Day 3 in Ethiopia

This morning I woke up at 1:30 am and could not fall back asleep until about 3:30, then woke up again at 6 for good. Jetlag. Kevin has been sleeping great, I have to wake him up in the morning. 
 I can not get over how beautiful the weather is here. Perfect spring weather, nice breeze, nice sun. No flying bugs! (except an occational fly) Am I really in Africa? Job told me yesterday that they do not have spiders in the city. I have decided I want to move here. :) 

After a nice breakfast we went to the transition home and met some other families children so we could photograph them, and bring them gifts from their waiting parents back home. That was fun. The kids were so excited. Kevin keeps falling in love with different children, but most of the children at the transition home have families in the process, which is wonderful.. I am pretty sure we will be adopting again. The kids are so lovey with us, the girls stroke Kevin's beard, and they all love to be hugged, and kissed. They just run up and hug you.

 We have seen some street children begging and selling packs of gum. It really breaks your heart. They follow us down the street saying "please, please!" We aren't supposed to give them money because they will stop going to school if they think begging is profitable. But we do give them granola bars and cookies. That makes them happy. 

Then we met the pediatrician to discuss Isaac's medical files. Then it was just playtime with Isaac again for a few hours. We call him Yedidiya for now, because that is what he is called here. He just makes us laugh the whole time we are there. He runs around so happy. He likes to do things himself. He is in the gaining Independence stage. 

We are having a thunderstorm here now, so the power might go out, but I have to tell you about one of the orphanages we visited today called AHOPE. It is specifically for HIV+ orphans. When we first got there all the children were sleeping, but we got to peek in the rooms and see them. The grounds were very well kept, and everything was clean. We got to talk to the director for a while. He explained that with the ARV drugs being so amazingly effective, this is the first generation of HIV+ children that will survive in Africa. They used to lose them all, now they have not had a death in AHOPE since 2007! Praise God! He said that they only accept double orphans (meaning that both parents are dead) or orphans that have no willing family member to care for them. Which is most of the orphans in Ethiopia. But because of limited space, they have to only take in the most destitute. So, those are the ones living at the compound. About 70 beautiful children. Then to help the ones that do have a caregiver,( because they want to keep them in family if at all possible) they go pick up the children in vans every morning and bring them to school, give them food, ARVs drugs and bring them back home in the evenings. They are trying to reduce the HIV stigma through education, and are trying to teach them trades so they can be reintroduced into society when they are able to get jobs as adults. They do not kick the kids out at any certain age, which is wonderful. They are their family and caregivers until they are out on their own. We were amazed by this organization. It was so well run and efficient. 

He said they are caring for about 250 children total between the two programs. After we were done talking to him he took us around again and we got to see the children. In the little boy room, they ran up to us and shook our hands and told us their names. The girls were still sleeping, but we got to see the baby room too. Two toddlers ran up to Kevin and I with their little arms up. We picked them up. They were so sweet. There was one infant, a boy they say is about 4 months old. He was obviously malnourished, bless his little heart. He was trying to cry, but just little raspy noises came out. It was heartbreaking. I am just so glad that he has a place to go and be loved and cared for. All of the rest of the children looked and acted very healthy. The director said there is hope for the little ones to be adopted, but no hope for the older ones. How sad is that! I will tell you one thing, it is a life changing place. AHOPE has a sponsorship program. If you have a heart for orphans, these children have lost both parents and have HIV. In society's eyes, they are the lowest of the low, the leapers of society. But in God's eyes they are precious and lovable and worthy. I am praying that everyone will sponsor a child through AHOPE. You can find them at this address: www.ahopeforchildren.org  We plan to sponsor two. We are also going to be collecting donations for several of the orphanages to bring when we come back. The need is great. Start buying diapers (cloth or regular) wipes, infant/child Tylenol, gloves, bandages, neosporin, cough syrup, chewable vitamins etc... when you have a few bucks to spare. We really want to be able to bring a lot when we come back. 

Thank you!!

We didn't take pictures inside

Isaac with Job