Back in Addis

I tried the internet café down the street. Located in a short shipping container, it had two old computers and a baud width of 31.2 kbps. Enough to really test my patience, which, though it has increased dramatically since leaving the States, was not enough to handle the two-minute waits between button pushes. I finally got my own computer screen to turn on, so I am going to see how long it takes before my mouse freezes up. Hopefully a long time.

I had the weirdest reverse culture shock driving into Addis. After only 10 days down South, I was blown away by the money here, and even more by the availability of food. The fruit stands filled with normal size, plump tomatoes, potatoes and even beans.

At a coffee shop chain started by a young woman and patterned after Starbucks, called Kaldi’s, I saw numerous Chinese people, kids sporting ipods, and well dressed business typing away people on laptops. I also had one of the best cappuccinos of my life. The foam was covered exactly in half with a thick coat of powdered cocoa. I was glad to hear that the coffee shop chain was not owned by the Saudi sheik that seems to own everything else here, the Sheraton, the malls, Home Depot and pretty much anything else that is new and big. He is also building a glass-fronted hotel in Soddo, and I imagine may be helping to build the big mosque there as well. It is he that is mentioned in the articles about Starbucks not paying the coffee pickers a living wage. He owns the farms.



I’ve been thinking a lot about living wages. David and I have this discussion often. On one hand, if you are making $1 a day and before you were making nothing, then your life is improved. But, how can one live on a dollar a day, and how did the person now making $1 live before that income? When doing research on the parents of adopted children of my friends, I found that a number of the birth moms made between 30 and 50 birr a month ($2.50 to $4.50 a month) making injera for a living. Injera is the local bread, made entirely of fermented teff flour and water, usually cooked on a clay plate over a hot fire made in a small hole in the ground. It is similar in look to a large pancake, but grey, with more air pockets. Teff looks like long grass and has tiny black seeds, which may be ground into flour. It grows in the higher regions.

So, here are women with at least two children making $3 a month. I asked five different people what it cost to feed a family of four. The answers I got ranged from 10 birr ($1.10) to 25 birr ($3.00) a day, if the family does not eat meat or much fruit. I spent that range on each meal I purchased just for myself. For a meal of injera and goat meat pieces, it cost 20 birr in the hospital cafeteria. The cheapest thing on the menu was 8 birr. The really cheap food is false banana, and if you see them growing, you are almost guaranteed to find a round house next to them. Inset, or false banana, is made from the stalks of trees that look like banana trees, but bear no fruit. Tastes pretty much like stalk, with basically no nutritional value.

Most poor people drink ½ a cup of water per day, which Dr. Ruth says accounts for many of their health problems. I learned that here, when you are dehydrated, you no longer feel thirst. It happened to me a few times, crept up on me, when out walking for a few hours, I felt weaker and weaker until I got home and forced myself to drink. Only after about two glasses did I again feel thirst.

My daughter’s birth mom lives in a government rent controlled mud hut. It is one room, with a door and a wooden cover for the single window. The room is as wide as the length of her bed, but not big enough to fit my king size bed. It is 25 birr a month to rent. She has a 25 watt light bulb on a wire. No running water, no bathroom, mud floor and walls.

Surgery

Today I decided to video tape some surgery. It was one that is familiar to our family, a rod into a femur. The surgeons used different equipment than what is available in the States, and putting in the rod looked quite challenging and appeared to take both strength and finesse on the part of the surgeons. Fascinated by the process, I barely noticed that the patient had her face fully uncovered - no mask - until she looked over at me and smiled.

compare this to my surgery:
here

Blessed Nation?

In Psalms 37:25, it is recorded that David, the King of Israel said, I was young, and now I'm old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken, or their children begging bread.

I've always considered this scripture a promise rather than a statement of someones observation. The other night Stephanie told me about a father who brought four of his kids to the orphanage. All were very hard of hearing or completely deaf. The oldest were in their late teens, so adoption really was not plausible. The family was obviously close to one another and to the Lord. But, the father was worried about his kids, who were ostrasized and abused in their village. He wanted more for them. They had managed as a family to send two of the children to a deaf school, and these two kids had taught the others sign language.

I thought about it long after she told me the story and this scripture came to mind. The next day, we went to visit Dr. Mary. I mentioned the scripture to her and she said fiercely, that verse should not be in the Bible. That, or it is just David's observation. It is simply not true.

Then she described the story of a poor, Christian mother. There are thousands here like her. She lives in a dirt hut where the roof leaks. The floor becomes mud in the rainy season, and she has no furniture. So, she spends the nights holding her children up, out of the water. In the morning, she is soaked to the core, muddy and very cold. But, she has no change of clothing, so to wash herself, she must go the fridgid river waters and wash her clothing while she wears it. Then, she must go, wet, and search for work to order to buy flour. Then she must find wood and light it in the rain to bake bread her food for her family. She is not dry or warm for months.

