The Land Up North

On Wednesday of our trip half of us set out in a van with Tefera, an AAI staff on the Ethiopia side of things, for Mukatore. (They spell it Mukature on their sign, but everyone else spells it Mukatore, so that's how I'll spell it). Mukatore is a town 5 towns north of Addis Ababa. If you have been there in past years, you will be thrilled to hear that the road is now completely paved. I have heard all kinds of stories about this infamous road to Oromo. It was truly, the smoothest, most peaceful drive we had in all of Ethiopia!

If you are ever in Addis, don't miss taking a day trip up north. To get out of the dusty, people-packed city was so refreshing. Oromo is a land of fields, and traditional round African houses. Young children are shepherding goat herds, and there is land everywhere. It struck me that when kids are brought to Addis from this expansive beauty it must be hard to adjust to a city compound when you are used to land as far as you can see.

Donkeys and older women carry huge loads down miles of hill to Addis. According to Tefera, in the rainy season the fields are lush and green, and people farm. On our trip it was very dry and reminded me of Eastern Washington and Oregon with slightly different vegetation. It was truly beautiful, and such a different Africa than we experienced in in the city. Our pictures don't begin to do it justice.

After almost 2 1/2 hours, we pulled into AAI's small orphanage in Mukatore. The compound has trees and flowers, and a small garden. There is room for the kids to roam. 6 kids are there now, 2 sibling groups of 2 each. These are kids that have been abandoned. In Ethiopia, as in most countries, when kids are abandoned, there is a government process that must be undertaken to locate relatives and identify the children before the process for adoption can ever be started. In the meantime, this is a safe place for them to be.

We were there to paint, which was quite the experience. Tefera immediately left us to try to find a stereo that
would work when the electricity was working. He came back triumphantly and we painted away to a tape our driver had of light-hearted Ethiopian music. I still intend to track down that tape, since I fell in love with it, and the sounds immediately take me back to Mukatore. We painted away at the 2-room building with oil-based, lead paint that was watered down and dripped like crazy. The buildings are made of grass and mud, so as pieces of the mud plaster fell off, we tried to paint the grass a bright blue. Most of us wore masks but the fumes were still strong, and without gloves I was covered in the stuff anyway. As we finished the building and were winding down for some rest and playtime with the kids, we realized we were expected to paint the office next door. There wasn't enough paint, so about 5 different shades of green were mixed together and watered down and we did our best. The staff seemed pleased with the results - much to our relief, since there was no paint left!

While we painted, 2 of our friends set out with Tefera to pick up a baby. The baby had been abandoned the day before on the side of a road. A woman had him in her home until they could get there. He was anywhere from 2-6 months old, and I don't think he could have been more than 5 pounds. When the woman handed him to my friend he was wrapped in a urine-soaked blanket. They cleaned him up, put a diaper on him, and tried to get him to drink something. I'm sure all of us would have loved to have been part of this experience, but I think God chose Lynn and Tina. They were both very affected, and will never forget how it felt to hold this little one. We brought him back to Layla House with us where he will hopefully get the medical care he needs to begin to grow and develop. I pray for his mother if she is still alive.
So after painting, we set out to spend time with the kids. They spoke no English, and probably no Amharic. They watched us with fascination, and it took awhile for them to begin to trust us. I think our rousing game of Duck, Duck, Goose was a turning point. They began to see us as fun, and not simply very strange. My friend Jennifer tried to give them some trail mix. They stared at her with the pieces in their hands, until one brave little boy decided to try a raisin! When he didn't immediately die or turn into someone strange like us, the other kids dutifully tried their pieces. We also got to teach them how to eat a sucker. The same brave boy was the first to put his root-beer flavored blow-pop in his mouth. I wish I could have taped their faces as they tasted the sugary bliss. They will never have to be prodded to take a sucker again.

I'll finish this day in the next post...