Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Day 10- Orphanage visits, heading home

I forgot to journal this day...it was a blur.

We spent a bit of time in the morning visiting a few Addis orphanages. That's not something I'll soon forget. I can't post pics of the little ones at the orphanages, but this will give you the idea of what it's like.

One of things I can't stop thinking about is this baby room. Full, FULL of babies. Babies in wet diapers, babies with bottles propped up. There had to be over 35-40 babies, some two or more to a bed. Two ladies doing their darndest to keep up with diapers and bathing. I can still see the sweet, tiny little faces. Who knows how old any of them were, but I spent a while looking at this little one, trying to coax a smile that never came. She seemed sick, glossy eyed, and coughing. I don't think these precious babes ever really get held or nurtured. They are always in their cribs unless being changed or bathed (which is probably not often with only two ladies to care for them all). Matt stood for 5 minutes trying to coax a smile from a sweet little girl on the changing station, waiting her turn for a new diaper. He seriously tickled her feet for 5 minutes before he got half a smile. These sweet babes just don't know how to engage. They don't really fuss or cry, because I doesn't really do them any good.

Kebebe Tsehai infant room

I wish we could have done this visit earlier in the week, so I could have gone back for a second visit with my wits about me. The first time was honestly overwhelming. I didn't quite know how to respond to it. I was fighting back tears most of the time.

Here is a toddler room at the same place.
We also visited Kolfe Boys Home. This place felt hopeful to me...good stuff happening there. More could be done...we were amazed at the amount of Shiro and Injera it took to feed these boys lunch.
this seems a little decieving, think the size of a family size pizza, that's how big one injera is.
cafeteria at Kolfe
soccer field at Kolfe
We had lunch with a few of the families at Island Breeze, which was delish. really good food, wished we'd gone there earlier in the week. Then we headed back to the Bejoe to finish packing and say our goodbyes.
Bettie, Lucy's Gladney caregiver for the week
The Bejoe Guest House- our room was on the bottom left
Lucy's crib at the Bejoe
Our golden bed at the Bejoe (with our luggage)

We headed to the airport for our long journey home...first leg was to Dubai. We spent a few hours there trying to sleep unsuccessfully in our hotel room, and then another 16 hours to LA. Then, we layed over for a couple hours, and a two hour ride to PDX. LOOOONG ride home, but so very worth it!
yikes. Mama looks tired already, and we haven't even boarded the plane!
Us, Mark and Heidi (middle), and Travis and Lisa...waiting to board the Emirates flight to Dubai!


Previous travel posts:
Day 1-Hello From Addis!
Day 2- Gondar 
     I also had two jet lagged attempts at blogging Gondar, if you care to read)
Day 3- Lucy Day!
Day 4- Family Bonding Day
Day 4-Life with Lucy Melat
Day 5- Gladney Care Center Visit and Top View
Day 5-Life with Lucy part 2
Day 6-U.S. Embassy , Holy Trinity Church, & Fasika
Day 7- Birth Family Meeting 
Day 8- Souvenir Shopping and Resort Dinner
Day 9- Shopping and sightseeing

7 comments:

Us4 Cats said...

these are some amazing photos!
thank you for sharing them.

and she is absolutely darling. beautiful!!!!


i am adding yours to our blogroll we follow.

Us4 Cats said...

me agian. do you mind if we link to this paticular post within our blog? i will go ahead and link it as an article within my sidebar; email me if you dont want it there. but the photos are so amazing as is the story.


thanks.

Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing these posts. These images leave a permanent print on our minds--a child waits.

Heidi said...

I was wondering if that photo of all of us was going to surface at some point! It came out much better than I expected. I was so hot and sweaty and tired, LOL!

Miss you, friend...

XOXO,
H

Blomgrens said...

Eryn... your pictures do a wonderful job of describing your journey. What a beautiful place Ethiopia is so oh so many heart aches there too.
Also, glad you got some good use out of your blue packs :)!

Unknown said...

Thank-you so much for sharing this... We're currently waiting for twins and to see all of those cribs in the infant room full of little ones is heartbreaking.... God's will be done for each of those precious babes! Your daughter is beautiful by the way!
Blessings.
j
www.gfinkfamily.blogspot.com
Beneath the Acacia Tree

Pastor Kurt and JoLynn Coleman said...

We are in process to adopt two boys from Kolfe. Great pictures! Thank you for posting! You can see our story at www.thecolemancrowd.blogspot.com

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...