Days 3 and 4

Day 3

Today was kind of a rest day. Tom picked us up and brought us to their house in town where we spent the morning organizing the shoes. It really didn’t take us very long. We walked to the pizza place with tom and the kids. It was fun to get to know the kids better.

We went into the city for a little while trying to purchase an in country phone for nick and Kelly. They wouldn’t let us buy one without two Ethiopian ID’s. strange. We later went back to the house and sat in the living room and had some good conversation with tom and sally. Brian kind of dozed off as you can see from the picture.

Tom drove us back after dark. We had a bit of a sketchy moment when the road we were driving on was blocked off. We turned around to go back, but a large truck was in the process of blocking the other way. For a second, Nick and Brian freaked out into protective mode thinking we were being trapped, but it turns out the truck was just having a difficult time getting turned around. So it was no big deal, but it was a good reminder for us to be careful in another country that we are not used to. Brian and Nick decided that we would be sure to be back before dark after that night.

Day 4

We went to “school B” and distributed more shoes. We are getting more efficient. We’re still in love with the kids. They are so polite. When they enter the room where we are most of them come to shake each of our hands and do a little bow. Some of them would proudly practice their English with us. They are very respectful and sweet.

After the shoe distribution we went to lunch at the purple restaurant. We met a guy named Jeff. He is an American who has moved to Ethiopia. He adopted some kids and ended up marrying his Ethiopian housekeeper. Kind of interesting. After the purple restaurant, Tom drove us to the village market. We all walked around and looked at the various items for sale. I bought a pretty scarf for what ended up being three American dollars. The dollar goes so far here. The exchange rate is currently 1 dollar equals 16.6 burr. So we estimate that 1 burr equals about 6 cents. Giving a homeless person 6 cents is absolutely nothing for us, but is actually appreciated by the people on the streets.

After Tom dropped us back off at the compound (this is what they call the neighborhood of houses), the four of us decided to take a walk through town. On our way out of the compound we saw three young children walking on the dirt road. One of the girls looked to be maybe eight years old. She had a baby (probably her sister) who was on her back. She also had a younger brother with her. They were kicking something back and forth. I think it was a rock. I had a couple of hacky sacks with me in my purse so I gave them 2. They seemed really excited. They noticed that Brian had a sucker in his mouth, so we gave them each a piece of candy. This might have been a mistake, because on our way back into the compound after our walk, the trio spotted us, yelled to their friends, and within seconds, we had a bunch of kids following us asking for more candy. We didn’t have enough candy for all the kids. That is one thing that I found frustrating. As soon as you give to someone, whether it be food or money, it seems like you are immediately surrounded by many more people also who are needy and wanting something. It gets overwhelming. I’ll have to post about the homeless and begging situation on another day.