I have grown up hearing that the United States is blessed because in our early roots, we are a Christian nation. Ethiopia's roots are the same, only older. From Jewish to Christian, this is a country founded on faith in God. So, why is she not blessed the way we are blessed? I question now, is blessing equal to financial success? Are we somehow better than the people here so God chooses to give to us?


Often when I walk here, I think it must be so much like walking in the context of Biblical times. The culture is emotional, and respect for proper heirarchy considered very important. I can imagine two women fighting over a child, and one woman agreeing the child should be split. I can see why goats and sheep need to be separated, because they look alike. I can picture shaking the dust of a town from your feet, or washing someone's feet out of love for them.

"Cry out to Me and I will answer" says God in another scripture.

My young translator told me a story from his youth. "I was on my own from the time I was six years old because my parents did not have enough food. I had some torn clothes, and I was embarrassed because they did not cover me. One day I was so cold becuase of the rain, I said, God, please help me find some clothes. I had the feeling to walk straight down this road. A man came out of his house and said to me, "you look cold. Please, go down to the building on this street, they are giving clothes." God provided for me clothes that day."

Wolaita, Ethiopia: 10/25/07

Ruth and I are sitting in her kitchen enjoying the music Shelley sent to us. There is so much to share about today that I don’t think it is possible to get it all said. We stayed up late, late last night talking about everything, then got up early to drive 1.5 hours with Dr. Mary to a Wolaittan village called Gadalla, where she practices medicine every other Thursday. It is like a county seat, but for a smaller area.

On the drive in, we saw a donkey cart carrying a pallet with a sick woman on it. Children chased us yelling “Mary, Mary.” When we arrived, we found the sick lined up outside the clinic. The first ones on homemade stretchers and the others sitting or standing in line. We handed out cards to those in line, which guaranteed they would be seen. Those who were late must return in two weeks. People traveled for hours and even days to get to the clinic.

The government buildings are constructed primarily of mud mixed with dried grass and are quite dark inside. I had to use my flash, which gives the photos a look that is not really accurate.

We set up in an empty room that is the clinic. Someone brought in a bench, two chairs and a small table, which later in the day became the pharmacy. We left all but one window closed to protect the medicines and food we brought, and make a place to get away from the people for a break once during the day.

Patients were seen outside by Dr. Ruth, who made notes on scraps of paper until the paper ran out, then used her hand. They really need packs of post-its or small pads of paper to write prescriptions on. Helping her was Sebastian, a German medical student and two boy translators, who are in a school Mary runs where they learn English. Also helping was a man that I suspect Dr. Mary hired because he is older and has trouble finding work. He carried the scale, and acted as sort of a guard; sometimes chasing people back with a switch he made from a corn stalk.

I took photos while holding the baby, but I will get to that later.

Cases that needed a second opinion were sent over to Dr. Mary and her young translator in the clinic. Dr. Mary speaks Wolaittan, and it appeared the boy would clarify, or translate into Amharic when needed. Dr. Mary saw these patients, organized medicines and handed out food to those in her food program.

Next to this place was another small building that serves as a school. The children bring small stools or sit on the dirt. There is a chalkboard with the English alphabet on it. Wolaitan language uses the same letters we do, but the vowels are pronounced like they are in Spanish. When we arrived, sixty or so children were crammed into the room, doing lessons by chanting. I think the noise made it difficult for Mary, so it was good when they finished. Dr. Ruth also had challenges hearing the people outside because there were so many people gathering and talking around her. She often had to ask people to be quiet. Each time, some people would take it upon themselves to police the others. Men would smack the women, talking or not, who would in turn slap the kids. Five minutes later it would be noisy again. Relentless flies buzzing, kids playing on the donkey carts, cattle munching the banana leaves behind the clinic and donkeys yelling at each created a distinctly soundscape unlike any I’ve heard in South Carolina.


I’m trying to think of words to describe the problems we saw, but the words like “heart-wrenching” have been so overused, they don’t touch what we all felt. Here are some snippets of the conversations.

Ruth, “how often does he get to eat meat?”
“once, maybe twice a year.”
“any papayas or mangos, or vegetables?”
“no, just corn or bread or fake banana”
“well, with his condition, he needs some vitamins or he will go blind. Is it possible for him to buy some fruits and eat them on a regular basis?”

Ruth, “how long has she looked like this?”
This was about a woman who looked like she was nine months pregnant with twins.
“Ten months. She had a baby, but no blood came, then she swelled up like this.”
“The baby was born and looked normal?”
“yes.”
“did the baby live?”
“no”
“I will get a can, will you see if you can get her to urinate in it?”
Six people carry her stretcher behind the clinic and come back with the can.

