Durame to Addis Ababa - Friday June 24, 2011

I did it! Went to bed at 10 and actually made it to 6! Woo hoo! Just got acclimated two days before returning home... Great...

We met downstairs for coffee and breakfast and I was able to meet some more with Zeru and discuss some details of the project. We spent a lot of time discussing the differences between doing a project in the US and one in Ethiopia, especially in medical. There were a lot of things that I would bring up that he would ask " why do you do that?" and to be honest, for a lot of those things all I couldn't come up with a good logical answer. We had some good laughs about our differences in projects and it was interesting to see their way of planning, in a lot of ways it is way more effecient!

One of the new school buildings

After breakfast, we loaded into the vans and headed south to Wolaita, where Miles was born. Our first stop was a school that Holt had helped finish after the project needed help. They are now able to enroll 540 kids from the surrounding area. Cost on the project was $8,000! Simply amazing that $8k can stretch as far as to provide education for that many kids, who will have such different lives simply because they are educated. Between that, and the sponsorship program, Holt is making such an impact here in Southern Ethiopia.

This next part of the journey is one that I will hold close to my heart for the rest of my days. We went to the area where Miles' dad was buried, to pay respects. This is not commonly done, but dr Fikru made it happen and I will forever be grateful to him for the opportunity he gave me today.

We entered into a village not far from the school. The village surrounded a large grassy clearing where the van came to a stop. A man named Birhanu was waiting for us at this location. Fikru and Birhanu led all of us to a patch of cleared dirt with many mounds and told us this is where Miles father was buried. There were no gravestones or flowers, just mounds of dirt. Birhanu then led me to an unmarked mound of dirt to Urqato's grave. All of the sudden everything stopped for me. I looked back and members of the village had gathered and were coming down to the gravesite. I asked Birhanu if I could have a moment alone with  Urqato and he obliged. All of the people then started walking back towards the direction of the van and all that was left was myself and a bunch of kids that were too curious to leave, which I didn't mind and actually was comforting to have them there.

I placed a picture of Miles on Urqato's grave and a wave of different emotions came over me. Feelings of sadness that Miles may still be with his family if his fathers death had not occurred, feelings of hope that I am raising Miles in his dad's honor, and a feeling of peace that I finally got to pay respects to this man that I have never met but share an incredible bond with. This experience both broke and healed me at the same time.

I took some video and pictures for Miles to someday see and then slowly made my way back to the van. It was incredibly hard to leave, I found myself stopping and turning around to make sure I was taking in everything that I possibly could. As I made it back to the van there was now a crowd of people from the village. I found Birhanu and asked how Miles mom and sister are doing and he said very well. He also said that they were both at the gravesite yesterday. I then felt an overwhelming sense of closeness to them just knowing that I was in the same proximity as they were the day before. I knew I couldn't visit them, but I knew they were with me just the same. I gave Birhanu the photo album and asked if she had received the others and learned that she had, and loves them! I felt so good about this as this was the first I had heard that she actually has picked up the albums. I thought primarily about her words when we met and she saying "make sure he always remembers me and knows why I did what I did" and thought of the pictures at the end of this album that showed Miles with a picture of  his birth mom and kissing that picture. It made me realize that everything was supposed to turn out exactly like it turned out today.

We got in the vans and it began to rain and I began to cry, in fact I lost it. I still cannot totally understand what the true reason for my tears was, but it needed to happen. Everyone in the group was incredibly supportive and let me have my space. I am still so grateful and thankful for this experience. I feel a closeness to Urqato that will help me continue to try and be a great father to Miles.

From here we began to travel North up another stretch of road that led down into the Great Rift Valley, but it kept raining and raining hard. We got to a point about 20 miles up the road where the river had completely washed it out and it was too deep to cross. A man  jumped in the car with us saying he new an alternate route, so we turned around and followed his directions, which led us to a field that was not as flooded (but still pretty flooded!) to cross to a road on the other side. It did not look like a good place to cross, but our driver decided it was fine and went for it. We made it 2 feet before we were stuck and spinning up mud. So, everyone got out, minus Cindy, and began to push. It took a while, but we finally got the van back up on the road. So the trek back to Addis ended up being 8 hours instead of 6, because we had to backtrack and head up an easier route. Everyone was ok with it because the alternative was to try to go forward on the washed out route and really get stuck!

We got into Addis late, checked into the Beer Garden Inn, had a quick bite and promptly went to our rooms and passed out.  Dan left us that evening and headed back to the US. It was an absolute pleasure traveling with him and I look forward to seeing more of him in the future.

