Today was a stark contrast from yesterday. First off, the weather was nice and sunny. Second we went souvenir shopping. The only similarity to the previous day was that we took Zane to yet another doctor. This time we went to a pediatrician. Zane has a sinus infection and is now on antibiotics. He also has a viral infection giving him diarrhea. Hopefully he will start to perk up. Please pray he heals quickly and that we can all get some sleep. He has kept Chris and I up the past two nights due to his constant coughing and fussing in his sleep.
As our technical challenges continue, we can't view the blog or post pictures to it. Maybe it will work tomorrow. Wish I had a picture to show you of the guy who tried to sell us live chickens today! We both busted out laughing as did all the locals around us.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Friday, August 17, 2007
Day 3 - Ethiopia - New Author
For Day 3 you get the male perspective. For some strange reason, we can post to the blog, but can't see what we posted, so there might be some repeated information from Heather's previous posts. High speed internet access in Ethiopia is not exactly comparable to high speed internet access in the States.
As this is my first post in Ethiopia (or ever on a blog), I am starting by going back to our arrival in Ethiopia.
Addis Ababa is very green. My assumption was that everything would be brown and there would be very little vegetation. There are lots of trees and the countryside is very pretty. However, since it is the rainy season, there is mud everywhere.
There are approximately 4 million people in Addis Ababa (3 million according to Wikipeida, 4 million according to the locals). As you can guess, most of them are very poor. Everywhere you drive, it seems like all 4 million are out walking on the side of the road or crossing the road on foot in front of your car. I didn't say "sidewalks", I said side of the road. There are very few sidewalks. And since there is mud everywhere, many walkers just walk in the road. As a passenger in the car, you are in constant fear that someone will step right in front of the car and try and cross the street or sidestep another pedestrian and step into oncoming traffic. In the US, all cars stay in their lane and turn from the designated turn lane. In Addis, the lanes are merely suggestions and you should expect that the car in front of you will come into your lane. On many intersections, there are no yield signs, stop signs, or stop lights. It appears to be a system of who got there first. Apparently there are rules about yielding to the uphill driver, but to the untrained eye, these rules seem to be largely ignored. There a pot holes that can swallow a small SUV and on a regular basis, the road you need is not paved. All of this with most cars on the road that have no exhaust or emissions suppressors. Basically driving in Addis Ababa is not for the timid.
There is a tremendous amount of construction all over Addis. Buildings are going up all over the city. Many of them are relatively attractive 5-10 story buildings. The scaffolding used in construction does not look OSHA compliant, but it is getting the job done and employing thousands of people.
On our third day in Ethiopia, we took Zane to a US government approved doctor, for a check-up. Very basic deal. Basically the Doctor looked at Zane, used the stethoscope for about a minute and completed the paperwork by saying, "He looks fine."
Then we entered territory owned and controlled by the United States government. The US Embassy in Addis. Zane needed to get his 3rd blood test completed to test for AIDS. He was negative at 2 months, Negative at 5 months and I am sure will be negative at 6 months. Still it makes sense from a US Government perspective. You have to at least know what you are getting yourself into. The drawing of blood did not go well. We went last (there are 3 other families here with Gladney this week also) and got to hear most of the other kids scream pretty good. Zane had it much worse. They couldn't find a vein in his arm, so after what seemed like 20 minutes (probably a solid 2 minutes) of some technician digging a needle around the inside of his skin looking for a vein, they gave up and cut his finger to get the blood needed. This took a solid 2 minutes as they needed to fill two small vials. Zane was not happy. Much screaming occurred. As soon as they finished, he completely shut down and went to sleep. Not good times.
After lunch, we went to three orphanages. The first was the "older boys" government run orphanage. It has an official name, but I can't pronounce or spell it. "Older boys" is basically about 13 to 18, but there are many men that just don't leave, because they have no where to go. We talked to one man named Jo (not his real name, but a shortened version of his name that he asked us to call him), who was 21, spoke broken English, but much better then my Amharic. He had been in orphanages since the age of 5. His mother was alive and he saw her regularly, but she was counting on him to care for her soon. He was not confident that he would be able to.
