Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Ethiopia (Final Days)

Final Days in Ethiopia
(Images from the car on the way home)
(Small set of shops close to Addis)
(There were tons of houses like this)
(In a village in between towns where women & girls would walk to get clean water)
(One of the many animals that would be cruisin' in the middle of the road)
(Mike at Dreamland's Restaurant in front of a big lake)

(Our travel buddies and a WACAP staff person... we all excited about cheeseburgers)
(Captain was excited about Miranda- Can you tell the kid isn't allowed to drink soda at home)

Our last days in Ethiopia are a little bit of a blur. Coming home from Awassa was nice. The driver went a lot slower so we were able to enjoy the drive heart attack free ;) We did have one scary incident. One of our travel buddies was taking pictures as we were driving through a town and she accidentally took one of a security or police man? He made the driver stop and with his rifle in hand he opened the door and demanded the camera. Luckily, he they were to show him that they were able to erase it. Lesson learned.

Driving past all of the mud huts and people gathering water was hard. It just doesn't seem real even though its right in front of you. I really wanted to be able to do more... and I felt helpless just staring through the car window. I really believe that all of us adoptive parents owe it to our children to visit their birth country. There is no way I would be able to have such a profound respect for Ethiopia without being there. The people are so kind they just really touch your heart. And, when you return home you just want to figure out how you are going to do more to help them. And, yet at the same time you realize how much they have helped you. I feel like my outlook on life has forever changed for the better after spending time with people who have so much joy and so little money.

5 comments:

MRK said...

Amber, I was cruising through your Shelfari shelf and saw a title I don't already have on my list of must-reads or already-read-its...what do you think of The Black Parenting Book: Caring For Our Children in the First 5 Years ? Do you think it's a good one to put on my list ?

Megan

Amber said...

Hey Megan- I didn't think it was very good to be honest. I would skip it if I were you. More of a first time parent book.

Zoe said...

Amber, I've really enjoyed reading/seeing your trip to Ethiopia. Thank you for sharing it! Shea looks like he's doing great -- always a big smile for the camera!

Jason Wiens said...

Thank you for sharing pictures, stories and reflections from your trip to Ethiopia. They have been very helpful. We hope to be there in about a year.
Jason and Emmy

Vive...rie...ama said...

Thank you so much for these posts! We are getting really excited (leaving Friday) and I am loving reading your blog right now instead of packing:).