Reflection and Update

I want to set the story straight. Perhaps because our trip is behind us and our experience has been experienced, so to speak. I re-read my blog posts and noticed a definite trend in the negative. Let me make this perfectly clear.....Ethiopia was fabulous. It was the trip of a lifetime. I have many, many memories of beautiful children, gracious people, new friends. We experienced a culture so different from ours. Sometimes hard to comprehend. Ethiopia is a proud country. The people are stronger in character than any spoiled American I have ever met. They are happy people. They love fiercely. They have changed me. I can't take back what I wrote in my previous blogs, nor would I want to. It is the truth. All of it. Ethiopia was hard. It was dirty, it was challenging. It was depressing. But it was also uplifting. A true blessing in my white bread life.

One thing I never posted that haunts me still, happened while we were shopping. We had picked up a "street boy" who followed us through the markets. (His photo is in a previous post.) He was very sweet and beautiful and never once asked for money...or candy. Most do. He was just very happy to be with us. He held my hand as we walked down the street. So, after coming out of a shop I saw who I thought was our "street boy" in my peripheral vision. I had my head down, looking at my purchases. As I neared who I thought was our street boy I suddenly looked up and screamed. I know, dramatic. It was. There standing less than a foot from me was a small boy, about the size of our little friend, but he had been severely burned and was deformed. I hate that I screamed. I can't take it back. I was totally caught off guard. After walking away with my heart pounding like a drum, I began to regret my response to him. I wanted to go back. Tell him I was sorry. Help him in some way. Still haunts me.

We encountered many beggars and were told to ignore them. They told us that if we gave them something then everyone would have their hand out. So, we ignored them. The best we could. How do you ignore a little old lady pounding on your window with burned, mangled, fingerless hands? Or a starving young mother and her tiny baby? Or children living on the streets? How? I will remember their faces always.

We did experience hardships....for us. Like lack of water or electricity. Seems like nothing now. They are living daily without either. There was a shack across the road from us. The outside was covered in plastic tarps. They had no water. They had no electricity. I am sure they threw their waste in the street. But, they were exceedingly happy. There were many little kids running around the place and they waved to me everyday as I stood on my balcony in our compound surrounded by razor wire. They cooked in a fire in front of their shack. They were happy. Did I say that already?? Well they were.

Now as I sit in my overly comfortable house, typing on a computer that cost more than the average Ethiopian could earn in 10 or more years, I am near tears. I think about these amazing people. I think of my personal excess. Why am I a chosen one? Why aren't they? Surely they are more devout than me. They live simple, hard lives with huge smiles on their faces. I live a privileged life. I throw away food that I have let rot in my refrigerator. They scrounge for food in the garbage of people who are themselves poor. Yet they are happy. Most have no education. Have no knowledge of the world. Have nothing.....but happiness. Ethiopians are amazing. Why is it that those with nothing, need nothing....and those who have everything, want more??

Now turning back to my privileged life. Little man is asleep on the couch next to me. He has been a handful, but he is soooo sweet. He is a screamer, which I have mentioned before. I am sure this is a learned behavior. He learned to scream in order to get attention in a sea of little ones needing the same thing. He still slaps, scratches and bites, but I see an improvement in all of it. He is beginning to fit in. He has overcome his fear of the dogs and now just slaps, pushes, pinches them. Because of this, they are learning to stay away from him. Just as well. He is eating very well. Yesterday we saw his pediatrician. He still has an ear infection but is otherwise very healthy. Since we have very limited medical information on him we have begun to revaccinate him. Yesterday he had three. Needless to say, he was not happy. After the shots we headed to the hospital to have his blood drawn for tests. More screaming. Then the parasite test requiring the poop retrieval.

Thing are going great. He is sooooooo much in love with his doting sister, and she with him. Also, he sleeps through the night. Ahhhhhh. Still up a little early, but considering he came from a time zone nearly 10 hours from our own, it is truly more than we could ask for. Despite the screaming we are in love. He is a snuggler. A snuggler. What could be better?