There is no privacy. People gather all around the person being examined and watch everything. Maybe this is good as they may learn some methods of healing and prevention. One woman pulled her shirt aside to show me her breast. Most of it was gone and the remainder looked as if it had been horribly burned and blistered. At first glance Mary said cancer, then they made more observations and diagnosed her with localized TB in the breast.

Diagnoses in the field must be made without lab work, by observation and conferring with each other and medical books. Sometimes the people need to go to the hospital. If the case is dire, and Ruth refers them, they can be seen using the benevolent fund.

Ruth, “she needs surgery for this hernia, do you have bus money to get her to Soddo Christian Hospital?”
“no.”
“okay, well, she can wear a scarf tied tightly around it, then, when the pain gets very bad, which may take some time, you must try and find a way for her to come have surgery.”

To a girl, who for over one year had one eye horribly swollen and protruding from her face, “I will give you this card, and you go to the hospital with it, and they will see you.”

One boy we took home with us. He is ten, and had trouble breathing. He was bone thin and the skin sucked in and out of his lower ribs when he wheezed.
Ruth, “how long has he been breathing like this?”
“two years now”
“and what color is his spit?”
“it comes out with pus and is yellow.”
One look at his father’s ragged clothing and lack of shoes and I can see why they put off the trek to the doctor. I wonder what it cost them to not work for a day? I saw not one of the patients or family members eat or drink all day. They decided it was TB, confirmed on an x-ray even I could read when we got home to the hospital. Sweet boy was scared. I think he had never seen a “city” before. He liked my camera, though. We bought him a soda and gave him shoes and a shirt and will check on him again tomorrow. He is on oxygen and has an IV. I can’t imagine what he is feeling.

Dr. Ruth and Dr. Mary are amazing people. Dr. Ruth is in her element in this situation. Each person she meets must feel they are the most valuable person on earth when she talks with them in her sweet voice. Though outwardly calm, I can see her mental gears running hyper speed while she diagnoses, then tries to figure out what her patients have the means to do that will help. I saw her do this in the Dominican Republic, dispensing orders like these for diabetes, “if you can, you must try to drink three glasses of pure water each day,” and, “if I give you shoes, will you keep them on always and protect your toes?”

Mary’s love for the people is more evident in the many things she thinks to do to help them. She spends so much of her own money, I don’t know how she manages. One of the many things she does is make up vitamin packs. Each day’s dose is wrapped in a triangle of newsprint. The pack contains a malaria preventative, folic acid and vitamin b. She started just with the women, and found that men also really thrived on the folic acid/b combination.

She also had large milk cans filled with homemade Bisquick that she distributes to families that are malnourished. It can be mixed with water and baked traditionally to make nutritious bread and contains protein powder, and milk solids along with other vitamin enriched flours.

Today was the first time Sebastian had seen rural medicine in an area of extreme poverty. I felt for him. He is young, and I’m sure what he saw today will stay with him for a lifetime. He was very tired when we got home – I think emotionally. He did a wonderful job, too. In Germany, he was able to attend med school for around $800 a semester because it is governmentally subsidized (and, interestingly, there are no entrance exams), and he will have a job after taking this time off to do this work. His girlfriend is in Ghana working in an orphanage while he is here. She contracted a bad strain of malaria her first week and used up all her malaria meds treating it, so he is worried about her.

After they finished seeing all the patients, the people lined up to get their medicines at the makeshift pharmacy. Dr. Mary charges them a very small fee, which I think is a good idea because it maintains the value of her service.

My friend in Ethiopia's newsletter

This is the doctor I'm going to stay with in Ethiopia. We met there in January of 06, and since then she visited me once here - we drove to Washington and NYC for a three day whirlwind tour, and we met in the Dominican Republic for a week, too. She is an amazing woman. I don't have all the photos, unfortunately.



Ruth's Report

Newsletter 2 June 2007

Early in the morning of the 19th of May, I arrived at Bole Airport, Addis Abeba. After a stay with friends, Co and Marja Tollenaar, who are also serving through Witte Velden Foundation, I traveled to Soddo on the 30th of May. Thanks to Co and Marja, my time in Addis was very productive. I managed to arrange the necessary practicalities as registration at the Dutch Embassy, an Ethiopian driving license, an internet connection and shopping.

Soddo is situated in the Great Rift Valley, a 6.5 hours drive south of Addis Abeba. Soddo is said to have 70.000 inhabitants. I live on the hospital compound at the edge of town. From the veranda there is a view to distant lake Abaya.

I have by now got used to power cuts and water shortage, Kebede (a boy who works in the compound and does the shopping), the guards who greet me and switch on the lights at night, the sound of crickets, the market place with mud, cows and goats and little children calling "ferenchiâ". That means white one. My neighbours and I are the only whites around.

With medical students from washington and neigbour.

