties so that we could pay $600 instead of $800.

Now please understand, I am just to thankful that we live in a place that we can access vacines and modern medicine and technology. Let me share with you what I have learned about the health of the developing world....

For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are:

      640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3)

      400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5)

      270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7)

Worldwide: 2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized

          (Anup Shah, Poverty Facts and Stats, Global Issues, Updated: September 20, 2010)

So How can you Help???

 http://www.worldvision.org/

        

    

                      http://www.charitywater.org/

          

                   

Numbers....

So now that we are "officially waiting for our referral" I work numbers in my head all day long on occasion because I am no way obsessive... Numbers on the waiting list, numbers of children and ages, numbers of  court dates, number of maternity days, school days and the list goes on and on.

Here are a few numbers that I wanted to share with you...

     Our number in line for an infant boy

        Our number for one child 4 or older

  Our number in line for siblings (only 3 families in this line

                                          are open to a partial older age range like us so this one is
                                          kinda tricky to judge)


                   Now some numbers to remind us why we wait......


 

            

The number of total Orphans in Ethiopia.

  Of the children in Ethiopia will not attend any school.


  Children will die before the age of 5 in Ethiopia.

   of May
                                                              Our fundraiser to make that number above     
                                                                at least MINUS ONE !!!!