Another Day in ET

Our original plans for this day fell through, so we spent the morning at the market. Then the decision was made to divide the group and go to 3 different places. One group went to an orphanage with a bunch of newly adoptable kids in need of families, one group went back to Korah - the dump I told you about, and one group went to a transition orphanage. My group went to the transition orphanage, which is basically an orphanage that takes the kids that have been matched with families and are waiting for court dates or visa's and other necessary paperwork so they can go to their new home and families. I was happy to go, but felt like it was kind of a waste, since these kids were getting out. They had food and water and families in other countries paying for their medical care and sending them clothing and such. I didn't feel like they really needed our help, but they wanted us to come, so we went. I was so glad we did, because it was SO fun, and such a nice surprise to see the flip side of things in Ethiopia. These kids were not like the other kids we had met, and this orphanage was not like the others we had seen. The kids were clean, pretty healthy looking, smelled good even! The house was in the best shape we had seen, with a real toilet! The nursery actually smelled like a real nursery, and the nannies were so loving to all the children. The kids that were old enough to understand that they were being adopted were so sweet to talk to. They would tell us (in their little English) about their families waiting for them. They knew what state they were going to, what their siblings names were and things like that. It was sweet. I kept thinking while I held and snuggled and played with these kids "this is someone's daughter. Some family has worked hard and probably prayed even harder for this child. I wonder how they would feel if they knew we were here, loving them and giving them one on one attention?" I thought this all day. Any adoptive parent would understand that this would mean the world to them. It made me happy. It was also a good thing that these kids were definitely "taken" because I fell in love more than once that day.
Here are some memories from this day.

So when the group spilt up, it was a little chaotic. We obviously had to take 3 different vehicles as we were all going to 3 different parts of the city. The five of us going to the transition home were ordered into what we thought was some random taxi with an Ethiopian who did NOT speak english and we did not recognize (we had regular drivers and escorts from the Guest Home, so this was weird). We got in, waited to see if someone else from our team who knew wtf was going on was getting in with us... but noooo, this guy just took off and we all looked at each other like we seriously just got kidnapped in Addis. We took this picture after we stopped being scared and started thinking it was actually pretty funny. Of course this guy knew where we were going (and it turned out he IS a regular driver for the orphanage, not just a random taxi driver). But man, that sure felt like an adventure there for a minute, right?

We took our arts and crafts with us to play with the kids. Stacy and I face painted (like the professionals we came to be!) while others made bead necklaces and colored. These kids all had stories too of course, of how they came to be there. The best part about hearing their stories though was that we knew they got a happy ending. This little girl I'm holding below, she was part of a sibling set of 3. They came from a village on the Sudan border where they have suffered from a long famine. These kids (and apparently most kids that come from this area) were severely malnourished. They had super swollen bellies, this little girl was probably bigger around her abdomen than I am, and she is 2.5 years old. I felt connected to her because she was Boston's age. She was silent, never made a peep or cracked a smile. She also can't walk without the help of holding your hands. Heartbreaking, right? Luckily they get decent medical attention here and her and her siblings were being treated for the malnourishment. The transition home has a full time nurse on staff. I could just imagine the family taking these 3 kids into their home, giving them all the food, water, and medicine they need - and on top of that, bonding and attaching to them - and I could see this little girl thriving. I know she will. All these kids could.

This little girl was hilarious and SMART! She was Naomi's age and was developmentally right on track, which is pretty amazing for a kid in institutionalized care. She was cracking us all up. When she would string a bead on her necklace she would say "TA DA!" Every few minutes we would also notice she would repeat some of the english words we were using. I can't remember where exactly she was from, but supposedly a lot of the kids from her tribe are really smart. I believe she was being adopted by a single woman. She is going to make her so happy. I could have taken her home with me.

This little boy was a crack up. He looks about 3, maybe 4, and acts like a 9 or 10 year old. NO joke. They have no idea how old he really is, for sure he is not 3 or 4 though. He is smart and funny and super mischievous. He also head butted me really, really hard, but I forgave him. Look at that face!

This baby was precious. I called John that night and told him he should be thankful this little girl had a family already. (But honestly, I felt that way about ALL these kids.) I was obsessed with her. She was so sweet and so gorgeous. Look at those lips!

This day was fun and happy which was also a relief. Like a breath of fresh air. I could go home that night and think about how lucky those kids were that they had families waiting for them. They were living in decent circumstances. They were fed. They were warm. Their lives had hope not just because someone taught them to, but because they had real reason to! At the same time though, it was sad. Adoption is a beautiful thing, but it's always born in tragedy. These kids had come into the world in the worst circumstances. They had been hungry. Some had been abandoned. Some had seen their mothers murdered. A happy ending doesn't negate their sad beginning. A new family doesn't replace the family they had to lose. In the end they not only lose their original family, but their native country, language, culture, and sometimes siblings. This is a sad reality, but a true one, and one I think is important to point out. So often I read stories (particularly adoption blogs) that are just full of smiley faces and exclamation points, painting the picture that adoption is always happy and easy and positive for everyone. It's just not very often that you get the details of the tragic events that led up to that placement. I'm definitely not trying to be negative, or say in any way that a family should share details of what led to their childs placement (in fact I believe the CONTRARY!) but I just think that people should recognize more often this side of the story, respect it.

A day or 2 later, I got to see with my own eyes, the reality behind a mothers choice to place her son for adoption.

You won't believe this story.