This facility was basically run by the orphans. There were a very few adults and approximately 150 boys. There were 4 or 5 buildings with at least 20 beds in each building. No screens and many of the window were broken. Metal roofs that leaked. Shortly after our arrival, it started pouring rain. One of the women with us asked Ryan (the Gladney coordinator, US born, been in Ethiopia for about 9 months), "if this is the orphanages, what do the prisons look like". It is a perfect quote/description for how bad the conditions in this facility are. Besides that the facility is run down, so many of these boys have no hope as evidenced by the fact that so many of them stay or come back after they turn 18.
It is very sobering to just be driving down the road in Ethiopia and see the poverty. But to be up close talking to these boys makes me both sad and grateful for what I have. As bad as the facility is, the boys were very friendly and genuinely happy to have us come visit. They wanted to show us their rooms, their soccer field (a slanted mud field about 50 yards long with no goals), and even their kitchen (basically a firewood burning stove with no chimney, crazy smoky inside the kitchen). They wanted you to take their picture and ask where you were from. Many of the boys did not want us to leave.
The second orphanage was for older girls and younger boys and girls. It was significantly better. It was obvious that it was regularly cleaned and maintained. There were far too many children and not enough adults, but the children were happy and there to put on a show for the Americans. Obviously they were hoping to be adopted, but you could tell that they cared for one another. A women in our group was adopting a 9 month old, and her baby came from this orphanage. When the children saw that the little boy was back, they were so happy to see him and it was obvious that both the children and the caretakers genuinely cared about this young boy (this was repeated at the next orphanage with another couples baby).
The third orphanage was really neat to see. We were greeted with a traditional/made-up song from the young boys that lived there. Apparently this song is only performed one day a year, so we were very lucky. This orphanage had more younger children and so many of them were so cute. We went into the infant room for a few minutes. There were probably 15 babies under the age of one, each in their own crib. None of them were crying and most of them smiled back or reached up for you when you stopped at their crib. There were about 4 caretakers in the baby room and they knew all of the babies by name. I was carrying Zane when we went in the baby room and the workers all came up to me and looked at Zane, kissed him and smiled at him, then said, "what is his name?, he did not come from here".
The Gladney staff is doing a great job of trying to be around these kids and helping them with English classes and just showing kindness. The kids even know the drivers (even ours, who is very stoic and quite, but the kids love him). But there are too many kids.
As much growth as there is right now in Addis (10%+ GDP growth for all of Ethiopia in 2006 according to the CIA country factbook), they have such a long way to go and there are so many orphans. We just went to 3 orphanages. There are many, many more.
I have barely talked about Zane. He is just fantastic. Still super cute and easy. We are taking him to a pediatrician tomorrow. He has a nasty hack cough and some funky poop. I am sure the Doctor will say that it will get better once we get him home, but we just want to make sure.
Right now it is 11:00 pm in Addis and Heather and Zane are sleeping. It is my turn to do the same before the likely 2:00 am wake-up cry.
OK, that is all I have for now.
Chris
As this is my first post in Ethiopia (or ever on a blog), I am starting by going back to our arrival in Ethiopia.
Addis Ababa is very green. My assumption was that everything would be brown and there would be very little vegetation. There are lots of trees and the countryside is very pretty. However, since it is the rainy season, there is mud everywhere.
There are approximately 4 million people in Addis Ababa (3 million according to Wikipeida, 4 million according to the locals). As you can guess, most of them are very poor. Everywhere you drive, it seems like all 4 million are out walking on the side of the road or crossing the road on foot in front of your car. I didn't say "sidewalks", I said side of the road. There are very few sidewalks. And since there is mud everywhere, many walkers just walk in the road. As a passenger in the car, you are in constant fear that someone will step right in front of the car and try and cross the street or sidestep another pedestrian and step into oncoming traffic. In the US, all cars stay in their lane and turn from the designated turn lane. In Addis, the lanes are merely suggestions and you should expect that the car in front of you will come into your lane. On many intersections, there are no yield signs, stop signs, or stop lights. It appears to be a system of who got there first. Apparently there are rules about yielding to the uphill driver, but to the untrained eye, these rules seem to be largely ignored. There a pot holes that can swallow a small SUV and on a regular basis, the road you need is not paved. All of this with most cars on the road that have no exhaust or emissions suppressors. Basically driving in Addis Ababa is not for the timid.
