This morning, we ate breakfast and then visited for awhile with Fray, the manager at OH. She also runs a shop that sells blankets made by destitute women from the Korah community, where the city dump and leper's colony are located. For every 3 blankets that sell, Fray gives one blanket to a group of needy people who live up on Entoto Mountain where it gets very cold. Fray would love to sell these blankets, called Gabies, in the U.S., and she asked us to come see her shop. We told her we would get there either today or tomorrow.
Wass came then to pick us up, and we headed to the Lebu Community Center where the AGCI staff had met for sponsorship distribution. While Haile, Wass, and the others took photos of the sponsored children, took down their information, and distributed the necessary sponsorship funds, the other children crowded around us and held our hands. Shana and Rachael sang "Father Abraham" over and over, and danced to it with a bunch of the kids. The twins played soccer with some of the other boys. Their "soccer ball" was actually a bottle cap.
We ate lunch at The District food court in the lower level of the AGCI office building, after which Wass and I spent 2 hours in the Ethio-Telecom shop. We had to wait in a very long line in order to open up some of the new iPhones we had brought from the U.S. for the staff.
Afterward, we took Welde to the Hilton to buy an airline ticket, and then stopped by Tomoca to buy some coffee to take home. They didn't have any available, so Chris and Wass bought a few different kinds at grocery store nearby.
Scaffolding in Ethiopia:
Pizza Hut and Cold Stone Creamery are coming soon!
We went to Seble's shop to see her for a bit before heading to Wass and Mimi's house for dinner.
Rachab wearing one of Malia's baby dresses.
Dinner was fabulous. Mimi had taken the entire day off of work to cook for us! We had seen her early this morning as she and her brother were out shopping for groceries. First, we had traditional Ethiopian food, a huge amount shared family-style. Then she served us chicken, rice with peppers, mixed vegetables, a carrot and potato dish, and stuffed hot peppers before making popcorn, tea, and the best macchiatos I've ever had. It was amazing! We felt so honored to be their guests, and they were such gracious hosts. Then, Mimi gave us thank-you cards and a bag of incense to take home. It was a very special evening.
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