Tomorrow is our last day in Addis and we will leave at the end of the day! I am looking forward to relaxing and shopping a little and then boarding a plane for home. I miss everyone so very much...

Goodnight!

Addis Ababa to Durame - Thursday, June 23, 2011

Well, I made it to 3am today! For some reason I am going backwards, but we did go to bed early (10pm) so I at least got 5 hours of sleep... Since I had wifi, I was able to check emails and write in my journal. We are leaving early today for the South, so it was good that i have a few hours to get some stuff done, as there will be no mode of communication to the outside world for the next day or so...

Loading bags of shoes onto van

Dr Fikru and Zeru (Shinshicho's engineer - my new best friend!) picked us up promptly at 7am and loaded us up into the van to start our trek. As we were pulling out of the hotel, I noticed that the bags of shoes were no longer in the van and asked about it. They were accidentally unloaded back at the holt office across town, so we went back there only to find that only one of the staff members had a key and she didn't come in for another hour or so. She eventually showed up and we loaded the bags onto the van. So our early start to the day ended up being a late start and we were right in time to leave the Addis during the morning rush hour, sweet! At this point, I couldn't help thinking that maybe bringing these shoes was maybe not a good idea. The trouble getting through customs and now this had me second guessing and just hoping that bringing the shoes was worth it....

Ethiopian Countryside

About 2 hours into the journey we stopped at the Rediet Hotel in a town that I couldn't even pronounce the name, where I had one of the best cups of coffee ever. Ethiopian coffee is magic. There is something about it that is almost healing. We then hopped back into the van and continued South.

Once Out of Addis, the countryside is amazing. Heading south, you eventually drop about 6000 ft in elevation and the whole countryside becomes an oasis of valleys that are tropical, with banana trees, corn, and green everywhere you look. Most of the population is located outside of Addis, roughly 80,000,000 people, so everywhere you look there are people and farms. I liken it to driving from Eugene to Portland and seeing thousands of people walking along I-5. In fact, I did a study where I would count how long it would take between passing people on just my side of the car. I got to 7 seconds as the longest. That is a lot of people, which now I understand why it takes so long to travel 120 miles. We had goat and donkey traffic jams, actually ran over and killed a dog (driver just kept going - I guess it happens often with the amount of animals in the road - still, it had all of us in shock!), and people from everywhere use the main road to walk from town to town.

We eventually made it to the town of Shinshicho where the hospital is being built, grabbed a bite to eat and then went to tour the hospital. I was so excited to see it and it turned out to be much larger and more amazing than it looked on the plans or from pictures. Currently most of the sub structure and concrete work is being done. Zeru  toured us around and I had a ton of questions. When we toured the bottom floor, he explained where the x Ray room will be, I asked him if he meant rooms rather than room and he looked puzzled. I then asked him if he had received the plans and pictures I had sent and he looked puzzled. Apparently he had not seen ANY of the plans or pictures!!! It was this moment that the reason for this trip became so very important, communication and getting the right things in the right peoples hands from thousands of miles away, sometimes doesn't work. Direct communication in this case, can make a huge difference.

I explained to Zeru that I have plans for him in my bag, along with pictures for 2 rooms. 2 rooms? Zeru asked. 2 rooms. I answered. I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head with this information. A huge smile came across his face as he said: well, I guess I have some revisions to make to the plans!!! So, we met for a while, just Zeru and I and went over the project, a property manager and an engineer talking construction, it was brilliant. Zeru explained that they need medical supplies AND building materials donated to keep costs in line. The building materials part was brand new news to me which is fine, just means that there is some fast work that needs to be done. So, we talked about key needs in both building materials and medical equipment, exchanged email addresses (a huge step in the right direction - communication wise) and developed a rough timeline. This meeting was the quintessential meeting for finding out EXACTLY what they need!

New Shoes!

After the meeting, it was time to deliver the shoes. I have to admit that I was somewhat nervous on how they would be received. I walked to the front of the building to see ALL of the construction workers waiting anxiously on the front steps if the new hospital. Dan started off by introducing all of us and explaining how thankful we are for all of the work they have accomplished and as a token of our gratitude we would like to provide them with shoes. They erupted with applause and for the next 15 minutes it was a frenzy of activity as they were trying on shoes, trading with others to find the correct fit. A couple of my favorite instances was one of the younger men finding a pair of air jordans, putting them on and then jumping all over the place. He literally jump for about 3 minutes straight! Then there was the woman who found some pink running shoes that were too small but she crammed her feet in anyway and walked awkwardly around. She was so hesitant to give them up, because she so badly wanted the pink shoes. Reluctantly she tried on another pair (that actually fit) and gave the pink shoes to one on her friends. My brother Tim gave me some of his golf shoes with the soft spikes. The guy that got them came up to me and said (through Zeru's translation) "I got the best shoes, you see how well they grip!" Amazing...