There is a tremendous amount of construction all over Addis. Buildings are going up all over the city. Many of them are relatively attractive 5-10 story buildings. The scaffolding used in construction does not look OSHA compliant, but it is getting the job done and employing thousands of people.
On our third day in Ethiopia, we took Zane to a US government approved doctor, for a check-up. Very basic deal. Basically the Doctor looked at Zane, used the stethoscope for about a minute and completed the paperwork by saying, "He looks fine."
Then we entered territory owned and controlled by the United States government. The US Embassy in Addis. Zane needed to get his 3rd blood test completed to test for AIDS. He was negative at 2 months, Negative at 5 months and I am sure will be negative at 6 months. Still it makes sense from a US Government perspective. You have to at least know what you are getting yourself into. The drawing of blood did not go well. We went last (there are 3 other families here with Gladney this week also) and got to hear most of the other kids scream pretty good. Zane had it much worse. They couldn't find a vein in his arm, so after what seemed like 20 minutes (probably a solid 2 minutes) of some technician digging a needle around the inside of his skin looking for a vein, they gave up and cut his finger to get the blood needed. This took a solid 2 minutes as they needed to fill two small vials. Zane was not happy. Much screaming occurred. As soon as they finished, he completely shut down and went to sleep. Not good times.
After lunch, we went to three orphanages. The first was the "older boys" government run orphanage. It has an official name, but I can't pronounce or spell it. "Older boys" is basically about 13 to 18, but there are many men that just don't leave, because they have no where to go. We talked to one man named Jo (not his real name, but a shortened version of his name that he asked us to call him), who was 21, spoke broken English, but much better then my Amharic. He had been in orphanages since the age of 5. His mother was alive and he saw her regularly, but she was counting on him to care for her soon. He was not confident that he would be able to.
This facility was basically run by the orphans. There were a very few adults and approximately 150 boys. There were 4 or 5 buildings with at least 20 beds in each building. No screens and many of the window were broken. Metal roofs that leaked. Shortly after our arrival, it started pouring rain. One of the women with us asked Ryan (the Gladney coordinator, US born, been in Ethiopia for about 9 months), "if this is the orphanages, what do the prisons look like". It is a perfect quote/description for how bad the conditions in this facility are. Besides that the facility is run down, so many of these boys have no hope as evidenced by the fact that so many of them stay or come back after they turn 18.
It is very sobering to just be driving down the road in Ethiopia and see the poverty. But to be up close talking to these boys makes me both sad and grateful for what I have. As bad as the facility is, the boys were very friendly and genuinely happy to have us come visit. They wanted to show us their rooms, their soccer field (a slanted mud field about 50 yards long with no goals), and even their kitchen (basically a firewood burning stove with no chimney, crazy smoky inside the kitchen). They wanted you to take their picture and ask where you were from. Many of the boys did not want us to leave.
The second orphanage was for older girls and younger boys and girls. It was significantly better. It was obvious that it was regularly cleaned and maintained. There were far too many children and not enough adults, but the children were happy and there to put on a show for the Americans. Obviously they were hoping to be adopted, but you could tell that they cared for one another. A women in our group was adopting a 9 month old, and her baby came from this orphanage. When the children saw that the little boy was back, they were so happy to see him and it was obvious that both the children and the caretakers genuinely cared about this young boy (this was repeated at the next orphanage with another couples baby).
The third orphanage was really neat to see. We were greeted with a traditional/made-up song from the young boys that lived there. Apparently this song is only performed one day a year, so we were very lucky. This orphanage had more younger children and so many of them were so cute. We went into the infant room for a few minutes. There were probably 15 babies under the age of one, each in their own crib. None of them were crying and most of them smiled back or reached up for you when you stopped at their crib. There were about 4 caretakers in the baby room and they knew all of the babies by name. I was carrying Zane when we went in the baby room and the workers all came up to me and looked at Zane, kissed him and smiled at him, then said, "what is his name?, he did not come from here".
