Our third day in Ethiopia started with a trip up Entoto Mountain (10,827 feet above sea level) with three other families. I had NO idea what we were going to see, but I was game for anything outside of the city. The drive up the mountain was beautiful. I had wondered if I would need a sweater. Would it be cooler due to the altitude or warmer due to the sun? It was cooler...in the shade. To my surprise there were great treasures waiting at the top of the mountain.
We had a wonderful guided tour of the first Emperor's palace, which included a history lesson on the Emperor himself as well as Ethiopia. Our guide was well spoken and loves his country. He made us want to hear more. He spoke of an Emperor who saw himself as one of the people. We learned that Ethiopians have concidered raw ox a delicacy for hundreds of years (maybe more). Our guide reminded us that Addis Ababa means "New Flower". He explained that the city, when it was moved down the mountain for convience, was named after a rare flower that no longer exsists. We saw sick people who come and live on the mountain because they believe the water can heal them. Our guide told us that the healing is not immediate; it takes time, but that it can heal a person of AIDS.
We saw the first church in Ethiopia and the beautiful christian orthodox church that is built in three tears to represent the trinity.
Our guide walked us through a museum of Ethiopian history (mostly of the Emperor) where we saw a painting that represents Psalm 68:31 Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God. KJV
There were also many beautiful umbrellas which I knew related to the ones the women in town carry over their heads ALL the time, but I couldn't remember what the biblical connection was...so I asked. The umbrellas are a covering of the NEW ark of the covenant...followers of Christ.
I thought these were both such beautiful images.
On our way down the mountain, we saw donkeys and women that climb up the mountain every morning and walk down the mountain every day loaded down with sticks and wood. These women earn about 20 birr a day. That is the equivalent of about $1.
We stopped and bought each of the Kuykendall girls a traditional Ethiopian dress which we wore to church on Resurrection Sunday (Nazeret's will be here for her when she get's home.) and then we finally made our way to the TH to see our girl!
On this day, we took pictures and delivered care packages for other families. It was great to hold some little ones, but it was hard on Nazeret. She didn't understand what we were doing and she did not want to share her new family. I can't say that a blame her, but it is also such a precious gift to other families and their children to take this time for them. We had a great time with Nazeret. She had this cute new little hair-do done with silly bands. At the end of our afternoon, she got to take us over to the "big kid transition home" to see where she eats and sleeps. When we had to leave....she stayed there.
It was a great day, but it ended with such an emotional THUD! We had a scheduled traditional Ethiopian dinner complete with dancers that night, but none of us were excited about it. We went, but we left our hearts at the TH that night and the next morning....was court.
No comments:
Post a Comment