During all of this people were coming up and thanking me, hugging me and saying all kinds of stuff in Amheric. Zeru pulled me aside and explained that for a lot of these people this was the first pair of shoes that they had received in the past 5 years and for others this was their first pair of shoes EVER. All they had before were plastic sandals or nothing at all. And here I was actually worried about how their reaction would be, i never knew the extent of the impact this would have on these peoples lives. All of the hold ups in customs and the delay at the holt office were so worth it, to see this outcome...

The whole experience blew me away. To take items that we can easily dispose of and give them to people that will bring new life into them and have hose items literally change their life, is amazing. Not to mention the health benefits of having shoes. Fikru explained to me that there are many viruses and infections that are killing Ethiopians every year because they can't afford shoes and go barefoot everywhere. He asked if we could send more as he would like to use them for his sponsorship families, the majority of which do not have shoes. Looks like we have another project to work on when I get home. All because my amazing wife looked at some pictures and had a great idea... Again, amazing...

Family in Sponsorship Program

After many hugs and thank you's we hopped into the van and actually went to visit a couple of families that were in the sponsorship program. Throughout this trip I have had a few times where words cannot fully express the enormity of how certain things change lives. The family we visited consisted of 4 children, ages 20,18,16 and 12 whose parents had died leaving them destitute. Through the sponsorship, they are now able to have a hut, a cow that has already given birth to a calf, some land that they plant corn, banana, and Ginger on, some of which they keep and some that they sell at market. They now have school and clothes for school and are able to provide and sustain for themselves. I cannot imagine losing both of my parents at a young age and having to provide for my siblings. It was both a humbling and joyous experience. The young man, and his sense of pride for his home and family was immeasurable. All of this was accomplished by a family half a world away spending just $30 a month and look at what it was able to do... Literally SAVE lives. It made me wonder why we don't all do this...

As we travelled to other villages and saw the success stories I began to realize the importance of focusing on the basic joys of life. It is so easy to get convoluted in day to day stuff. It made me think of my family and friends and how absolutely thankful I am to have them. The important things in life are the basics and it is good to realize that every once in a while.

We returned to the same hotel in Durame that holly and I stayed at 2 years ago when we came down to meet Miles' birth mother. We were assigned rooms and I was handed keys to the exact same room that hol and I stayed in before. Go figure! Room 105 in the Durame hotel will now be known as the campbell suite! We unpacked, and met down in the restaurant for dinner. It was another overwhelming, exhausting, but incredibly rewarding day. I asked Fikru to order for me as I wanted to have something 100% Ethiopian. What followed was one of the better meals I have had. Fikru and I shared a huge plate of injera with wot, and tibs, which I have had before, but it came with a bunch of different spices and sauces that have the most incredible flavors. It was a great dinner and one that I will not soon forget.

Tomorrow, we travel back to addis after touring some schools and possibly being able to visit Urqato's (Miles's birth dad) gravesite to pay repects.

If there is any interest in sponsoring a child through Holt International please visit their website at: http://www.holtinternational.org/cgi/sponsorship/country.cgi?country=Ethiopia
The need is great and for a small amount per month, you can literally save a childs life... I've seen it!

Goodnight!

Addis Ababa - Wednesday, June 22, 2011

After a whopping 3 1/2 hours of sleep, I awoke at 4am, watched a movie on my iPad, and then decided to get ready for the day. This is where the fun begins...

I took a long shower and came out to get dressed. Apparently one of the engineers who created the rooms for the Hilton thought it would be a great idea to put the smoke detector right outside the door to the bathroom, which is fine if you hadn't just taken a long hot shower and left the bathroom door open as you were getting dressed, thus setting off the smoke detector for the next 20 min, yep, that was me! So, at 7am I had a smoke alarm going off in my room, a couple of front desk people trying to reset it and finally telling me to just open the window and it will have to clear itself. Which it finally did, but I am sure my neighbors hated me at this point, luckily dan, Larry and Cindy were all way down the hall and didn't even hear it. Whew! Made for a good story at breakfast though...

A new little friend I met...

Today we toured care centers in Addis and the new holt office as they have moved from their previous location. We toured two care centers run by holt and 2 centers run by another organization that holt is trying to help out. All in all, we saw about 100 kids today of all age ranges, most were going to families, but some still waiting. I loved today. Just playing with the kids and being around them filled a void that has been there for me since I have left Miles and Lauryn at home. We got to hold babies, which I haven't done in a while and forgot how wonderful that experience can be.





