Hello Ethiopia 1

Our mission and main reason to come to Ethiopia is to revisit Millie’s birth place and her family members and to keep Ethiopian culture alive for Millie as she grows up.

Addis Ababa – the Capital

Altitude: 2355 m 

Population: 3.4 million

We will be spending a few days in Addis, in Tsebay and Abdi’s guest house (whose baby boy Nahom came to the UK last year for a much needed kidney operation) to try and organise ourselves and sort out our itinerary for the next 5 weeks.

There are other Ethiopian kids hanging out at the guesthouse and the children soon find playmates – Millie has sussed out that Enata is about the same age, even though she doesn’t speak any English, so they settle down to play Barbies; and Gabriel has bought a ball from the shop opposite, so he is happy playing with Natty; and Jemima is helping me to label all my colour coded bags of equipment, so I know exactly where to find things when anyone asks. I remember the frustrations from the last time I lived out of a ruck sack for 3 months in 1981! Dry sacks are the answer, light weight, they also double up as vacuum bags and suck all the air out.

Getting things done is also a major frustration here –  limited internet, slow and erratic when you are lucky, frequent power cuts, even a phone call to a local cell phone needs to be made 10 times before you can get through and then the call is barely audible. Fiona, I think you need to unwind……

I think I had rose-tinted spectacles when we last came to this busy, smoggy, filthy, charmless city, when we adopted Millie three and a half years ago. Green spaces are few and far between and there is nothing lovely to do with children except the pools and overly watered and manicured gardens at the Sheraton and Hilton hotels… which we have of course succumbed to. The Hilton’s pools are built on thermal waters and most of them are quite shallow. The 6 pools are all differing variations of warm, the hottest one resembles that of a hot soak back home, without the bubbles! – which in the rainy, chilly season in Addis is much welcomed, and the kids are in their pools for hours until their skin almost begs to drop off.

The Hilton is a fascinating place to people watch. The African Union was founded by the then Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Sellasse, 50 years ago and so it is based in Addis. So lots of different African people gather in suits and costumes to chat over coffee tables or business lunches, all talking their different dialects. Meanwhile, Jemima is organising the kids of some of theses dignitaries into a game of Marco Polo – in the pool – they all seem to go along with this idea and now I can read my book.

And then a lovely invitation to Michelle’s house to join her family for supper. Michelle has adopted 3 children from Ethiopia and Marcos is 9 months old, he was brought to the same foster home in Addis that Millie came from. Her eldest is Anna from Guatamela. Michelle teaches at the International School here and is a font of information. Its lovely to enter a homey house and see how a family living here all year round adapt to the trials and tribulations of living in this city.  The children make themselves at home very quickly and we are left enjoying a beer and a chat in front of a lovely fire, followed by some Ethiopian fayre – Injera and a mixture of vegetarian dishes. The smell of eucalyptus fills the room and I am beginning to warm up to Addis. We are sent away with good tips which serve us well over the next few weeks.