The Gladney staff is doing a great job of trying to be around these kids and helping them with English classes and just showing kindness. The kids even know the drivers (even ours, who is very stoic and quite, but the kids love him). But there are too many kids.
As much growth as there is right now in Addis (10%+ GDP growth for all of Ethiopia in 2006 according to the CIA country factbook), they have such a long way to go and there are so many orphans. We just went to 3 orphanages. There are many, many more.
I have barely talked about Zane. He is just fantastic. Still super cute and easy. We are taking him to a pediatrician tomorrow. He has a nasty hack cough and some funky poop. I am sure the Doctor will say that it will get better once we get him home, but we just want to make sure.
Right now it is 11:00 pm in Addis and Heather and Zane are sleeping. It is my turn to do the same before the likely 2:00 am wake-up cry.
OK, that is all I have for now.
Chris
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Day 2 - Ethiopia
Today is Thursday. Zane slept fine last night. We were told he feeds every four hours and takes 7 ounces with each feeding. He definitely operates like a clock and is hungry at 4 hour intervals. But we have yet to get him to eat more than 6 ounces at a time. I wish I could post a photo of the "crib" the hotel supplied to us (I'm having trouble transferring pics from the camera to the computer). It's a mini sized crib that sits just an inch or two from the floor. He has napped in it but we kept him in bed with us last night. I thought we might have trouble sleeping with a baby in bed but we're exhausted and slept great....aside from his 2AM and 6AM feedings. In spite of our early wake up call, it was simply amazing to wake up to this gorgeous baby boy we can now call our son.
We did not do much today. We wandered the grounds of our hotel. It has a number of restaurants, a hot springs fed pool, squash courts, clay tennis courts, lots of little shops, etc. Yesterday was cold and rainy but today it was nice. Taking advantage of it, we sat outside at a pastry shop and sipped cappuccino. Are we really in Africa??
We met up for lunch with the other 3 Gladney families that just arrived. So surreal to sit in a restaurant in Ethiopia with other caucasian Americans all with their new African children. The restaurant was called Biergarten Inn - yes, a german microbrew. The beer was actually pretty good! Evidently the owner previously spent some time in Germany. During our two restaurant meals thus far I've yet to see other children. Evidently people who can afford to eat out like this have a nanny at home and don't take children out to eat. However, children are adored here - from the grandmothers down to the young teenage boys, they all coo and kiss on babies passing by. It's quite common at a restaurant for the staff to offer to hold your child while you eat. We experienced this today at lunch when our waitress swept Zane away. Thankfully we had our hosts there to explain away our bewildered faces.
Zane continues to interact with us. He locks eyes with us when feeding, turns his head to our voices, coos and babbles to us, and laughs and smiles when we play. Although it's hard being away from L&C this long, we know it's good to have all this one-on-one time with Zane to help him bond to us. We are quite smitten with him!
By the way, Chris thinks this post should be about poop. He just finished changing a bad one (not that any are good). Figured I would mention it to make him feel better.
Tomorrow we are picked up at 9am and taken to a "U.S. Embassy approved doctor" for Zane's physical. The embassy requires one last physical and blood test before issuing travel visas. So a doctor's appt, lunch and then we will visit the orphanages that house the "older" boys and girls. Older simply means older than a toddler. I'm anxious to see how these kids live.
Something very cool we found out today, most of the caretakers at the infant foster home and the toddler foster home are grown up orphans themselves. It's great to see Gladney's continued investment in these children, even when they pass the age of living in an orphanage (I think the age is 16?).
Zane just fell asleep. We can now relax and enjoy a glass of wine as we sit and listen to a "call to prayers" man (Ethiopia is 40% muslim) chanting on a loud speaker across the street. Still can't believe we are here.
We did not do much today. We wandered the grounds of our hotel. It has a number of restaurants, a hot springs fed pool, squash courts, clay tennis courts, lots of little shops, etc. Yesterday was cold and rainy but today it was nice. Taking advantage of it, we sat outside at a pastry shop and sipped cappuccino. Are we really in Africa??
