Hi everyone!
I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update, but unfortunately you guys are just gonna have to get used to these rather infrequent updates. The internet here is irregular and difficult to find, and also costs me 25 cents a minute.
I got in on Monday, three hours later than I was supposed to arrive, after two consecutive overnight flights. Thankfully the driver had waited patiently and delivered me straight to the guest house, where I slept for two hours before going to the orphanage that afternoon.
The guest house is like a 5-star hotel compared to what I was expecting: It is surrounded by a tall wall with a large gate which you must knock on and be let through by a guard, all of whom are extremely friendly. The house is three stories tall and looks like it is straight out of Europe. There is running water--we even get hot showers, as long as they are short and are taken about an hour apart!!!! There is a woman who comes in every day to make us breakfast and do our laundry and is like our angelic mother away from home. For the first few days, it was just me and one other volunteer from Israel living in the guest house, but on Thursday another girl arrived from Colorado,who will also be staying until April. We eat lunch with the staff at the orphanage every day and at night we usually cook our own meals, the supplies for which usually come from the small market/grocery stores around the corner.
AHOPE Ethiopia is comprised of two children's homes, as well as a Child Development Center, or CDC. Little AHOPE is home to the children ages 0-7, and is also where the office is. Big AHOPE is about a ten-minute block from Little, and houses the children ages 8-15. Both are within walking distance from the guest house. The CDC is like a daycare center where children receive tutoring and medical care, and I have yet to be there.
They have put together a makeshift schedule for the volunteers, which is followed fairly loosely. Three days a week we will be teaching grades 1-4 spoken English for an hour in the afternoons, and two days a week we will be at the CDC in the mornings. Most of the rest of our time will be spent at Little AHOPE. I will, of course, carry my camera with me at all times!
Addis Ababa is a large, very hectic city. The streets are lined with mud or metal houses and shacks which are mostly small shops or marketplaces. One of the first things that struck me was when I noticed a building obviously under construction: the scaffolding was literally made of wood--literally narrow tree trunks without branches. It's pretty hot here--usually getting to 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit every day, and the sun is extremely strong. The streets have few traffic lines marked, which are rarely followed anyway. Apparently only about 50-60 percent of the drivers here actually hold a legitimate drivers license. The taxis are large blue vans from the 70s which hold about 10 to 15 people at a time. My first ride in a taxi ended after about 2 minutes at the top of a steep hill when the van stumbled to a stop because of a flat tire. It is not unusual to see a scene like designer bag, a begging cripple, a lonely, small child and a brand new Isuzu Trooper equipped with a GPS system all within about 50 feet of one another. The sidewalks are crowded and Westerners are quite a phenomenon, and we frequently receive catcalls and whistles and are called "Foreigner," in Amharic, but it is rarely meant negatively; on the contrary, most of the time they only want to say Hello and ask us how we are doing.
The children are absolutely adorable and amazing. At Little AHOPE they are full of energy and games and will literally fight each other for our attention. They love to play soccer and climb all over each other and the volunteers. In school they are learning how to say various parts of the body in English, and how to multiply numbers by 2. They are cheerful and full of laughter, and a delight to play with. At Big AHOPE, the children are obviously more mature and eager to make more of an emotional connection, and they have just as much, if not more energy to throw around. I brought embroidery thread and showed them how to make friendship bracelets, which was a huge hit; I already wish I had brought more. These are the children I will be teaching English, but they reciprocate by trying to teach me Amharic. So far I have learned how to say "Hello" and "Good bye," "Thank you," "Bread", "Coffee," how to count to ten, and a few other words. I feel like an expert.
I'm sorry if my entries are scattered and not very well written--I will be writing most of them in rather a hurry. I hope, however, that this gives at least a bit of insight into the amazing things I am experiencing over on this side of the world.
In case anyone wants to call me, I did get a cell phone: the number is 0912193761. The code for Ethiopia is +251, and then you must drop the first 0. I'm not sure if I've gotten it to work yet, but the guest house also has a landline, and I'm usually home after around 7 p.m. (11 a.m. in New York). I don't have that number on me at the moment, but I can post it next time, and if anyone wants to call me there before then, you'll have to contact my parents! I'd love to hear from you!
Till next time! All my love!
I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update, but unfortunately you guys are just gonna have to get used to these rather infrequent updates. The internet here is irregular and difficult to find, and also costs me 25 cents a minute.
I got in on Monday, three hours later than I was supposed to arrive, after two consecutive overnight flights. Thankfully the driver had waited patiently and delivered me straight to the guest house, where I slept for two hours before going to the orphanage that afternoon.
