Tuesday, December 15, 2009
One more comment
Oh, I'm so sorry. The framed photo is Lydia's late mother. She died when she was 27 or 28, I believe.
Few photos from trip - mostly Lydia's family
Hi, I found a few photos from the trip. This is Lydia's family. Her two grandmothers, two aunts, cousin, half-sister, and family friend, the older boy. The house is Lydia's maternal aunt in Debre Zeit. Some of the photos Lydia took for me. I may be able to send a few more photos later.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Good news!
Hi all! I arrived home in Tulsa late Saturday night. We found out on Friday, the 11th, that Sammy had all his waiver paperwork back in and we were able to leave the country. We cancelled our flights with Britsh Air (which we had learned needed a transit visa to go through London per Sammy's Ethiopian passport) and went to the travel agency to change our tickets to Turkish Air so we could leave that night, at 2 am.
The trip to Ethiopia was very good. The beautiful sights and abject poverty we saw were very sobering. The disparity between the rich and the poor in Addis was sharp. But the people were beautiful. We enjoyed spending time with the four other families staying at the guest house during portions of our stay, and we very sad that the two other families traveling with us, were not able to leave Friday like we were - we were waiting on waivers for four kids between the three families - only two children received their paperwork back on Friday, and the other child was waiting for his sister's paperwork, so his family was not able to leave.
It was, of course, so good to see my family at home. Graham looked bigger than I remembered - I guess that comes from carrying a 17-month old around for two weeks.
So much to say, maybe I'll try to post again, once my head is a bit clearer.
Oh, and the day we left Ethipia, we learned that Lidiya Sissay passed court and is also officially an "Emory". I'll try to post some photos of her and Sammy later in the week. We got to meet her family in Ethiopia, two aunts (from mother and father's sides), two grandmothers, her half-sister, and her young three-year old cousin. so many women in her life, but no men. Her parents died about six years ago. While we don't understand why her aunt could not care for her; although she is relatively poor, we are honored to have her in our family. And yes, she does have the most delightful smile you've ever seen.
So good to be home! We were gone right at two weeks - left Sunday morning after Thanksgiving and returned Saturday night almost two weeks later. Couldn't have hoped for a better turnaround on our paperwork.
The trip to Ethiopia was very good. The beautiful sights and abject poverty we saw were very sobering. The disparity between the rich and the poor in Addis was sharp. But the people were beautiful. We enjoyed spending time with the four other families staying at the guest house during portions of our stay, and we very sad that the two other families traveling with us, were not able to leave Friday like we were - we were waiting on waivers for four kids between the three families - only two children received their paperwork back on Friday, and the other child was waiting for his sister's paperwork, so his family was not able to leave.
It was, of course, so good to see my family at home. Graham looked bigger than I remembered - I guess that comes from carrying a 17-month old around for two weeks.
So much to say, maybe I'll try to post again, once my head is a bit clearer.
Oh, and the day we left Ethipia, we learned that Lidiya Sissay passed court and is also officially an "Emory". I'll try to post some photos of her and Sammy later in the week. We got to meet her family in Ethiopia, two aunts (from mother and father's sides), two grandmothers, her half-sister, and her young three-year old cousin. so many women in her life, but no men. Her parents died about six years ago. While we don't understand why her aunt could not care for her; although she is relatively poor, we are honored to have her in our family. And yes, she does have the most delightful smile you've ever seen.
So good to be home! We were gone right at two weeks - left Sunday morning after Thanksgiving and returned Saturday night almost two weeks later. Couldn't have hoped for a better turnaround on our paperwork.
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