Sunday, February 28, 2010

Day 5- Arrive in Addis Abba and Meeting Elliott



Abel- our guide

We arrive at the airport at 8:00 a.m. Ethiopia time, make it through customs, obtain travel visas, exchange US dollars for Birr, retrieve all of our luggage, rescreen the luggage, and meet Abel. Abel is the adoption agencies guide that is responsible acting as our guide for the timem we are there.  


We also meet our first driver and another family from the same flight that is picking up their son. After loading all the luggage on the van which is no small feat, we learn that we are going right away (with no sleep in 30 hours) to pickup Elliott!!

Our Driver

We are excited, but disorganized. Originally we were told that we would be going to the guest house to rest first, but that was not the case as Abel only had a window of time in the late morning to get to the child care center.

We look out the windows on the way to the center, and I can only classify the view as pure shock. There was only one traffic light that we saw in all of Addis Ababa, and there are cars, buses, vans, taxis, people, cows, goats, stores EVERYWHERE. It is like Time Square with animals and much more dirt…. We were so focused on our imminent meeting with Elliott that I really did not soak in what I was seeing.



We arrived at the center. Here are the photos of our first meeting with Elliott and of some of the children.



It was very emotional in so many ways. To see her and touch her finally- to see where she was staying and to meet those that cared for her. Her special mother (special nanny) just sobbed and sobbed at the thought of Elliott leaving. They took such good care of here, and she was there for 6 months- much longer than the normal. It was very hard and after about 20 minutes we got back in the van with Elliott and drove away. It was surreal.

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