Arrival in Ethiopia
Soddo Christian Hospital

Caused by the increasing inflation the number of poor people is on the rise. The local wheat is called tef, which is used to prepare the local staple injera. A kilo of tef now costs 5 Birr (50 eurocents). An average family needs 40 kilos of tef a month. That is 200 Birr per month for food only. The average income is 320 Birr.

Soddo Christian Hospital
I'e been working in the hospital for a couple of weeks now. The hospital has an operation section with four Ethiopian assistant-doctors, two Ethiopian surgeons and an American medical director. Then there is the clinic, first aid, children and internal section which is run by three Ethiopian doctors. I'm the fourth doctor and also work in the clinic, first aid, children and internal section. An Ethiopian doctor and me are heading this part of the hospital.

There is a room available for me to see patients. Fortunately a translator was found to assist me, because sometimes patients speak a language that none here can understand. Apart from Amharic (the national language) there are ten other languages.

Many diseases are poverty and hygiene related. There is malaria, tuberculosis, vitamine deficiencies, malnutrition, intestine and eye infections and HIV.

On of the things I am going to pay attention to is the children's section.

We have nine beds, which are however rarely occupied.

Sometimes small babies are discharged too early. This week professor Glenn Geelhoed and 15 medical students from Washington University visited, and he advised me on this issue.

Malaria in Gadalla.

One day a week I go to see patients together with Mary, a doctor specialized in tropical diseases. She has been working in Soddo for 11 years. The clinic is in Gadalla, west of Soddo. Part of the road is tarmac, but rest is in such poor condition that it takes 1.5 - 2 hours to cover 50 km. The rainy season is setting in and we had already postponed our visit for one day because of heavy rains. The road can become impassable.

At the clinic the patients are waiting. There was a little boy, last in line, with eyes showing yellow (caused by malaria), sick, barefoot in mud like many others, torn trousers and no shirt. I gave him recipe for medicin. When I came back he was standing against the wall, crying. I asked him what was the matter and he opened his hand, showing two wrinkled notes of 1 Birr. He couldn't afford the medicine, costing 6 Birr (60 eurocents)! it was so sad. We gave him food, clothes and the medicine.

Heading back the road appeared to be so slippery that the Toyota four wheel drive was skidding even in low gear. Because the area is part of the Rift Valley, it is not level. For the first time I was a little bit scared.

Prayer issues:
I thank God for:
financial means, the help and friendship of Co and Marja;
safety and protection, also on the road;
support in many ways from the church in Winterswijk, my home Baptist's community in Arnhem Zuid, family and friends.
Please pray for:
the new day clinic 2.5 hours drive north-east of Soddo. Most of this area is Islamic. Mary had been asked for this clinic before. We hope to pay our first visit on June 25th;
wisdom and understanding for the hospital staff and me.
the women's bible study group which I've been asked to carry on with;
safety and protection.


Psalm 18: 31 For who is God except the LORD? And who is a rock besides our God?-

clinic
Soddo Christian Hospital,
Po Box 305, Soddo Wolaitta, Africa

Ruth.Droppers@Gmail.com
Voor giften:
Stg Witte Velden,
Postgiro 1485137
ovv Ruth Droppers
stgwittevelden75@chello.nl
Thuisfront: Esther Droppers, estherdroppers@hotmail.com
Ruth Droppers Serving in Health Care in Ethiopia Voor giften:
Isaiah 55:5 because of the LORD your God,
the Holy One of Israel

Ruth’s Report

Newsletter 3 – September 2007

Often during lunch and supper hours there were no employees.

Sometimes it happened that the emergency department nurse slept during the night in a different room. Which meant that at that time there was no emergency care for the patient.

I try to understand the background of the culture.

It touches me every time how late patients come in to the hospital. To travel 140 miles with a broken arm or 2 days on a donkey with a delivery is no exception.

The disease is prolonged at that stage and the patients are very sick. We also see the damaging effect of the treatment of the local witch doctors.

It happens often that family has no money to pay a whole treatment. The hospital therefore has a benevolent fund. In the committee who checks the requests sits also a Ethopian head nurse and pastor. For me, I see that I have no insite in it, cause how can I distinguish between very poor and a little bit more poor.

The hospital- Soddo Christian Hospital

In the past period we were able to improve the care on the pediatric- and medical ward. Nurses now lay clean sheets on the beds before the doctors round. They measure bloodpressures and write down the temperature as well the used medicines on the chart. As you can see in the pictures below the family members take care for their sick relative. They are in the hospital during the day and the night.

Every day we see in the clinic around 60 patients.

Last month one the general doctors left the team because he started his surgical training. We hope that next month there will be replacement.

Every week we have our own medical meeting in which we talk about diseases.

Together with the other head physician we stressed the importance of a laboratory and rontgen department which are open 24/7 and it seems that it really is working now.

