Trip to Entoto Mountain - An Unforgettable Experience

Addis Ababa is nestled at 7900’ above sea level (it is the third highest capital city) and is surrounded by several mountains. One of which is called Entoto Mountain with an elevation of almost 10,000’. After a few weeks in Addis and with Sitota beginning to settle in with our family we decided to take a drive to see this mountain. We hired a minibus driver and began the climb to the top of Entoto. I was not surprised that there were no guard rails to be seen. It was a great view of Addis Ababa as we drove to the top.

We noticed as we climbed in altitude that the air was so much fresher. We were getting above the pollution and the smell was wonderful! Eucalyptus trees were everywhere. As we continued our slow climb we began to see women of all ages (some as young as Chloe) carrying huge loads of eucalyptus firewood on their backs. These loads are about 7-8’ wide and some of them more than 2’ in diameter with an average
weight of 35 kg/ 77 lbs! They carry these bundles of wood approximately 10 km down the mountain and into the city to sell for firewood at a wage of about $1-2 USD. There are no supportive shoes to be seen, only cheap flip flops or sandals. My heart is heavy for these woman. They are hunched over from the weight of the load with their arms stretched out to balance it as they walk on constant decline. They are also in danger of sexual assault while gathering their load in the woods. We have read accounts of these vulnerable woman and young girls being raped or bribed for money by guards on the mountainside.

One thing I have noticed in Ethiopia is that the woman have such labor- some jobs; road work, digging sewer tunnels, laying sidewalk blocks, not to mention they do their laundry by hand, grinding staples items
like salt and grain, making bread and carrying water. These are all such labor-some jobs!  In an effort to alleviate some of the incredibly hard work of the wood carriers the International Labor Organization have stepped in to equip some of the woman with other trades and skills to earn a better living. Jobs such as basket and scarf weaving. They provide an education for the children of the woman as they work as well. Our family had a chance to visit the center for the former wood carriers and watched as they weaved these beautiful scarfs in an array of gorgeous colors. The scarfs were available for sale and it was nice to
have a opportunity to support these women in their new careers. Please pray for them.

Photo Journal Entry

Living in Addis Ababa is not boring! We are sure to take along our camera whenever we leave the GH. You just never know what you might see!


Coke Cola in Amharic

 Scaffolding

 Imagine working on this scaffolding???!!! 

This is a very hard job! He pushes this by our house almost every day (uphill)

 Pringles in Amharic

 Beautiful

 Two bulls running up the road... No one seems to care! Is this normal?

 Buddies

 Random holes are very common in Addis.  

 Don't fall in... We see people peeing in them on a regular basis

 Between two homes... We had a bit of rain and it was this messy. Can you imagine what this walkway looks like in rainy season?

 Carrying ingera on his head while texting...

 It is common to see people carrying large loads like this.

 Pepsi in Amharic. It tastes better here.

 Shops

 Chicken anyone? You can't get fresher than this!

 Chickens

 Taxi? Yes, it is.

 Taxi? I'll pass.

 27-30 mattresses on HIS HEAD!!!! CRAZY!!!

 Leaking propane tank in our taxi bus. Yeah, we got out.

 Cattle transport...

God wants to cuddle with me.

Sitota is not the greatest at cuddling. Actually, she hardly ever comes in for the “tuck”. You know, “the tuck”? When a baby just puts their sweet little head right in the crook of your neck. It feels so good. Just being together. I want her to trust me. To come to me for comfort. To come to me for the sheer joy of just being together. Tonight I tried really hard. I have read in books and I spoke to another adoptive parent here at the GH about the benefits of skin to skin time to encourage bonding. I thought I would try it.  The evenings are cool here and the window was open so it was a bit cool in our room. I stripped her down to her diaper. No matter how I tried she just kept her head up, looking around. “What’s that noise? What’s that flickering light? Who’s out there?” Her head kept swinging from one distraction to another. Finally, in desperation I shut the door and turned off the light and stood in the corner where it was the darkest and the fewest distractions. I began to pray and gently guide her head down to cuddle with me. Then it hit me! “God, you want to cuddle with me don’t you? How many distractions do you have to remove for me to turn to you for comfort and joy? Don’t I know how good it feels to rest my head on you? Have I never learned to rest in you? Am I this busy? Do I constantly look around at ever flickering light?
Maybe God wanted to teach me this lesson through my pursuit of Sitota’s cuddles. Maybe even in this I have a lesson to learn. In fact, I’m sure I do. My prayer has now changed. “Lord, help me to cuddle with you, to come to you for comfort and not to all the flickering lights that are constantly vying for my attention. Also, Lord, may Sitota cuddle with me and every time she does may I be reminded of my need for you and how good it feels when I turn to you.”

March 23, 2011 (Trisha’s Journal Entry)

Sitota is sleeping. I still struggle with the name change. I know it will get better. It just seems weird to call her something other than Sitina. God is good. I am thankful for his leading. How personal He is. I really appreciate the meaning of the name. 

Pause...time to pray. I need to seek the Lord. My heart is heavy.

~ As I pour my heart out to God I am reminded of the prayer I have often prayed, “Lord, help me to see her as you see her. Help me to love her as you love her”. Suddenly I realize that God loves her more than I do. He has entrusted her to our family. She is truly a gift from God. How fitting. Sitota means “gift”. The Lord has guided us to a name that will forever remind us that she is a gift from Him. Not something we made happen but something He has orchestrated. Praise the Lord!

“Our God, from your sacred home you take care of orphans and protect widows. You find families for those who are lonely.” Psalm 68:5-6a

About 1 hour after writing the above portion of this entry Wesley shares something with me that was in his English segment for home schooling. It reads:

When we say “A rose by any other name will smell as sweet”, we are saying that something will still be the same even if we give them a different name.