We met up for lunch with the other 3 Gladney families that just arrived. So surreal to sit in a restaurant in Ethiopia with other caucasian Americans all with their new African children. The restaurant was called Biergarten Inn - yes, a german microbrew. The beer was actually pretty good! Evidently the owner previously spent some time in Germany. During our two restaurant meals thus far I've yet to see other children. Evidently people who can afford to eat out like this have a nanny at home and don't take children out to eat. However, children are adored here - from the grandmothers down to the young teenage boys, they all coo and kiss on babies passing by. It's quite common at a restaurant for the staff to offer to hold your child while you eat. We experienced this today at lunch when our waitress swept Zane away. Thankfully we had our hosts there to explain away our bewildered faces.
Zane continues to interact with us. He locks eyes with us when feeding, turns his head to our voices, coos and babbles to us, and laughs and smiles when we play. Although it's hard being away from L&C this long, we know it's good to have all this one-on-one time with Zane to help him bond to us. We are quite smitten with him!
By the way, Chris thinks this post should be about poop. He just finished changing a bad one (not that any are good). Figured I would mention it to make him feel better.
Tomorrow we are picked up at 9am and taken to a "U.S. Embassy approved doctor" for Zane's physical. The embassy requires one last physical and blood test before issuing travel visas. So a doctor's appt, lunch and then we will visit the orphanages that house the "older" boys and girls. Older simply means older than a toddler. I'm anxious to see how these kids live.
Something very cool we found out today, most of the caretakers at the infant foster home and the toddler foster home are grown up orphans themselves. It's great to see Gladney's continued investment in these children, even when they pass the age of living in an orphanage (I think the age is 16?).
Zane just fell asleep. We can now relax and enjoy a glass of wine as we sit and listen to a "call to prayers" man (Ethiopia is 40% muslim) chanting on a loud speaker across the street. Still can't believe we are here.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Day 1 - Ethiopia
We flew from Rome to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia overnight, arriving in Addis at 7:45AM. Smooth trip aside for the 90+ minutes we waited for our luggage to be placed on the conveyor belt. And we thought our airport was quite slow! Oh well, all our luggage made it and for that we are grateful. We exited baggage claim to see someone waving a "Gladney" sign. It was Ryan (in country rep) and Tefessa, one of the driver's Gladney hires to tour us around. They took us straight to the Hilton where we raced through showers in anticipation of meeting Zane.
Driving to the Hilton the streets were jammed with cars and pedestrians. Donkeys and goats are a common site walking down the road. The poverty is everywhere and I know we have just seen the tip of the iceberg. The people we have met are very warm, soft spoken and gracious. We have felt quite welcome. Many of you asked about safety concerns. So far we have not felt uneasy at any time. We were told Addis Ababa is the safest capital throughout all of Africa. There is very little violent crime...mostly just petty crime like stealing car stereos.
The Gladney Foster Home is a special place south of Addis. They currently have about 20 babies there. Belay, Gladney's in country director lives on the same block and his mom lives next door to the foster home. The home is spotless and it's obvious the caretakers are in love with these babies. Evidently none of the babies sleep through the night because the caretakers insist on waking them to feed and change diapers.
When we arrived to the foster home, 3 other families were there. These families have already been in Addis a week and depart tomorrow. They were at the foster home to say goodbye to the caretakers and enjoy a traditional coffee ceremony. (They roast the beans right there, everyone enjoys the wafting aromas, and they crush the beans, add hot water and serve. VERY good coffee. Not the least bit bitter like we are used to.)
After a brief introduction it was time to meet Zane. I felt like my heart was in my throat from the moment we landed at the Bole Airport (Addis Ababa airport), and the intensity just grew walking up the stairs to the 2nd floor. A caretaker brought Zane out and placed him in my arms. Evidently they had interrupted his feeding so he came out with a grimace on his face. He sat there in my arms definitely checking us out, not sure what to think. But then the ice was broken when he proceeded to burp loudly and spit up all over me. He rewarded us with a smile and has been a champ ever since.
