So remember me saying that we had $2,000 + $5,000 = $7,000 for the kids plane tickets they had been praying so long for?? Half of what we needed. Which would really have been sweet with a BOGO deal?
Ethiopian Air - if you booked by January 31st, and traveled in March of 2012 - you could get BOGO. Slim to none chance as we had just gotten our referral on January 9th and court dates are usually assigned two months later.
We got our call with our court date on January 31st at 1:30 pm.
Our court date was March 8th, 2012.
Miraculously, our 6 plane tickets costed a little less than $7,000.
And to sing the praises of my wise friend Farrah - we had been contemplating getting the kids shots 'just in case' (even though we didn't have their airfare) months prior and Farrah had said, "Get the shots. Move like God has already put that money in the bank, have faith". So we did. Thankful that the Lord choose to show off a bit with minutes to spare, just so that we could laugh about his sense of humor and how it could only have been a loving God to provide such an awesome surprise.
100's of dollars of shots in preparation, about 6 old and huge suitcases purchased from GoodWill, clothing sprayed down with the highest powered bug spray I could find online, and a TON of donations for the orphanages that I had been collecting for about, oh, 3 years.
So it was great the kids got to go - otherwise there is no way we could have taken all those donations - toys, diapers, clothing, medicine, you name it. I wish I had charted how many hours I packed, weighed, repacked, weighed again, repeat. 50 lbs is easy to hit with heavy baby items! We each got one carry-on and 2 suitcases. (Our friend Mindy had also volunteered to go to help with the kids). This is just a portion of our finished pile.
The kids actually have commented how they loved flying and miss the airplane food. (I think it was the drugs I was giving them... had to be). Breakfast consisted of a bread, more bread, and a fruit cup. (can't help but think of the K & W Cafeteria ladies - "bread, bread, serve you bread??")
We landed in Addis Ababa and collected our mountains and mountains of luggage. It was frankly, hilarious. To see these clumsy Americans trying to roll along carts of 12 large suitcases and 3 carry-ons, all with backpacks on their backs. We looked like the Queen going on holiday. I wanted to tell everyone staring, "really, this isn't all for us. I promise! We aren't this high maintenance!!"
Riding through the steets of Addis Ababa, it felt like I had come home. Having been there in 2009, not much had changed on the ride from the airport. The same maneqquins that hang out in front of EVERY store.
The same charcoal / car exhaust smells in the air. The sights of donkeys, goats, and sheep being led by children down the busy streets.
The city is such a mish mash of old vs. new. Villas and tin shacks side by side. Internet cafes but yet a jungle of power lines criss-crossing every which way.
Half finished buildings are everywhere. It's like they start a big project and run out of money before completion...
Raw meat hanging for sale in store front windows. Our guide said that it can stay there for a day and still 'be alright to eat'. I'll take his word for it....
And those on the streets - Kids on the streets just laying around, or flocking our van signing 'eat, eat, mama - eat??'. Teens on the streets busy shining shoes or holding their boxes in hopes of a customer.
Mothers with babies begging for coins.
Traffic is crazy busy with an unspoken rule of drive fast, pass quickly, and somehow miss the millions of walking pedestrians. There is a lot of beeping going on as well. Beeping your horn can mean a host of things - and somehow the drivers understand their meanings like a mother understands her baby's cry. There are no stoplights, or stop signs. Just speed and quick turns down the hundreds of little bumpy streets. Paved and unpaved. We were amazed we didn't see a hundred accidents with the way we sped down the streets and pushed the nose of the car into traffic until we gained right of way. It is a finely tuned instrument I suppose. One I hope to never have to play on my own...
Disabled dodge in and out of this crazy traffic begging...
And it wasn't unusual at all to see someone sleeping (or using the bathroom) in the middle of a median. Thankfully, I think the kids missed the latter of the two...
We kept seeing tiny boxes we assumed are living quarters.
And tiny patchwork tin shacks we know held entire families. And wondered how they
withstood the rainy season when sheets of rain flood the city...
Gorgeous homes that seemed so out of place dotted the city as well. Most had high walls with broke glass across the top as security systems. And most were next door to the tiny tin shacks like above.
And over my 2 trips - what became my favorite landmarks -
The 'Tupperware' store.
Again, I thank God my kids were able to see a world where everyone doesn't own a car, kids walk to school in torn and ratty uniforms, children lay around on the streets as their parents can't afford for them to go to school at all. Because although my photos are interesting, there is no way I can describe or help you to picture such a land without seeing it. As I once told someone, we see these photos and they are but snapshots of a land far away. A photo in a frame. But to realize that the reality is, they are not singular shots, but a moving narrative that continues on, and on, and on. The pictures of poverty never ended. Those in Ethiopia cannot just 'leave the bad part of town' and resettle, as this is their everyday life. And yet, it has a rare beauty in it's simplicity.