There is 1 doctor to 35.000 people in Ethiopia. In the Netherlands there is 1 doctor to 305 people. They say that Ethiopia has 2000 general doctors. 1000 general doctors work in the bigger cities. Soddo is not a big city.

At the clinic pediatric ward with Korean people and neighbours

Care for twins

In the week when the second newsletter went out, I went with Mary, an American tropical specialist, to the clinic. A mother came walking in to the clinic with her malnourished twins. Their names where Amanuel and Abanezer . They were 2 months old and weight only 2,5 kg. After the delivery the mother was to weak and the babies where given away to family members, with as result that when they returned, the mother had no breastmilk any more. In that area were no wetnurses: mothers who want to breastfeed a second child. There is no clean water. There is no babyfood and when it would be there it would be to expensive. Mary had no place for shelter. What to do? We could not let them die¦.. I decided to take them in with the agreement that they would go back to the parents when they were strong enough. Very soon I had the first necessary baby materials through neighbours, family and friends. And I got help from a short-term American student Ariel who lived a month in my house and helped. And the help of Almaz, an older Ethiopian woman who took care of them from Monday till Friday from 8 am-6pm. In the beginning they lay together in a plastic washing tub and we fed them almost continuously. It the weeks after that grew and started to laugh.

Now three weeks ago, when they weighed 5 kg, they went back to their parents. For me it was nog easy cause I grew attached to them.

We gave the parents baby food, clothes, bottles and dipers and money for the bus to come back to Soddo and get babyfood every week.

Despite this support the parents told us repeatly that they could not take care of the babies; the father has no income and there are also two other children in the family. Recently a son of them passed away.

The parents have decided to give them up for adoption. The twins are now in an orphanage and they are doing good.

The twins at arrival and in week 7
manuel en Abanezer bij aankomst, 3 weken 7 weken

Matthew 25:35

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing.

I would like to thank family and friends for the materials and emails you sent. Often they came at exactly the right moment. I try to answer as quick as possible, but sometimes it can take a while.

I thank the Lord God for:

Safety and protection.
The sent babymaterials trough friends and family.
A work- and Residence permit; the womens Biblestudy group.
Rest in busy times.
Prayer I aks for:

The coming time when I, together with and olders short-term couple, will be alone on the compound. The neighbours and the medical director are for a short period in the States and South-Africa.
The hospital, when we think of expanding the clinic and pharmacy, because the current building is getting to crowded.

If you wish to help Ruth and her work, you can send her a donation (a check from an American bank is fine, there is just no tax deduction here:
Stichting Witte Velden te Hilversum
Postbanknumber 1485137
Netherlands
IBAN: NL 41 PSTB 0001 4851 37
BIC: PSTBNL21
mention her name: for Ruth Droppers

Email of the foundation is: stgwittevelden75@chello.nl
Email of contact person in Netherlands: estherdroppers@hotmail.com

preparing to go

David and I always complain about leaving.
We despise the insanity of trying to get all our work done,
clients happy,
house ready,
bags packed,
lists checked,
forgotten items overnighted,
contact info sheets drawn up . . . and these are the items under the first 100 on my list! Monday, Ethiopia. Three weeks this time. The longest I've left Alden, and I have to say I'm concerned about his reaction to it. I hope I can email often. Connection speeds, or lack thereof, make Skyping a joke.

Right now I should be sleeping, but I'm downloading the audio book, "a thousand splendid suns." I want to listen to it on the trip home if I can figure out how to make this ipod thing Rod gave me work. It will save me space. I have another book, "oracle bones" that I've been saving. It will last me to Ethiopia, then I can give it to Dr. Ruth. I also have a few devotional books, and a couple kids books and a trade mag if I can fit them in.

The carryons are the hardest - I must include everything to make the shoot happen in the likely event that luggage won't arrive. Camera, back up camera. Lenses - long, wide, medium, memory cards - I ordered more today, hope they make it in time - tape stock, video camera(s), mics, cables, chargers for all gear, extra long life batteries, flash for camera, extra AA batteries, fan to run with 220 converter so I don't fry chargers, computer with power supply, blank disks, change of clothing, reading material, medicines, toothbrush. Wear the shoes I can go into the bush with, even though they are annoying in security. Full size pillow. Well hidden crisp $20 bills. Water bottle - empty so I won't be suspected of carrying waterborne explosives. Sunglasses. locks and steel cable, large scarf to use as hood and protection against nasty airline seat or as blanket if flight is delayed. change of socks. Passport. Blow up 3/4 camping air matt. travel alarm clock. I once spent 8 hours sleeping in Curacao while my friends fidgeted in their uncomfortable seats. They made fun of me, lying on my camping mattress covered with my scarf - but I was sleeping and I didn't care - my alarm was set, I could relax. Wish it was that easy at home with kids!