Zane seems very mellow and especially tender. Holding him, he just locks eyes with me and reaches up his little hand to hold it on my cheek. Every time we kiss him he smiles this lazy smile like he is just soaking it all in. It has been magical.
Right now we are back at our hotel, 10pm at night. Zane is fed and sleeping. We are about to crash ourselves. Tomorrow we will join a few other families and spend the afternoon at one of Gladney's homes for older orphans. We are very excited to meet these children.
It's surreal to be here. It's surreal to all of a sudden be holding this son of ours. We are richly blessed.
Driving to the Hilton the streets were jammed with cars and pedestrians. Donkeys and goats are a common site walking down the road. The poverty is everywhere and I know we have just seen the tip of the iceberg. The people we have met are very warm, soft spoken and gracious. We have felt quite welcome. Many of you asked about safety concerns. So far we have not felt uneasy at any time. We were told Addis Ababa is the safest capital throughout all of Africa. There is very little violent crime...mostly just petty crime like stealing car stereos.
The Gladney Foster Home is a special place south of Addis. They currently have about 20 babies there. Belay, Gladney's in country director lives on the same block and his mom lives next door to the foster home. The home is spotless and it's obvious the caretakers are in love with these babies. Evidently none of the babies sleep through the night because the caretakers insist on waking them to feed and change diapers.
When we arrived to the foster home, 3 other families were there. These families have already been in Addis a week and depart tomorrow. They were at the foster home to say goodbye to the caretakers and enjoy a traditional coffee ceremony. (They roast the beans right there, everyone enjoys the wafting aromas, and they crush the beans, add hot water and serve. VERY good coffee. Not the least bit bitter like we are used to.)
After a brief introduction it was time to meet Zane. I felt like my heart was in my throat from the moment we landed at the Bole Airport (Addis Ababa airport), and the intensity just grew walking up the stairs to the 2nd floor. A caretaker brought Zane out and placed him in my arms. Evidently they had interrupted his feeding so he came out with a grimace on his face. He sat there in my arms definitely checking us out, not sure what to think. But then the ice was broken when he proceeded to burp loudly and spit up all over me. He rewarded us with a smile and has been a champ ever since.
Zane seems very mellow and especially tender. Holding him, he just locks eyes with me and reaches up his little hand to hold it on my cheek. Every time we kiss him he smiles this lazy smile like he is just soaking it all in. It has been magical.
Right now we are back at our hotel, 10pm at night. Zane is fed and sleeping. We are about to crash ourselves. Tomorrow we will join a few other families and spend the afternoon at one of Gladney's homes for older orphans. We are very excited to meet these children.
It's surreal to be here. It's surreal to all of a sudden be holding this son of ours. We are richly blessed.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Bags Packed
Our bags are packed to the 50 lb weight limit/each. In some cases the scales might read 52 -53. We hope to guilt the person checking us in at the airport into letting us squeak by the extra pounds. We have our lines rehearsed, "Well, I guess we can remove the diapers and formula we are carrying to orphans in Ethiopia."
We first fly to Rome to enjoy a couple days together before arriving in Ethiopia Wednesday morning. By the time you awake Wednesday, Zane will already be in our arms.
I'm including this photo so that as we (hopefully) update our blog from Africa, we can have this sweet photo of L&C and their "Bear" as they call Heather's dad. Thanks to the Clopton's we have set up webcams and mics on our laptop and the grandparent's computer. Thank goodness for this technology that will allow us to keep in touch with the girls and show off Zane to them while we are so far away!
We first fly to Rome to enjoy a couple days together before arriving in Ethiopia Wednesday morning. By the time you awake Wednesday, Zane will already be in our arms.
I'm including this photo so that as we (hopefully) update our blog from Africa, we can have this sweet photo of L&C and their "Bear" as they call Heather's dad. Thanks to the Clopton's we have set up webcams and mics on our laptop and the grandparent's computer. Thank goodness for this technology that will allow us to keep in touch with the girls and show off Zane to them while we are so far away!
Please pray for smooth travel, for Zane's health and his ability to bond with us, for our safety/health, and that L&C have a wonderful time being spoiled by their grandparents, aunts, uncles and special friends!
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