Our Brown-Eyed Girl: Ethiopia Day 7

Sabahar - Alert Hospital - Shopping

Wednesday November 23, 2011

Started the day with breakfast made by Marta. Spanish omelet, toast and coffee. My stomach is still not 100% so I just had a little coffee. All the ladies at BJoes are so very nice - Marta has such a sweet quality about her.

All the babies were having breakfast when I got to the main house. Baby M was not looking so good this morning. His mommy and daddy already had an appointment to take him to the pediatrician. He was kind of lethargic and I could hear him wheezing from across the room. Projectile vomiting happened within minutes – the poor little guy. C & K were already dealing with lost luggage for the past 3 days and a sick baby now. I feel so bad for them. I admire how well they are handling everything. All their medicine, clothing for their new son, bottles, all lost somewhere - I'd be a wreck.

Beky came for us about 10 am and we were going to head out to Mercado – a big market. And it was a big market. Crazy big market. Crazy traffic. Crazy volume of people, donkeys, cars, trucks - all sharing the same space.

We bought a hat and we were on a mission to buy baskets. This was the first time in ET that I did not feel safe. We were the only obvious foreigners out of thousands. This was the peoples' market; I would not recommend for tourists.

We finally found the hand woven baskets and as we were bargaining a fight broke out next to where we were standing and people swarmed. It was very scary and I looked at Beky and told him to get us out of there. Couldn't get out of there fast enough.

People were touching Koen and one man grabbed him and it made Koen uncomfortable. The man was being affectionate but it was too much for Koen. I noticed people were smiling at us and speaking in Amharic - was getting paranoid. Beky tells us later that the people kept telling him how beautiful and cute Koen was. They love the children, especially my little blondie. One of the guards on the street pushed me. We passed Solomon driving the Robbins and they said they wouldn’t get out to shop because it was too intimidating and that a guard approached their vehicle and told them to close their windows because it wasn’t safe. And here we were walking around out in the open. Not a wise choice on our part.

We then drove to the Alert Hospital – the only Leprosy Hospital in Africa. The patients treated at the hospital made all of the souvenirs. Beautiful handwoven/embroidered linens, traditional clothing and scarves. We bought Beza a beautiful tablecloth and napkins to give her one day as a wedding gift or housewarming gift – hope I remember where I store it until that day. We took pictures of the looms and of one woman who does the weaving. I plan on placing a picture along with the linen for Beza . We also bought her a traditional outfit, which I just love. I’m still searching for one for Koen.

We then had our driver take us to lunch at a place called Garden Paradise and we met the Robbins there. We had fish ghoulash – very good, and chicken tibs. Koen had fried chicken that when I cut open it was still bleeding. He said “I’m not eating blood”. No baby, you are absolutely right – you are not eating blood.

Beky then drove us to the Silk Factory in Sabahar. Saba was the name of a famous queen of Ethiopia (Queen of Sheba) and I forget what har stands for. I’ll have to ask about that again. (p.s. forgot to ask about this) (p.p.s. har stands for silk :)

The Silk Factory was cool. We got to see the worms eating the leaves. Then we saw them in their cocoon stage in these little square containers. Then we saw the room filled with ladies weaving the silk. Koen enjoyed this outing.

I bought some beautiful silk scarves for about 20 dollars each.

We then had to hurry to get to the Holy Trinity Church to meet Belay for the tour. This was one of my favorite/special outings so far. Belay is very knowledgeable about the history and he has a personal interest in this church. His father was assassinated 36 years ago; the most decorated man aside of the Emperor Haile Selassie. He was one of 60 men assassinated – a martyr. He is buried across from the church in a special area that was guarded by rifle-carrying men (Koen couldn't stop staring at these men and asking why they had guns - if they were going to shoot someone). Belay was 11 years old when his father was assassinated. Genet, his sister, is the owner of Bjoes Guesthouse where we are staying. Tomorrow is the 36th anniversary of their father's death.

picture of Belay's father inside the church - uniformed gentleman standing on the right

final resting place for the Emperor and his wife inside the church

with Belay outside of the church

Baby M has pneumonia, double ear infection and gastro enteritis. C & K asked if I would give him the IM shots he needs daily for treatment. Poor baby.

Dinner at Avanti with Becca, Kirk and Mollie. Mollie cleared embassy today and we need to celebrate!

Koen had terrible belly pain today with diarrhea and lots of gas. Fell asleep again at dinner. Every night so far. Worried he's losing weight.

Mollie and Kristen saw Beza today at the orphanage and said she cried and ran to her caretaker when they entered her room (so it's not just me). I’m really nervous about visiting her tomorrow. I hate that she is so afraid and I don’t want to be the one scaring her.

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