We later left the city for the countryside for a whole other view. The beauty of this land is amazing and the contrasts in city/country and new/old stood out even more with each mile our bumpy van raced down the mountain, away from the capital, Addis Ababa, and into the true country of Ethiopia.
But that is a story for later.....
Ethiopian Air - if you booked by January 31st, and traveled in March of 2012 - you could get BOGO. Slim to none chance as we had just gotten our referral on January 9th and court dates are usually assigned two months later.
We got our call with our court date on January 31st at 1:30 pm.
Our court date was March 8th, 2012.
Miraculously, our 6 plane tickets costed a little less than $7,000.
And to sing the praises of my wise friend Farrah - we had been contemplating getting the kids shots 'just in case' (even though we didn't have their airfare) months prior and Farrah had said, "Get the shots. Move like God has already put that money in the bank, have faith". So we did. Thankful that the Lord choose to show off a bit with minutes to spare, just so that we could laugh about his sense of humor and how it could only have been a loving God to provide such an awesome surprise.
100's of dollars of shots in preparation, about 6 old and huge suitcases purchased from GoodWill, clothing sprayed down with the highest powered bug spray I could find online, and a TON of donations for the orphanages that I had been collecting for about, oh, 3 years.
So it was great the kids got to go - otherwise there is no way we could have taken all those donations - toys, diapers, clothing, medicine, you name it. I wish I had charted how many hours I packed, weighed, repacked, weighed again, repeat. 50 lbs is easy to hit with heavy baby items! We each got one carry-on and 2 suitcases. (Our friend Mindy had also volunteered to go to help with the kids). This is just a portion of our finished pile.
The kids actually have commented how they loved flying and miss the airplane food. (I think it was the drugs I was giving them... had to be). Breakfast consisted of a bread, more bread, and a fruit cup. (can't help but think of the K & W Cafeteria ladies - "bread, bread, serve you bread??")
We landed in Addis Ababa and collected our mountains and mountains of luggage. It was frankly, hilarious. To see these clumsy Americans trying to roll along carts of 12 large suitcases and 3 carry-ons, all with backpacks on their backs. We looked like the Queen going on holiday. I wanted to tell everyone staring, "really, this isn't all for us. I promise! We aren't this high maintenance!!"
Riding through the steets of Addis Ababa, it felt like I had come home. Having been there in 2009, not much had changed on the ride from the airport. The same maneqquins that hang out in front of EVERY store.
The same charcoal / car exhaust smells in the air. The sights of donkeys, goats, and sheep being led by children down the busy streets.
The city is such a mish mash of old vs. new. Villas and tin shacks side by side. Internet cafes but yet a jungle of power lines criss-crossing every which way.
And those on the streets - Kids on the streets just laying around, or flocking our van signing 'eat, eat, mama - eat??'. Teens on the streets busy shining shoes or holding their boxes in hopes of a customer.
Disabled dodge in and out of this crazy traffic begging...
And it wasn't unusual at all to see someone sleeping (or using the bathroom) in the middle of a median. Thankfully, I think the kids missed the latter of the two...
We kept seeing tiny boxes we assumed are living quarters.
And over my 2 trips - what became my favorite landmarks -
The familiar Coca-Cola store
The 'Tupperware' store.
Again, I thank God my kids were able to see a world where everyone doesn't own a car, kids walk to school in torn and ratty uniforms, children lay around on the streets as their parents can't afford for them to go to school at all. Because although my photos are interesting, there is no way I can describe or help you to picture such a land without seeing it. As I once told someone, we see these photos and they are but snapshots of a land far away. A photo in a frame. But to realize that the reality is, they are not singular shots, but a moving narrative that continues on, and on, and on. The pictures of poverty never ended. Those in Ethiopia cannot just 'leave the bad part of town' and resettle, as this is their everyday life. And yet, it has a rare beauty in it's simplicity.
We later left the city for the countryside for a whole other view. The beauty of this land is amazing and the contrasts in city/country and new/old stood out even more with each mile our bumpy van raced down the mountain, away from the capital, Addis Ababa, and into the true country of Ethiopia.
But that is a story for later.....
2 comments:
Amazing how Kampala, Uganda is so much different than the city you have pictures of...Poverty almost everywhere....
Thanks for the photo story and I am looking forward to the next installment of the countryside there.
My friend is a Haitian pastor's wife and she sends pictures of where she lives. Beautiful, but impoverished...
Love from High Point
Wow, what powerful images.
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