So, my attempt is going to be to share about the trip through pictures in phases. With all the pictures I have collected from mine and others there are probably over 2,000 and I have been trying to go through and pic my favorites and I really wanted them to be in order of how they happened:)
This first part is from our departure day and our first two days of the trip where we spent at the boarding school in Shashamene which is a 4 hour bus drive from Addis and Korah. We arrived at the guest house in Addis on Saturday night after about 24 hours of travel and got unpacked and organized to leave early the next morning for the boarding school. We got through customs at the airport without one bag being searched....a miracle!!! I think we had close to 70 bags with all of our carry-ons and our checked bags. After getting settled I think we got about 4 hours of sleep and then we had to be ready to load the vans. The ride to the boarding school was cool just because we got to see a lot of countryside and not just city living. Lots of huts and herds of cattle, goats, and even camels. We stopped at a little "cafe" for lack of a better word and some of our drivers got something to eat. Some of the team ordered coffee but it was black black black!!! I never really found out if anyone liked it:) It was here that I had to use my first squatty potty.
We made it to the boarding school and were greeted by all the kids. It was Sunday so they didn't have school. I was amazed at how well some of them spoke English. There are 250 kids that are sponsored by people in the US and for $35 (I think that was right) they live here and get an education and a bed to sleep in and meals!! These are 250 kids that just last year were living in the dump and scrounging for all they had every day. They were used to fighting each other and animals for their food. We got our clinic set up with 3 stations and a dental station. Our goal was to do a check up on any kids that needed it and we were trying to get profiles started on all of them. I am not sure how many kids we saw that day....maybe 150-175 and Dale the dentist with us pulled lots and lots of teeth. It was amazing to watch these kids get their mouth numbed and a tooth pulled and then walk away chewing the gum we had given them:) They loved having their picture taken too. Even if they didn't know much English they knew "name", "photo", "gum", "please", "one more".
The main things we treated for there were ear infections, fungus on skin and scalp, lice, and old sores that just needed cleaning. The school is a vegetarian school....they grow all they eat in their garden. So as a treat to the kids there our team purchased a cow and they had cooked it up for them. It smelled great....it was in large pots and they ate it with Injera (sp?) looks like a tortilla but doesn't taste like one. I cannot say I was brave enough to try the meal...actually no one was except Mardon and he didn't have much of a choice....sorry Mardon!! :) The rest of us played it safe with our protein bars and beef jerky.
At the end of this day we were beat from jet lag and travel and being so busy all day. We stayed at a hotel that night about 30 minutes away and returned the next morning to just hang out with the kids and tour the school. We gave all the students new shirts and a snack and a craft to do. The kids were very excited to show us their rooms and the gardens. We left there around 3 in the afternoon so that we could get back to Addis before dark....the drivers don't really like to drive it after dark. That night we went out to eat and we had pizza....that was pretty much the meal of choice pizza or pasta with marinara.
I think that covers the first few days and we got back to settle in and re-organize so we could start our 4 days of clinic in Korah. I hope the pictures I have included in this first album give you some kind of idea or what the first few days were like.
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