Sweet little babies, and new brothers!

So, if you have not noticed, I may have been feeling a little anti-ethiopia recenlty. I want to go to America, but Deanna wont let me, and if I left her here alone, her mom (Momma Donna) would kill me. I want to make it clear that reason for me wanting to go home has nothing to do with the kids here. I love them more than I did when I first got here. So thats a lot!

This blog is not going to be about why I don't like it here (although I did yell at a person tonight and told him that he is runing my experience here in Africa). But it is going to be about these amazing kids.

I now have a brother in Ethiopia! His name is Bereket, and he is the cutest and funniest Ethiopian brother ever! And I am not just saying that because he is my Brother. Or maybe I am...

But the kids at the after school program really are great. It is amazing the conversations we can manage through broken english and amharic. The kids are curious about our lives, and like to tell us about theirs.



We have also started to work at a daycare a few days a week. Since the orphanage did not work out we asked some American friends if they needed help at their daycare. They gladly accepted. Thier program is called Embracing Hope. Look it up, it's amazing! It is for mothers in the Kore community, which is where we live, and is one of the poorest places in Addis. It is right next to the garbage dump, and a lot of the people survive on the cities garbage. Anyway, the daycare is free for mothers who have a job, and the kids can come and be taken care of so the mother is free to work. The kids are given breakfast and lunch, and vitimens and minor medical needs. They get clean clothes as soon as they arrive, and the youngers get to play all day, and the older ones get a few lessons. Its a pretty great setup. So far we have only been in one classroon. The kids seem to be about 2/3ish and are so amazing. the first thing I notice is how different kids are here than in America. 2 year olds know to come in the class, get changed, and sit for prayer time. What? 2YO's can do that!?! Yep. They can also sing songs and play games that I would think would be way above their ages. But I guess we may baby our babies in America. ;)

All week we have noticed one little boy, who has just sat in the corner, very quiet and very still. He only did what he had to, otherwise he did nothing. A few times I tried to snuggle him, but he was very timid, so I left him alone. I don't want to freak him out! On Friday one of the nannies noticed that he was very warm, and brought in a nurse to check him out (she was American, and spoke less amharic than we do, so all questions were directed at us). She noticed that his neck was very stiff and was worried that he may have meningitis. What? Poor baby! I am really hoping it is not the case, since he has been withdrawn all week, and I am fairly certain that menungitis takes lives very quickly. We left for the day before anything was determind... and will hopefully see the Shannons (the people who run the daycare) at church tomorrow. If not we will get an update on Monday. Pray for sweet little N if you re into that kind of thing!