Friday in Ethiopia

I met with the Addis director of Kidmia, Aschalew early this morning, and then went over to sit in on a birth family meeting with one of our adoptive families. Those meeting help to give closure to the birth families and allow the adoptive parents the opportunity to ask questions about their child’s background, but are so emotional.

I then walked over to the Kidmia office and Aschalew and I went to pick up Dr. Siu for a quick lunch, since Dr. Siu had a lecture to give in an hour. I then caught a taxi to Kolfe Boy’s Orphanage to meet up with the families. So much has been done there since my first visit about three years ago. I don’t think families realize how bad the conditions were before. What was really encouraging was walking into the resource library and seeing the boys using the Rosetta Stone English programs and the computers we bought. It was good to see all the boys, especially John, who is now at Addis Ababa University. He is such an intelligent young man and has so much potential. We then went to Kebebe Tsehay Orphanage where I was able to see Yordanos, the little boy who has cerebral palsy and is deaf and blind as well. Gladney had a couple of physical therapists from Duke University come and train Alex, a young man I met several years ago. Gladney hired Alex to work with Yordanos and the results have been incredible. This was a boy who stayed in his bed nearly 24 hours a day because the caregivers did not have the time to see about him. He is now sitting up and eating by himself and his hands and feet are nearly straight.

Our final stop was Kechene Girl’s Orphanage. During the visit I told Belay that I only remembered a handful of girls there. He reminded me that Gladney had placed over 60 girls, so the ones I previously knew now had families in the U.S. I was able to visit with Sophia, the director who previously was the director at Kebebe Tsehay orphanage. She is a very special lady who loves the kids in her care so much.

Belay and I then went to pick up Dr. Siu for a nice dinner, then I was home and straight to bed.

Scott