WOW!!!

God leads and confirms His will for our lives through prayer, reading Hid word, circumstances and council from others. The story that Wesley shared is certainly an example of confirmation through circumstances! Confirmation for both him and us!

JEHOVAH-RAAH- The Lord Leads

Yesterday was a great day spent meeting our Compassion Canada child. During our time with our guide we shared with him our new daughter’s name, Sitina. We have mentioned to several people in passing but not many people know it although our close circle is mainly Christian.  During the visit we asked him if he was familiar with the name. We chose the name Sitina because it was Ethiopian and we really liked the meaning; to be united by love. Our guide shared it with the compound worker as well and they informed us the name Sitina is only used my Muslims in Ethiopia. We had no idea... He actually asked us if the name is permanent or if we could change it... What??? Change her name??? Are you serious???  We then sent him on a mission to find out if the name was indeed only used my Muslims. After several candid interviews with random muslim people on the street we came to the conclusion that SItina is in fact a muslim name in Ethiopia. Obviously we knew nothing about this prior to today. Gary and I were sick. We knew her as Sitina since our referral. To change her name now seemed unbelievable. We just couldn’t imagine. While spending the day with our guide we considered many different Ethiopian girl names. You may ask, “why does it even matter?” There are several reasons:

1. We choose an Ethiopian name to honor our daughter’s heritage. 
2. Her birth mother is Protestant.
3. We are obviously Protestant.
4. Even though in Canada it may not matter, in Ethiopia, it does.
5. For us, we never know where the Lord may lead and we don’t want our daughter to have a muslim name and come from a Christian family. 
6. Because God cares about her name.

We considered many names and their meanings. Gary asked our guide if there was a name that sounded like Sitina. He suggested Sitota. That sounded nice... it means “gift”. How appropriate. We have said many times she is gift from God for our family. This might be it... So we went home with our heads hung low. We could not believe we were actually considering changing her name. I talked to my mother about the possibility which was a further confirmation. We talked to the GH family and they were so happy that we were considering changing her name to Sitota. “That is a good name they said, a very good name”. We went to bed last night with almost full intentions to change her name to Sitota. We woke this morning with a different attitude. She is Sitina to us... how could we change her name? God knows we didn’t choose a Muslim name on purpose. He understands... We were trying to rationalize it. 

I went down to do some laundry and Gary stayed up with the baby. His heart was so heavy. He took her in his arms, laid down on the bed with her and placed his hands on her to pray for the Lord’s leading. “God would you please direct? Does it really matter? Help us to know.”  After praying he took his Bible to read. He turned first to Ephesians. That wasn’t where he felt led to read. His Bible reading plan was set for 2 Samuel but he decided to go and read  where he typically does when he doesn’t have a particular place in mind. What day was this? The 22nd. He turned to Proverbs 22 because is was the 22nd day of the month. Verse one reads “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches”. WHAT??? Yes. That’s right. God cares about her name. Gary shared with me what he had read with tears in his eyes. How personal our Lord is. He cares about our daughter’s name. At that moment, full of thankfulness we unanimously choose the name Sitota for our sweet precious baby. We honestly feel that the Lord chose her name. We never heard of it before yesterday. Our guide suggested it to us. Our guesthouse family confirmed it was a “good name” and our Lord made the decision. ALL PRAISE AND GLORY TO GOD!

Compassion Canada

PIck-up was at 9:00am. The drive to the compound was pretty uneventful.  Compassion Canada works with local churches to support about 85,000 children in Ethiopia. That number is just staggering.  We pull up to the gate and the driver beeps. This is normal here. It lets the people know that someone is there. They open the gate and we drive in. They introduce the staff for Compassion and we sit in a tiny room and wait. Then all of a sudden, Meron, our sweet tiny sponsor child comes in to greet us. She is very small for 8 years old. We
recognized her right away from her photos. I see a woman standing outside the door. I ask who she is... She is Meron’s mother along with her two younger brothers. They are 4 and 10 months. What sweet little children. Right away I felt a connection with her mother. We arranged to visit her home but before we went we knew we wanted to purchase some items for the family to help out. Our guide and Meron’s worker
came with us to assist in our purchases. For under $100 CAN we were able to bless this family greatly by the grace of God. Many spices, teff flour to make ingera, lentils, soap, oil, bathing items and so on. This was enough for at least 2-3 months. The mother was overjoyed. We made sure to tell her that it is not us who blesses, but God through us. She was so thankful. She served us coffee (some of the best in Ethiopia BTW) and some fresh popped popcorn. This is customary for an Ethiopian coffee ceremony. She very kindly gave us some pictures as a gift of Meron’s kindergarten graduation and a family photo. She also made sure to show us a collection of photos that we have sent to Meron over the years . The stuff we do send really makes it here! Her home was only about 6’ x 14’. This consisted of a bed which the mother shared with three children and some floor space. There were no windows and in order to access the home you had to walk through a lounge type area. The outdoor area was about the same size as the home but it was shared with two other houses. Unbelievable! The home is a mud house with one light bulb and no windows. The rent per months is 15 Birr/ .90 cents. Yes .90 cents. Oh! How we complain. How unthankful we are! How we want this and that and never are satisfied with the Lord’s blessings! May I be more thankful. May I find reason to praise the Lord if I live in a shelter that size. What is wrong with me when I become discontent??? Shame on me...

 Lounge / Local bar that leads to Meron's house.

Our guide for the day ... a previous Compassion Canada child.