Our trip to Asebe Tefere was long and tough, both physically and emotionally, but very meaningful.
At 6 am Tariq came to the hotel to collect me, J. Mo, Tom, Fitz, and the three babies. In addition to Tariq, there were 3 men in the van: two drivers and a guy who sat in the last row and, from what I can gather, was a general “helper.” (I liked him because he was a good finger snapper and made Bami giggle). So, it was a very full house and it was not the regular full size van that we took last time, it was more of a mini van. Hot and crowded with very little leg room and seats that did not offer much cushioning. You get the drift.
It is about a 150 mile trip to AT, but because the road is a very congested two lane highway, the trip takes 4-5 hours. Much of the congestion is due to large trucks and cargo vehicles heading for Djibouti, but on several occasions we had so slow down and or stop for herds of cow/ox, donkeys, goats and on one occasion, for a donkey laying in the middle of the road scratching an itchy back. Camels are also not an uncommon sight along the road, but a truck with a double trailer full of camels with just their head visible was a pretty funny sight. The landscape is quite beautiful.
If you have never heard of Djibouti, you are not alone, but it is a tiny country that borders Ethiopia to the East and is South of Eritrea and North of Somaliland. It is blessed with a long water boarder with the Gulf of Eden in the North and the Red Sea on the south and as Ethiopia is land-locked, it is a key port for transporting goods in and out of the country. We had to stop several times for officials to check for contraband but when they looked at us and saw the babies they usually just waved us by.
We stopped in Nazareth for breakfast, the same place that we ate at on the first trip to AT. I was able to recommend the scrambled eggs and delicious, fresh baguette to Jen and Tom. (Breakfast for 8, including raw meat or kitfo for the Ethiopian men = $10.)
We got to the Chiro/AT branch of the Biftu Children’s Center at about 12 pm and Ayinalam, the director, gave us a quick tour of the facility. They have a baby room with cribs, a room for smaller children with little bunk beds, a makeshift kitchen, an office and a larger room for the community-based sewing program for women living with HIV.
I met Ayinalem the last time I visited. Ayinalem is the first person who is called when a baby is found and seems to remember every detail of every child who she meets. Her name means, in both Amharic and Hebrew, “eye of the world,” which I just love for a woman who takes in abandoned children and orphans. In my mind, she is one of Tali Bami’s many angels.
After our tour, we took off our shoes and went into a room that was furnished with mattresses and were treated to a formal bunna (coffee) ceremony. The bunna is hard core coffee (no steamed milk or cocoa powder) and Fitz was kind enough to save me from the usual “I-don’t-care-for-your-national-pastime-drink” embarrassment by drinking my share as well as his own.
Fitz, by the way, was awesome company and a huge help on this journey by alternatively translating, holding and playing with babies and answering zillions of questions about Ethiopia and what we were seeing along the way. J. Mo and I both adore him and think of him as a younger brother. We are both very excited that he, G-d willing, will be entering nursing school this summer in Omaha, NE where he has an Aunt, and are already planning visits to Denver. J. Mo got a head start on the Fitz clothes shopping hence the cool sweater. Below: a very handsome pair--Tom and Fitz.
While Sunday is not their usual sewing course day, the ladies were invited to come to meet with us and they were very friendly and excited to show us their work. The goal of the Biftu sewing program is to give HIV positive women a skill that they can use to generate income and support themselves and their families. At the end of the 3 month intensive training program, each participant receives a sewing machine and she can set up a business at home or wherever she wants.
Fitz is acting as project manager for our little sewing venture. We invited the sewing instructor to join us and talked about our idea which is to give the women a product that we feel will have sale ability in various markets such as the U.S. and perhaps in Germany (where Michelle and Rodney live.) The product is headbands made from woven and other Ethiopian fabrics and materials.
We brought the instructor some sample headbands, one that was made in Guatemala and one I bought in the U.S, and some fabrics and elastic that we purchased in the textile market in Addis. We talked about consistent quality and about invisible seams and they will give it a shot. We will then take a look at what they come up with and see if we can make a go of it. If they can ensure that the product will be of a quality and esthetic that we think we can sell, all the profits will go back to the individual women.
Biftu means “brightness” and we if the project takes off as we hope, we want to call the project “B. Positive.” J. Mo and Tom have asked their sister-in-law to design a logo and then we will get tags made here, that say “made in Ethiopia.” If anyone out there has ideas, suggestions or wants to help us in any way, let us know!!
Towards the third up of coffee we switched gears and received a few very special invited guests—a female police officer and a simple village man. These two individuals were part of Shikuri’s “angel brigade” and J. Mo and Tom learned, for the first time, the story of how their baby boy was found and arrived at the Biftu center.
Shikuri’s village is called Shola. It is village of 500 people, mostly farmers. What makes it unique; however is that it is in the cliffs with no access by car. So, Shikuri’s finders had to walk down by foot for the reunion.
They provided details of the day that followed after finding Shuki and answered many, many questions from J. Mo and Tom. Now Shuki will have his story, just like Bami has hers. It was very moving for all of us.
J.Mo thinks that Shuki felt something was amiss as he cried through the entire 2 hour visit to the orphanage where he spent the first month of his life. Jen and Tom have allowed me to publish a few pictures from that very special encounter. In the future, they will visit Bedasa’s village in Haromaya.
When the guests left, we gathered our things and piled back into the van. After a 45 second drive (I timed it), we arrived at a local neighborhood village and went to make another very special visit—this time to Tali Bami’s “finder.” Her village consists of about a dozen or so mud constructed huts, a few people, a dozen or so beautiful children and a few chickens
I met Bami’s “finder” the first time I came to AT, and it was very nice to see her again, 6 weeks later. I still feel that I want these details to stay private until Tali Bami is old enough to hear the story herself, but it is clear to me that lives have intersected and have been dramatically changed as a result. The circumstances are complicated but I am trying to figure out the best way to stay connected to her and her family.
At 4 pm we headed out for lunch at probably the only restaurant in town and had one of the most delicious meals that I have had in Ethiopia. Fried tilapia and potato slices. Then we headed for the long ride home, making a few stops on the way; contraband police, to purchase a bundle of charcoal for the Addis Biftu center that our "helper" tied to the roof, bananas from local villagers—you know, the usual road trip rest stops.
Tali Bami and the Sarah boys slept most of the way home but when arrived back at the hotel, Bami woke up and was happy as a lark to see her favorite doormen and adoring hotel friends. When we got to our room, I had an overwhelming desire to wash off the grime and dust from the day so she got a nice, soapy warm bath. When I put her in her bed she was a big toothy smiling girl. Was she thinking what I was thinking? How nice it was to be home? Was she, like me, appreciating anew the luxury of a clean bed and hot water?
When I put her down in our shared king size bed in her little cocoon of pillows, she turned her head toward the pillow, smiling, and I swear she was playing a hide and seek game with me. I bent town to kiss her and she would turn her head and smile into the pillow. This was by far my FAVORITE moment of a very special day.
Love and Goodnight from Addis,
--The "B. Positive" Girls
P.S. Many thanks for J. Mo for her contributions, both photographic and otherwise, to this blog post.
