Meki

Sorry I have been lacking in my blogging lately. On with the tale of Meki.

We finally got on the road to Meki after much confusion and commotion. I am so glad we made that trip. Once you are about 10 minutes out of Addis there is such a drastic change in scenery and the level of busy declines dramatically. It actually reminds me a lot of the Willamette Valley here in Oregon. It is green farm land surrounded by rolling hills and mountains.

We were enjoying the drive and taking pictures from the car the whole time holding the children in our laps. Yep kinda of different to not think twice about having a car seat. There is still a fair amount of truck traffic because this highway is the main highway out of Addis and to make connections to go west or continue south in Ethiopia.

I was amazed watching the scenery to see such young children with the huge responsibility of handling the family's herd. Boys between 8-10 years of age doing this important job for the family.

We passed an outdoor plant nursery on the drive. On the side of the road there were tons of plants lined up for a block or so with workers selling the plants. I so wanted to go do a look see at what they had, but we didn't stop.

Once we got to Meki I didn't know what to expect. There was a main street that had a few local shops and food stores. The street had a large number of people just hanging out, sitting around and chatting with each other. The driver stopped and asked directions to the Meki orphanage. I looked at Naing and told him I really didn't have interest in seeing the orphanage I just wanted to see the town. But to be polite we went in and that was one of the best parts of the trip. All the nannies were so excited to see Haven and Alec. The nanny that took care of Haven for over a year came running and grabbed her. She was just hugging on her and crying she was so overcome with emotion to see her again.

Unfortunately Haven did not feel the same way. She was screaming because she was taken from me and I do feel she thought she was being brought to stay again. The nannies asked where the children were going to go live and when the driver told them America they all started say oh America, America.

One of the nannies pulled out her cell phone to show us pictures of Alec and Haven she took on her phone of when they lived at the orphanage. They told us Haven's nickname was beautiful. (So nice to hear other people think so too!)

The nanny took Haven into a room and it was their sleeping area, she put Haven in her old bed and there was a total melt down. I took her back outside and calmed her down.

Meki's orphanage is very small. Doesn't have alot of toys or clothes for the children. But we were told that because it is an intake orphanage most children only stay there weeks/months before they are moved. Haven was there for over a year because her mother had not agreed to her being adopted. I never found out if it was because her mother was trying to find the father (whereabouts unknown) or hoping to be able to take care of Haven herself. There was a little girl Saraphina that the workers kept taking over to Haven. We were told that they were best friends when Haven was there. So obviously this girl has been there awhile as well. Again Haven had no interest. I just kept telling her you are not staying, you have a Mommy and a Daddy now.

One of the men that works at the orphanage brought out some pictures for us to see. One of Haven with two friends, one of Alec in a group shot of the nannies and one of Haven with her birth mother. I asked if we could have that photo of them. The man said no, that was there only one. Then I asked Naing to take a picture of the picture so we would have something for Haven. When the man saw how much it meant to us, he gave it to us. So we were meant to go the orphanage so Haven would have that piece of history on who she is. They asked if we wanted to meet her birth mom. I politely declined. I didn't think I could have handled that emotionally and her birth mom looked so said in the picture I didn't know if that would be good for her as well. Now I wish we had explored that a little more.

We spent some time with the beautiful children there and gave them pens/pencils and took pictures of all of us before driving back to Addis. It was a full day and a good day. Enjoy the photos.