Holt office - Addis Ababa

 We then went to the holt office and met with dr Fikru and his staff. The office is quite larger than the old office and they have room to spread out and great storage for the care centers. We had coffee and listened to dr Fikru discuss their accomplishments in ethiopia, setbacks, and future goals for care. He is an amazing man. His passion and love for his country and the people is apparent in everything he does. He has accomplished so much in the past 4 years that holt has been in Ethiopia, most of which doesn't focus on adoption. Their family preservation program here is amazing, where families from around the world sponsor kids who have either lost a parent or may be with their parent but have no means of finding food, shelter, education, etc. Since it's inception 3 years ago, holt has about 1500 kids and families that are now thriving because of the sponsorship program. What this means is that the kids are getting educations, the families are taught how to build a house and cultivate the land to grow crops and in a lot of cases holt is able to buy the families a cow and cart in order for the families to sell their crops at market. This in turn, provides income for needed items like clothing, tools, etc. Which has an end result of keeping the families together. When people think of holt, they primarily think of adoption, but in listening to Fikru, adoption is a very small part of what they do here and used as a last resort when needed. Most of what he does revolves around family preservation at the most basic of levels.

After our meeting we then moved hotels to the Hotel Kaleb, which was in a developing area of Addis. It was a very nice hotel, nicer than the Hilton, and even had wifi so I actually got to face time with holly and the kids, show them some of addis and see their faces. Technology is amazing when you can have your family with you and you are half a world away! For dinner we went to the Beer Garden Inn, a hotel built by Germans and had soup and beer. It was close to Hotel Kaleb, and we were all tired from the day and just wanted a quick bite then bed. It was an end to a very fulfilling day. I absolutely love this country.

Tomorrow we take the 6 hour journey to Durame...

Arrival in Addis Ababa - Tuesday, June 21, 2011

After 4 flights, 23 hours of flying, narrowly missing my flight in sfo (was literally sprinting to get to my flight to houston), sneaking past security in Frankfurt (thank you to Larry for the distraction, what a travel pro!), we made it to Addis Ababa. The feeling as I departed the plane was of familiarity, a sense of returning to a place that was becoming more like a second home. We exchanged some money, made it through customs and got our bags, this is when our first adventure started.

All of our bags arrived including the four duffel bags of shoes people had donated to the construction workers at Shinshicho Medical center. Everything was fine until we had to go through one more bag scan before entering the country. As we put the shoes through the scanner it apparently triggered an inspection of the bags, which is fine usually, unless you get an inspector that was at the end of his shift and hell-bent on making life miserable for you! He first claimed that we were bringing used shoes into the country to sell and when we told him that they were being donated to the construction workers building Shinshicho, he was then upset that we did not bring in all new shoes! I showed him some of the pairs of new shoes along with the slightly used shoes, but that just seemed to irritate him more. Finally dan, Larry and I used a team effort to convince him that if he did not let us through then we would leave the bags with him and they would be his responsibility, and this seemed to work as i think he did not like the prospect of dealing with over 200 pairs of shoes. He let us though but did say while we were leaving "next time you bring all new shoes, ok!" The experience reminded me that I was in a country of extremely prideful people who want the best for their county men, even down to the shoes on their feet.

Dan, Larry, Cindy and I then met dr. Fikru and headed to the hotel. It was late in addis, around 11pm as we checked into the Hilton, which was a last minute change, as fikru was unsure about how we would react to the original hotel, Hotel Kaleb. The Hilton was nice and we checked in, dropped our bags in the room and met up in the bar to have a St George beer and decompress after a 25 hour journey, plus no one was tired as it was about 4pm back home.

I am extremely lucky to be a part of this group, they are all very seasoned travelers and incredible people. Dan Lauer is the vp of international relations for holt and met us there as he was traveling through Ghana. He is extremely kind, down to earth, and has done some truly amazing things for children around the world. Larry Carter, who is practically like family now, is a non-stop purveyor of goodwill that I am constantly in awe of. Cindy Davis is on the board and has travelled with holt to 9 different countries where their programs are located. She epitomizes what a board member should be, she asks the right questions, is not afraid to share her views and her passion for helping children shines through in all that she does. She has a medical background both in the field and administration, which will help so incredibly much in this project. I feel a bit out of my league being with all of these people who have done so much, but it is an amazing experience to just be along for the journey.

We spent a couple hours that night getting to know each other and all the sudden realized that it was approaching 1am and figured we better turn in and at least try and get some sleep! Tomorrow's plan is to tour the care centers in Addis, along with the holt office, among other things.