Ethiopia Day 12 - Leprosy Hospital, Kolfe Orphanage and a Long Flight Home

OK, I know this post is very belated but better late than never, right?

Our day 13 in Ethiopia was a Monday. It was also the day of our departure but since our flight didn't leave until 7:30 PM we had the whole day to take one last look at Addis Ababa. Just as we did on our first day in town, we made Tomoca our first stop for some of the world's best coffee.

Our agency arranged for our travel group to visit the orphanages that they help to support. First we had to return to the hospital for Taye's last antibiotic shot, which took forever, and then our driver suggested that we visit the Leprosy Hospital, so unfortunately we missed the first two orphanages.

Leprosy is almost non-existent in the US but it is still a problem in many countries. It is a treatable disease that is not very contagious and not at all contagious once an individual is under treatment. The Leprosy Hospital in Addis Ababa has 120 beds for leprosy patients who are also trained in various stages of making textiles. If you look closely at the pictures you can see the toll the disease took on their fingers before they got treatment, and yet they are spinning yarn, weaving and embroidering beautiful cloth.

We bought a few textiles as souvenirs and then headed across town to meet up with our group at Kolfe. On our way, Solomon pointed out the local meat market. They will either butcher the animal for you or, as we were told, most families choose to purchase a live animal and do the butchering at home.

Dinner

Hides drying in the sun

Butchers' overalls with onlooking vultures

Close-up of vultures

Kolfe is an orphanage for older boys. Gladney has done much to improve the conditions there but it was still grim and as the new mother of two little boys, it broke my heart to see. The boys who live here have very little chance of being adopted. 

One of the dorms

Inside of dorm

Another dorm

Laundry

Computer lab

Vegetable garden

Outside of dining hall

Firewood to fuel the stoves

Shiro for lunch

Giant stack of injera. All of this will be consumed in one meal.

Lunch hall

Soccer field

We were careful to get pictures without the children, as we are not allowed to post their pictures on the Internet.

Our last stop was lunch with our travel group. We were all pretty drained at this point but for me it was the perfect end to the trip. With Taye's illness we didn't get to spend enough time with these lovely families but nonetheless we share a common bond and our brief time together will not be forgotten.

We left for the airport around 4:30 for our 7:30 flight. We had a lot of luggage and it was challenging getting through the security check point but we managed and had a bite to eat while waiting for our flight. Again, the baby carriers were our saviour.

The boys were remarkably well behaved on the long journey home, which took us a total of 24 hours. They slept most of the trip, although on our connection flight in the middle of the night we had to go through several (four I think) security check points. They slept through all except the last one, when we had to remove our sleeping children from their carriers so that they could frisk all four of us. Dash had a big melt down after that and I remember thinking that we felt like a family for the first time as Mark, Taye and I pulled together to stick stickers on ourselves and on Dash to help him regain his sense of humor!

Still can't believe it all was only two months ago. We've come a long way...

Dash and Mommy, July 2010