Day 4- An adventure in Awassa

Our rickety old boat with an Ethiopian flag on the front

Just when I thought my heart and nerves could take no more, we started another adventure.  We were able to sleep in a little and enjoyed a great breakfast buffet at our hotel. The coffee this time was awesome and I'm absolutely in love with the fresh squeezed pineapple juice.  We loaded into the van with the Scholtens, our driver and Alemu.  They took us to the other side of Lake Awassa.  We drove down this long windy path to the edge of the water where we got out and were escorted over to these rickety old wooden boats.  Alemu found us a lifejacket (mind you it had no working straps), paid the guy a little money and said "see you in awhile!" Say what!? Well, our purpose of this boat ride was to see HIPPOS. I'll admit, I was scared and could have easily opted out of this adventure had I been given the chance. A young boy hopped aboard this rickety old boat and attempted to start the motor SEVERAL times. He paddled back up to shore to get another guy to help him out. He got it started after many tries. By this time, I was not feeling very confident in either the boat or the driver.  Did I mention, we were going HIPPO WATCHING? We got out into the lake and within a few minutes spotted a crowd of hippos. He drives up to them, stops and CUTS the motor. All I could think about was being attacked by these humungous animals and our boat not starting to allow us to escape. We sat there for awhile, took some photos/video and anxiously awaited for him to start the motor again and get us out of there! The good news is that the boat started (he did have an old bucket on board and started scooping out the water that was filling the boat)  but we made it back to shore and were in awe to see so many hippos!

Ummmmm, a little too close for comfort. GET ME OUTTA HERE!

We got off the boat and were immediately immersed into poverty again.  There were helpless kids begging everywhere- we purchased some "hippo teeth" for Kai.  Lord knows how they got them, but the kids trumped the hippos(-:  We fed some peanuts to wild monkeys and Luke even spotted a "patriotic monkey". We laughed for days after that and it was just what we needed to lighten the mood. I'll let him share that story someday(-:

Stinky monkey

We were then driven down to a village on the water.  I threw suckers out the window of the van as if it were a parade, but got scolded by Alemu. Here he had no problem putting us on a boat to see a bunch of hippos-quite possibly one of the world's most dangerous animals- yet he was worried we would be mobbed by kids.  Well, he was sort of right. The second we got out of our van, I was trying to be discreet by dropping them behind my back, but I was indeed surrounded by 50 big brown eyes looking up at me crying out for a sucker in whatever English words they had been taught.  They had absolutely nothing, dressed in rags, no shoes and I'm sure they had never tasted a sucker before in their life.  I couldn't handle it.  I just didn't understand why we were being paraded (literally) through a village, yet had nothing to offer these poor helpless people. This was the beginning of my breakdowns that lasted throughout the day.  I couldn't help but cry. Why God, why? What makes ME so special? We went to lunch at Lewi (which is another new and great authentic resort in the south), sat by the water and got a little sunburned.  The weather has been 70's and beautiful, but when the sun is shining, it gets HOT. SO thankful for the 9000 ft of elevation, otherwise our little white buns would be scorching right now.

Then it was onto Borcha.  This is the "city" that Tsehay's birth family lives in right now.  It was approximately 25 km from Awassa and is considered "country side".  The road we took was the same road that leads to Kenya.  The further South we traveled the more remote and poverty stricken it seemed to get.  Just when I thought that life for these people couldn't get any harder, it did.  We passed mostly naked children, very skinny and clearly miserable and suffering.  We drove for what seemed longer than 25km and finally slowed down.  We pulled down this road and our van stopped.  People were banging on our windows for something, anything.  I'm quite confident that this may have been their first "white person spotting" as well.  Our contact explains to us that this is where our daughter is from.  Luke jumped up (bless his heart) and asked if he could get out and video tape. I am SO glad he had the guts to do that- we will cherish that footage forever.  The kids flocked all around him as he showed them their faces on the video camera.  They just giggled and were so happy to see him.  By this time, I was in the van sobbing.  It was more than I could bear. All I could think of was Tsehay. THIS, right there is where she would be right now if her father didn't make the most courageous decision to find her help and the food he could not provide. SHE very easily could have been one of those skinny little babies on the back of her sister.  It was very sobering to say the least.

A "view" of Borcha

We leave Borcha and start to head back.  All of a sudden, we pull off the side of the road.  Our contact picked a random hut and asked them to give us a tour of their hut and coffee plants.  There were probably 10 adults and 25-35 children.  The little girls grabbed my hands immediately and just looked up and smiled at me.  There was one sweet girl that kept staring at my feet as we walked.  I wasn't sure if it was the shiny croc sandals or the painted toes, but she smiled every time she looked down at them.  If I had known we would be heading back to our hotel after this visit, I totally would have left my shoes. But, fear crept in and God forbid I go barefoot for a day and I kept my shoes. Regret.  I took lots of pictures of them and was using the video camera as a mirror for the kids. They too giggled at the site of their own faces- I'm sure they had never seen their own face before. Can you imagine that? The tiny thatched roof hut held ALL of them. No electricity, no water, in fact, no water even remotely close to them, torn and ragged clothes and flies all over the babies)-:  We saw the amazing coffee plants and tried to talk despite the language barrier. I found smiling, laughing out loud and body language came in handy.  When it came time to leave, I made it clear to our contact that I wanted to leave them with something. I didn't have enough suckers for all 50 people, but I scrounged up every random thing I had in my purse.  He made them all sit along side of the road, we got in the van, he got in, opened the window, yelled to the driver to "GO" and threw the whole bag out the window. The kids AND adults scrambled so fast to get the goodies. I really wish I would have been prepared better for this visit. There were SO many things I had back at the hotel to give them.  I couldn't help but look back as we left them in our dust. Here they were jumping for joy in the road with their goodies yet I felt such deep sorrow. I will NEVER know what it feels like to go without my basic needs being met, yet this is a common occurrence for them. Something as simple as a sucker brought such huge smiles to these people's faces.

Precious, precious kids at the coffee "farm"

Inside their hut. 

Luke showing themselves on video. Nothing but giggles. Too cute. Hindsight, should have brought a mirror. Who would have thought?

Alemu asked them all to line up for a "treat" This doesn't begin to display the crowd we had.

We came back to the hotel, relaxed by the pool and tried talking about the day.  There were no words.  We were both in complete shock and felt so helpless once again that we had met some of the poorest people in this world and had to leave them in the same condition.   Very sad hearts tonight laying in our bed and I'm sure it's going to take months, maybe even years to process what our eyes witnessed in one day.  Come Lord Jesus, come.  This is all so overwhelming to us.

The contrasting view from our pool. Beautiful pool overlooking the lake. Just to the right though is the hard reality of the poor and destitute gathering water with their yellow jugs. Such contrast. So heartbreaking.