The guest house is like a 5-star hotel compared to what I was expecting: It is surrounded by a tall wall with a large gate which you must knock on and be let through by a guard, all of whom are extremely friendly. The house is three stories tall and looks like it is straight out of Europe. There is running water--we even get hot showers, as long as they are short and are taken about an hour apart!!!! There is a woman who comes in every day to make us breakfast and do our laundry and is like our angelic mother away from home. For the first few days, it was just me and one other volunteer from Israel living in the guest house, but on Thursday another girl arrived from Colorado,who will also be staying until April. We eat lunch with the staff at the orphanage every day and at night we usually cook our own meals, the supplies for which usually come from the small market/grocery stores around the corner.
AHOPE Ethiopia is comprised of two children's homes, as well as a Child Development Center, or CDC. Little AHOPE is home to the children ages 0-7, and is also where the office is. Big AHOPE is about a ten-minute block from Little, and houses the children ages 8-15. Both are within walking distance from the guest house. The CDC is like a daycare center where children receive tutoring and medical care, and I have yet to be there.
They have put together a makeshift schedule for the volunteers, which is followed fairly loosely. Three days a week we will be teaching grades 1-4 spoken English for an hour in the afternoons, and two days a week we will be at the CDC in the mornings. Most of the rest of our time will be spent at Little AHOPE. I will, of course, carry my camera with me at all times!
Addis Ababa is a large, very hectic city. The streets are lined with mud or metal houses and shacks which are mostly small shops or marketplaces. One of the first things that struck me was when I noticed a building obviously under construction: the scaffolding was literally made of wood--literally narrow tree trunks without branches. It's pretty hot here--usually getting to 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit every day, and the sun is extremely strong. The streets have few traffic lines marked, which are rarely followed anyway. Apparently only about 50-60 percent of the drivers here actually hold a legitimate drivers license. The taxis are large blue vans from the 70s which hold about 10 to 15 people at a time. My first ride in a taxi ended after about 2 minutes at the top of a steep hill when the van stumbled to a stop because of a flat tire. It is not unusual to see a scene like designer bag, a begging cripple, a lonely, small child and a brand new Isuzu Trooper equipped with a GPS system all within about 50 feet of one another. The sidewalks are crowded and Westerners are quite a phenomenon, and we frequently receive catcalls and whistles and are called "Foreigner," in Amharic, but it is rarely meant negatively; on the contrary, most of the time they only want to say Hello and ask us how we are doing.
The children are absolutely adorable and amazing. At Little AHOPE they are full of energy and games and will literally fight each other for our attention. They love to play soccer and climb all over each other and the volunteers. In school they are learning how to say various parts of the body in English, and how to multiply numbers by 2. They are cheerful and full of laughter, and a delight to play with. At Big AHOPE, the children are obviously more mature and eager to make more of an emotional connection, and they have just as much, if not more energy to throw around. I brought embroidery thread and showed them how to make friendship bracelets, which was a huge hit; I already wish I had brought more. These are the children I will be teaching English, but they reciprocate by trying to teach me Amharic. So far I have learned how to say "Hello" and "Good bye," "Thank you," "Bread", "Coffee," how to count to ten, and a few other words. I feel like an expert.
I'm sorry if my entries are scattered and not very well written--I will be writing most of them in rather a hurry. I hope, however, that this gives at least a bit of insight into the amazing things I am experiencing over on this side of the world.
In case anyone wants to call me, I did get a cell phone: the number is 0912193761. The code for Ethiopia is +251, and then you must drop the first 0. I'm not sure if I've gotten it to work yet, but the guest house also has a landline, and I'm usually home after around 7 p.m. (11 a.m. in New York). I don't have that number on me at the moment, but I can post it next time, and if anyone wants to call me there before then, you'll have to contact my parents! I'd love to hear from you!
Till next time! All my love!
Thanks for the great description, Sophie!
ReplyDeleteIf you want to call Sophie at the AHOPE guest house, the land line number is +251 (118) 301348. You can call it with Skype to land line at 37 cents/minute.
Voice, video and even TMs from Sophie look like they'll be expensive. I didn't check the pricing on Sophie's Ethiopian cell phone, but if I sent her my CrackBerry the price would be 50 cents per TM, $2.00/minute for voice calls, no unlimited data available in Ethiopia. Internet access there is described as expensive and unreliable at various websites.
But we'll find a way to get by.
It sounds so interesting there!! A lot of fun too, does it make you want to adopt an African baby? You could be the next Angelina Jolie :) I'm very glad you're doing well and safe! Can't wait to see pictures and read more, and hopefully call or skype you or someeething.
ReplyDelete-Sammy :D
great descriptions! I especially liked the one that included "...all within about 50 feet..." How do you like the njera? Don't forget to use your right hand!
ReplyDelete