Wednesday started out with the farewell party at the care center. It was amazing. Many of the nannies came in on their day off to say goodbye to the children. When we arrived, the nannies had K (and the other children leaving) dressed in traditional Ethiopian clothing. They brought in the other children to enjoy the party, although that was hard as the older children clearly understood what was happening and seemed sad. The consolation was that for all but 2 of them they are matched and will be joining their forever families very quickly. The director, Dr. Fikru, said a few words and then they had each family talk about their experience. We all needed some tissues after that. There was cake and treats for the kids, including popcorn, which is often served with special events. After the refreshments, the nannies all hugged and cried over the children and we took about a hundred photos of everyone. Even though not all the nannies spoke English, words were not needed to convey how much they love K. At one point, on of the office staff and several nannies were holding K and singing to her. Afterwards she told me the song is all about how once there was bad times and suffering but now God has made it go away and everything will be fine and how much they felt like that song really describes K.'s time with them. After all the hugging and crying, we said our final thank yous and the party ended. However, K remained at the care center as we were going out shopping and the babies were not allowed to come too.
Shopping was interesting. Our first stop was at a hospital in Addis that has a craft workshop that they use to help rehabilitate some of the patients. They had some of the most gorgeous embroidery and wood cravings. We all bought a ton of stuff. The quality was extraordinary and the people who do it were amazing. One of the women who was doing the needle work has no fingers above the first knuckle. At our second stop, while we were out shopping our driver and guide, Tsegaw's video camera was stolen right off the the front seat right in front of Tsegaw. He had been documenting everything so the camera loss is bad, but the loss of the tape was much worse. He was a little optimistic that he would be able to get it back through some contacts he had in the federal police department but.... One big difference between Ethiopia and China is that in China, because most of the adoptive families stay in one small area there are many small shops set up that sell the things that adoptive parents want (traditional clothes, crafts, etc) In Ethiopia that industry has not yet begun (in part because there is not one area all the adoptive parents are) so it was harder to find all the things we wanted.
Our last day we decided to do a little more shopping so Jenn (one of the other moms in our group) X. and I all went out again with Tsegaw and he took us to the mall. Malls are pretty much the same everywhere in the world- a fact that is both comforting and disturbing all at the same time. After the mall, I wanted to buy coffee to bring home (as Ethiopian coffee is supposed to be some of the best in the world) Tsegaw drove us to the Ethiopian version of Starbucks, but they did not have ground coffee in bags so he drove to what looked like a grocery store. It beginning to rain at this point. Tsegaw pulls into the parking lot and honks the horn. The shopkeeper comes out, they talk and the next thing I know the shopkeeper is shoving different bags of coffee through the window for me to chose which one I want. I picked 2 bags, paid and we want on our way. The Ethiopian version of a drive thru.
Also while we were out, Jenn had brought a big bag of nutrition fruit bars to hand out to the children who come up to the car begging. We were stopped at a light and there were probably 25 kids asking for these bars. Tsegaw begins to move the car into the intersection, then stops and a traffic police officer approaches. I am not sure if Tsegaw was in trouble for not going during the green light (because of all the kids) or if he started to go right as the light truned read so he almost ran the light but whatever it was, the officer was not happy. Tsegaw explained how Jenn was handing out food and the officer let him go. When we were finally able to turn (during the next green light) the officer gave us a wave and a huge smile. Everyone here is like that.
After shopping we were given an amazing gift from the staff at the care center but more on that later.
The additional shopping trip pretty much clinched the deal that we were still going to need all 5 bags that we brought to get everything home. We had hoped to just throw away the car seat bag as it is ripped and we aren't sure it will make it all the way home but no such luck- the other bags are FULL. However- we are packed and the bags are loaded into and on top of the car and we are on our way to the airport. Although at one point Tsegaw stopped the car and got out to "check the luggage" which made us all a little nervous. Luckily Andrea and A. both watched out the back window the whole trip to make sure nothing fell off the car.
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