My trips through security are a nightmare. I pity the people behind me. Video camera? yes, at least one. Computer, yes. shoes, yes. bag of liquids? yes. search? yes. Do my carry ons weigh 45 pounds each? yes.

Lovely Zion

Zion was the flower girl in a wedding today for Camille, the college student who used to baby sit her a lot. She did really well going down the aisle and for a few minutes up front. I was proud of her, and she looked very elegant in her Ethiopian clothes.

It was a lovely service and I thought it was very cute that Camille's dad scribbled this line on his hand "her mother and I"

SC Heart Gallery

I shot photos for the SC Heart Gallery the other day, and tonight I worked on them in Photoshop. I'm done, and I can't seem to stop crying. It is a wonderful idea, taking photos of children who want to be in a family. As the photographers, we try to capture the essense of the child in a single black and white photo. The hope is that someone will see the photo in one of the Heart Center galleries or on line and will be able to imagine that child in his or her life.

There were 44 kids at the shoot. Forty-four local children who wanted to have a mommy and/or daddy enough that they risked spending the day with perfect strangers, smiling brightly and posing in hopes that eventually someone would pick them.

I wonder what they thought about on the ride over to the photo shoot. And, that night in bed before sleeping? Did they imagine a couple looking at their photo and saying to themselves, "oh, that boy is for us! He looks so smart and caring and I bet he would enjoy camping with us, too." Or, did they try to forget the possible meaning of the day and concentrate on something else?

This was not the first time for most of the children. I photographed a boy of thirteen, a girl who is fourteen, a boy around twelve and two young (and very energetic) boys. The two eldest stole my heart. What chances do they have of being adopted at this time in their lives?

I looked up an older child on line on the SC waiting child list and sent in an inquiry. How hard is it to adopt an older child? The response I got was curt - unbelievable, really, when you consider what is at stake. Some following up on my part revealed that it is not difficult to adopt locally, and it is next to free when compared with international adoption. And, the child has medical insurance even after she or he is adopted and often there is a monthly stipend to help the family afford another child - all the way through college. You can even foster first, to make sure the child fits within your family.

It seems doable. I will have to find out more. The thought of those precious kids I met going on their first date, learning to drive, picking a major in college, dealing with a mean boss - all without a mom or dad - it just rips me apart.

Photos in the Fair

David won something. We don't know what it is. David is cautioning me, "Maybe you should wait and see what I won. Maybe I got the "what rednecks think this is art" award!
I don't care. I'm proud of him.

I don't have to update

Because my friend Laura talked about our weekend on her blog. Cool. http://nosmallfeat.typepad.com/no_small_feat/2007/09/get-your-motor-.html

Photos for the Fair

I had no idea which photo to enter in the fair, and we had decided we would NOT miss it again this year. So, after a call from David telling me he was pre-registering us, I made up a few titles and am now looking around trying to find shots that will go with them. This one from India was one I remembered liking. The other one has a title called Boat, I think, or China. I'm having more trouble with that one because the shots I like won't crop to the size my printer will print. Of course, the deadline is tomorrow.

I guess this one won't fit either category. One of David's Fair pics is from a one room school in Jarabacoa, DR, so I thought schools were a nice theme. This one is in Kenya. Instead, I ended up printing a boat shot from China. It is in the China blog below. It's okay - I like the people working on the boat, but I am much happier with the Indian tailors. The other is too pastoral, too calm. We'll see what the judges think. They have never liked my work before, so I am not expecting much.

David in the Dominican Republic

Yes, David is out of the country, preparing for the TEARS board meeting. It is a grueling task, as you can see.

the Shoot

So, the big shoot is over. Whew. I just finished getting the living room looking good and David hung a swing for the kids. I had this vision of a cable and ring hanging from the ceiling that I could clip the swing to when they wanted to use it. But, instead, I look over my computer at this:
I must say, beautiful it is not. But, the kids like it. So far today, they have baked a cake, planted a plant, played in the sprinkers, done gymnastics on the beam using all the pillows in the house, played with playdoh and watched a movie. And I had this fantasy of working on my client pitch for Wednesday on my "day off." Jennifer, from the DR, is staying here, and she and David are right now working on TEARS budget stuff. Sounds so fun, I decided to clean under Zion's bed instead of participating. You will be releived that I included no photos of THAT endeavor, though I will admit it took over an hour.The shoot was relaxed. Never before has that happened, so I keep waking at night with hand cluched to my heart in terror that something did go wrong, I just didn't know it. Here are some still grabs from it. The commercials were highly edifying - what to do if the pandemic influenza strikes (that is the flu, for us Southern folks). Talk about making you go home and hide under a clean bed!
Anyway, my friend Jennifer put Lydia up to going over to Wade, the director, and saying (loudly):
Mr. Director, are we all gonna die???It was funny. Then, Alden did this thing that left us puzzling. He grabbed my brother, who was there doing art direction, and literally dragged him up the studio stairs to the actor green room. The door was shut, but he threw it open without knocking and pulled my brother over to the sofa where the pretty Latina actor was sitting. He then sat down with my brother on the sofa, then jumped up, ran out and shut the door behind him. My shy brother was mortified and stuttered to the
actor that he had no idea why Alden had left them alone together and he would be going back to set now. Go figure. Either he thought the actor was lonely, or he realized my brother is the only adult in the family not yet paired up with anyone and thought he should help remedy the situation.

