Ethiopia Part 2: Meeting Ashenafi

Sunday

At 2pm on Sunday Almaz cam to our hotel to meet up with the three families that had already arrived. We had a very brief chat, and she told us that the only child that couldn't come back to the hotel today was Ashenafi (the other two were babies), but neither of the other families really had much enthusiasm about bringing their kids back (they had JUST gotten in, and it's a bit of a long trip, ya know?). So we headed over to meet the kids. Hannah's Hope is surprisingly close, like two blocks away. We rounded a corner and suddenly we were at THE GATE.
This picture pretty much sums up the first two days I spent with Ashenafi. That is Almaz putting candy in his mouth, while he cries at the site of me. The little boy you can see in the background was picked up by his parents the next day, it's pretty hard to find photos that aren't filled with kids I can't post, so just to be clear, that little guy is home already.

When we all arrived at Hannah's Hope, Almaz wanted Ashenafi to be brought out first. I don't know why exactly, maybe so the other parents would feel really good about their meetings with their kids... One of his special mothers brought him out, Saba, then proceeded to hold him and try to keep him from crying while I sat nearby.

After a little while I gave him a break and followed Sunday into the baby room to meet her little girl. Then we headed back to the hotel to pick up the toys we'd brought for the big kids, hoping Ashi would get more comfortable if he could just watch me for a while and not have to interact with me himself.

The big kids were so much fun. Over the week we spent almost the entire time with the bigger children, the toddlers are often with the older children, but never around the babies. They absolutely LOVED the Stomp Rockets and went crazy with them until they had to be put in "time out" on the roof of the guard shed. Mom and I sat near the toddlers and had our laps filled with little girls and tried to keep track of Ashenafi's car which kept walking off with sweet little boys. I was joking with Mom that there were 66 kids at Hannah's Hope, and 65 of them liked me :) The little girls were so cute, and it was impossible to give them enough attention, they all wanted to be picked up, hugged, kissed and swung around.

After a while I tracked down the toddlers, who had gone into the dayroom to play for a little while before dinner. At this point I think the other families had gone back to the hotel to rest. As you can see, Ashenafi is on the verge of tears in the photo below. He couldn't understand why his special mothers kept making him play with me instead of them, and putting him next to me. He wanted nothing to do with it. The other toddlers kept climbing in my lap and playing with me, but the special mothers would shoo them away. Usually when they got scolded I would scoop them up and give them a hug anyway. They just wanted some attention and I couldn't stand to see them scolded for it.



Soon it was time to eat, and the table was set for the 2-4 year-olds first. This is all their plates of injera, shiro and sauerkraut type potatoes. If you are adopting a toddler or older kid I HIGHLY RECOMMEND cooking up a BIG pot of shiro to have in the freezer for when you get home. They eat this meal twice a day! I have made a LOT of shiro in the last week!

The toddlers eat the exact same thing, just mushed up and in HUGE quantities. About 2-3 measuring cups full each meal. And it's a bit spicy for my palate. On Tuesday the cook brought my mom and me a plate each since we'd been there so long, it made you a bit thirsty! I tried to feed Ashenafi, but he would just shake his head at me. Mostly the toddlers are fed by the special mothers, who feed several kids at once, each with their own bowl and spoon. They also feed themselves a bit while they are waiting. These ladies stuff so much food into the kids, it's no wonder they all fatten up so quickly! Another little guy, T would eat the food off my plate, right out of my hand. Ashenafi watched very closely, but only when I "wasn't looking" at him.

Later we went to see Ashenafi's room, he shares it with 5 other children. Above are his two special mothers, Saba and Genet. They were so incredibly helpful and took wonderful care of Ashenafi. They really love the kids so much. Genet actually lives at Hannah's Hope and is available 24 hours a day if one of her kids is sick or needs her. It's really amazing.

The orphanage has many small bedrooms, so that probably makes it a bit quieter for the little kids to sleep. Ashenai's crib was in the corner, and the blankets and snuglies I had sent him were nowhere to be found. I have a feeling once those things hit the wash, it really doesn't matter if they are labeled.

By the end of Sunday, Ashenafi would tolerate me holding him, as long as he was facing away from me. His special mothers were so persistent to push him out of his comfort zone and would not "rescue him" from me unless I made them (which I did, I had no interest in hearing him scream at me).

Monday

Monday was hard. The remaining 7 families from our travel group were all up and raring to go in the morning. They were so anxious to meet their kids, I felt kind of guilty to have already spent a day at Hannah's Hope. The three families that had already visited hung back for a half hour so the larger group could go meet their kids. When we arrived Genet brought Ashenafi out of the day room to come play with us.

As you can see, it was pretty much more of the same, candy and crying. The reason why it was harder on Monday was that there were now 9 other families, including another toddler (the one in most of Ashenafi's pictures) that were all pretty much doing great. It was hard to be at the hotel after Monday afternoon and hang out with all the happy families with their kids, wondering if Ashenafi would ever stop being afraid of me.

We stayed for lunch, where I was able to feed Ashenafi a few bites of his lunch (mostly because his special mother made a point of putting another child on his lap and ignoring him) and then left after Ashenafi fell asleep for his nap.

It was also decided that the three families with Birth Family meetings on Wednesday (the three bigger kids, Ashenafi, Yonas and Kaleab) would have our shopping day Monday afternoon. So after Ashenafi went to sleep, we headed off for our very rushed shopping experience. We only had an hour, so I'm very glad I had a list.

I think the most exciting part of our shopping trip was the van ride. There were literally times we drove head on at other vehicles in the same lane. Everyone is honking their horns and the people just dart in front of the vehicles. I can only imagine how many traffic incidents they have every day, it was hilarious and scary at the same time.

After shopping we had a quick snack and went back to the orphanage. At this point Ashenafi was the only child being picked up that was still there. We played with the kids and joined the little ones for dinner. After dinner I videotaped Ashenafi getting his bath, and put some lotion on him (with much protesting). Then he got his jammies on and we tried to play some more. At one point they pretty much quarantined him with me in the covered area, but to no avail. Almaz assured me he would be fine if I just took him to the hotel, but I had promised Genet she could have him for one more night.

Instead we got all the bigger kids together and gave them each a Spiderman tattoo. Oh the craziness! They were really good, but I think one or two still managed to come back for seconds! We put on tattoos until it got dark, then moved into the playroom and finished all the kids up. By then the toddlers and the 3s and 4s were in bed asleep, and all the big kids (which is mostly boys) gave us hugs and kisses goodnight.