Ethiopia Take 1: First impressions of Addis

Awakening to the dawn chorus of an African morning is truly a gift from the Creator. The birdsong held me in place, eyes closed, for a few brief moments reflecting on where we actually were and why God had brought us here before bounding out of bed; a bundle of excitement.

I then proceeded to drench myself from head to toe as I vainly battled with the shower to extract some hot (even warm would have sufficed) water. I eventually admitted defeat and quickly had one of the briefest, coldest showers of my life! Dennis followed suit and we both headed to breakfast very alert!

At breakfast we met up with Gerlinde, the wonderful lady who allowed us to tag along on her trip to Addis Ababa. She told us she wanted to go to a locally run orphanage, AGOHELMA, as they had told her the day before they might have a little girl for her!

We finished up and Gerlinde introduced us to our driver Gabre. I can’t begin to explain how integral this man is to everything about the adoption. He acts as guide, translator and mediator and does so with such grace and patience we can only thank God, once again, for orchestrating our meeting.

Packed full of donations our large van made its way through the streets of Addis. We realised very quickly it was wiser to observe the cityscape passing by rather that the road ahead. Because of power outages the very few traffic lights were non operational. Local drivers were apparently accustomed to this as they didn’t even seem to slow down when navigating through intersections. It reminded me of some animation or futuristic movie scene; hundreds of vehicles weaving on perpendicular paths to one another barely a few inches between them. Adding to the chaotic traffic were young boys herding goats to the Mercato, cyclists and pedestrians all using the same roads. ‘Roads’ now there is a general term. Main roads were paved but there were many streets that were little more than dirt paths, completely washed away, littered with enormous potholes.

Before arriving at AGOHELMA we stopped at a little grocery store to get a few things for the children and some of the homeless people we would be meeting. Dennis was also concerned about not being able to find a place for lunch and only managed to find some small tins of Pringles and a few Snickers bars that would have to satisfy any hunger pangs. We were appalled at the prices and realised again how things we can easily take for granted are a complete luxury for others, this included being able to have three meals a day…

Ethiopia Take 1: Taxi!

As we stepped out of the safety of the confines of the airport we faced a wall of dark faces with a tang of trepidation. We stood out like two bobbing apples, easy targets for the zealous taxi masters. Encouraged by the first taxi representative we gladly followed behind making small talk along the way. It was late, dark and somewhat cool – almost cold. We arrived at the car park, it reminded me of ‘Scrapheap challenge’, and after a double take I realized that this was the taxi fleet (a total of 3 cars). Some of which were semi operational. Taking a deep breath, I forced my way forward preparing for the journey ahead, thinking the worst was behind us. We were then introduced to a cute kid - soon found out he was our taxi driver probably not much older than 16. Broad smile and hands ready to load our luggage into the taxi he ushered us to the yellow rattletrap. With slight reluctance we seated ourselves, Aims in the back and me in the front next to the driver - we sat quietly optimistic looking forward to a good night’s rest at the hotel.

Doing a quick 22 point check, I instantly realized this car was not road worthy; I reached for the seat belt to find it missing. I then tried to open the window to clear the windscreen from condensation – no handle. Using a napkin I cleared the windscreen giving me and the driver some visibility.

Slightly embarrassed and with a laugh our driver requested in Amharic for a push-start from the other drivers standing around. With a couple of jolts the car fired up and we were away.

Straining up the hill at 25 km/h and firing only on two cylinders the taxi narrowly made it to the top reaching the car park exit at the airport. The rest of the journey to the hotel was interestingly the same; every hill seemed to be a challenge for the ol’ jalopy. The headlights flickered slightly making it virtually impossible to see what was ahead. Our driver having an upbeat personality and charm made the trip to the hotel somewhat an enjoyable escapade.

We made it to the hotel without incident and the whole experience only cost us $10. The best taxi ride in the world.

Ethiopia Take 1: Return to Africa

With great anticipation and equal trepidation we arrived at the airport and were pleasantly surprised to discover our bags were actually under weight and then slightly frustrated at the realisation we could have taken more!!

After all the usual airport waits and delays we were finally on our way to Ethiopia. The plane was practically an antique and I found myself praying for safety throughout the flight and giving thanks when the wheels finally touched down! As we still hurled down the runway, breaks and reverse thrusters straining to slow us down, a majority of the passengers were already up and taking their hand luggage down from the overhead compartments! This was the first of many occasions when Dennis and I would just smile at each other with a slight shake of the head and say TIA*.

We descended from the airplane and both stopped as the first wave of pure air hit our faces. Eyes closed we greedily drew in large gulping breaths of the sweet grass scented, rain-fresh breeze until our lungs could hold no more. We were once again on African soil.

The wonder of that moment quickly faded as we entered the Bole Airport and were faced with a queue of over one hundred passengers waiting for their entry visas. Groaning we joined the line. An hour passed and there was light at the end of the tunnel! Visas obtained we rounded the corner only to discover that light was an oncoming train, another queue, another wait. Thirty minutes and we were actually through customs, positive we could finally head to our hotel, only to encounter one last line as each piece of luggage was x-rayed once again. Our ‘entrance’ lasted 2 hours and we were thrilled when we eventually exited the airport...

*THIS IS AFRICA