Child Labor

All is crazy at the house as we prepare to make television spots next week, advertising the merits of preparing for a pandemic influenza outbreak of all things. One scene takes place in an art class, so the kids were hard at work last night making their "shirts look like smocks" as Lydia said. This was an early photo. The wildness was just too much to photgraph later on. I hope they don't charge me overtime pay for the late hour.

Attempt at taking a family photo

It is almost midnight. In a few hours, I take the kids to school. It is Alden's first day at school in the States, and Sarah's first day in a public school. I'm exhausted thinking about getting kids to a school one hour before we normally wake up - FIVE days a week! Alden has to take a potted plant and a framed photo. Guess when that all started happening? Ten pm. I've repotted a plant we bought at IKEA near Washington DC this afternoon on the way home from Pennsylvania. And, we tried to get a photo with all of us in it last night at David's birthday party. Yes, as usual, Zion is wearing someone else's shoes - she does not have freakishly big feet, and yes, it was challenging to get them to stay in roughly one place and it is sort of in and out of focus as a result. I can't get the photo to print without stretching all of us, so David has decided it is fine, it makes us look skinny, so I'm going to bed. We actually planned to attempt a cool pose like this one on my friend Chris' blog www.ewingadventure.blogspot.com. HA!!

Ft Benning shoot

Tim, sound man extraordinaire, got some fun photos at our shoot in Ft. Benning with the ultimate fighter guy, Matt somebody, I can't remember his name, but he was nice and could really fight. They don't kid around with that stuff. My favorite part, though, was when the military guys were screaming at Matt and his brother Mark when they went though the obstacle course, "YOU ARE THE WEAKEST LINK!!!!"

Nightly Rituals

Every night, Sarah, Alden and Dad play Trouble. Some nights, Sarah's friend Lydia joins in. And, on occasion, Mom will play a game. It is quite loud, competitive and intense, and does little to calm the kids down before bed. Gotta love it.

EdVenture with Energy

So, everyone is asking why I'm not updating my blog. The answer is that I have three kids now!
But, Saint Joanna is back and I quit my job, so my nose is barely above water. Alden - yes, Peng - now prefers his American name, likely due to the fact that we butchered his Chinese name, is doing very well. Today, Joanna took Zion and him to EdVenture Children's Museum, which is a fabulous place here in Columbia. I do not know how she handled the two of them for all those hours. Truly. Notice Zion's "on camera" face? This is not a photoshop trick!

The HK Mouse! (May 25, 2007)

Well it is our last night before heading back to The States. We had a great day at Disneyland Hong Kong capped off by the fireworks show viewed from the window of our room with TV music accompaniment. It would be foolish to try to describe Disneyland but we can say that Peng was pretty happy with the whole experience. After a simple kiddy ride, we started with a 3D movie with wind, rain and smell effects shot in our face during the show. It was spectacular even for us. Peng has probably never seen a movie in a theatre before so he was literally laughing, screaming and rolling on the floor at various points during the showing. His other favorite was the Buzz Lightyear laser-shooting ride which we did 3 times in a row (lines were almost non-existent all day). I am sure David's brother Craig would not have approved, (he is a pancake natzi and Disney nazi—long story) but we took a break for a couple hours in the middle of the day to come back to the pool at the hotel. It was about 100 degrees and 99 percent humidity.

Well packing and posting need to be done. We look very forward to arriving in Atlanta late tomorrow night and getting back into our own beds on Sunday!

100 Turnstiles! (Thursday May 24, 2007)

Today was another busy travel day. The only thing that made the day fun was that Frank and his daughter, Sarah, came from Hong Kong to spend the day with us. Today is a national holiday in Hong Kong because it is Buddha's birthday and all of the schools are closed. We ate some breakfast and packed our bags and headed off for a morning at the Guangzhou Zoo. This zoo was very nice in many ways, but disappointing in others. The grounds were large, beautiful and well kept. There is a big pond in the middle of the zoo with beautiful swans, ducks and huge pelicans all happily doing their bird things. The monkey hill was a great habitat, and Peng was especially thrilled with the elephant who was reaching over his fence to eat the tree right above him. The big cats and bears, however, were in very small cages and were often pacing back and forth. We were really looking forward to the Giant Panda, but there was just a single one sleeping and we could not get very close. Unlike the rare chance to see a Panda in the US, this was nothing special to these zoo-goers—just another bear cage. We ate a nice lunch at the zoo restaurant and headed back to the hotel.

Peng was really happy that Frank spoke Mandarin and it was really nice for us as well. One of Peng's first questions was, “why can you speak Mandarin, but my parents can't?” followed by “how do you know them?”and “how old are they?” Peng really seemed to get along well with Frank and Frank was really great (and patient) with Peng. At the zoo Peng would tell Frank that if two adjoining cages were together which animal would win the fight, for instance, he was sure the elephant would beat the tiger. Peng also really wanted to know what we were doing the next day and the day after that—he seemed a bit anxious about these upcoming days. We also got to ask a lot of questions translated by Frank, which was phenomenal. Peng was first told about him being adopted about 2 months ago when our final approval was issued. This is when he moved back to the orphanage from the foster family. He also told us that he had one more foster-sibling that we had previously known about and we learned some of his favorite foods. It was great to have a translator and friend for Peng for the day.

After the zoo the travel fun began. Frank took the two Sarahs on a little shopping excursion while Heidi, David and Peng checked out, took the bags on a bus and went to the Consulate to do the final procedures and pickup his Visa. This took a couple hours and after finishing that, our bus dropped us off at the train station nearby. We met Frank & Co. there and started the trek. First we took at train to the Hong Kong Border. It was a really nice modern train that moved along pretty fast—at one point topping 125 MPH. Frank had bought Peng a “Transformers” model and they worked together on it while we traveled. When we arrived at the border we had to exit the train system, go through exit immigration, Hong Kong entry immigration, Hong Kong Customs, and then onto the Hong Kong subway system train. All of this with three kids, 4 backpacks, and 6 other suitcases. We made it through (thanks Frank!) and stopped at the university where Frank works and met his wife and other daughter for an excellent Chinese dinner at a campus restaurant. After dinner, Frank graciously offered to drive us to our hotel instead of us getting back onto the subway even though it is very much in the wrong direction from his house and quite a distance away. We arrived at our hotel, which is the Hong Kong Disney Hollywood Hotel at about 9:30pm (sorry Mom that we missed our skype). The hotel is very nice and Zion would love it. Zion is a big Mickey Mouse fan, and of course there are ears on everything from the elevator doors to the shower curtains. She would be constantly pointing and shouting “Mickey Mouse”. It made us miss her more, just seeing the symbols all over.

Treasures! (Wednesday May 23, 2007)

Today was another another easy day for the adoption process. We simply had to be available when our guide took our paperwork to the US Consulate in case there were any problems with the forms. We got a call around noon that everything was fine and headed off toward a market that was on the outskirts of our little hotel map. The market was big, several square blocks of what we thought were dried foods, but after talking to someone later we learned much of it was actually a medicine market. We saw all sorts of dried creatures—snakes, frogs, toads, eels, etc. At one store you could buy bundles of straight dried centipedes, each about 7 inches long. They would hook about 25 of them together with plastic bag material for packaging.

Although we found this whole area amazing, we were also in search of some small gifts for some people and (except for maybe Steven and David) didn't think dried spiraled eels would be that appreciated, not to mention hard to get through customs. We asked several people where you could buy beaded bracelets by pointing at the ones they would be wearing. Everyone seemed to be pointing us in the same direction and we even got a cardboard note that we could show to people along the way for further pointing.

As we walked we passed the wine store with the dead animals in the jugs with the fermenting wine. We saw lots of snakes of different kinds just aging in the jug of wine This is apparently a tradition—the most famous of which is Three-Treasure-Wine. Legend has it that it is made with a Dragon, a Phoenix and Tiger, but since dragons are hard to get into fermenting barrels (as Dave Barry would say--”and I am not making this up”) they use a snake, a chicken and a cat. They actually put these dead animals in the barrel, fill it up with wine and let it sit for years and sell it as a delicacy. Heidi, being the wine taster of the family, decided to try it.

OR NOT.

Well on we went toward the jewelry place that everyone seemed to know about. We came out of the little street side shops and instantly we are in this huge, modern shopping street. There are Reebok stores, McDonalds, KFC, Electronics Dealers, huge advertising signs and a 40' wide video screen showing Western style content. It was like a small Times Square in the middle of the city. On the one side of this street was a mall and we decided to step inside. It was huge—6 stories tall with glass elevators and escalators going back and forth at several places along its length. Additionally more hallways led to more shops behind the ones facing the open atrium on each level. We estimated at least 300 stores—a huge mall. Not exactly what we were were looking for, but we found this bead shop on the second level and Heidi bought a few beads. We asked the shopkeeper where we could get bracelets and she tried to give us directions but finally said “follow me”. David decided to take a break from walking and get a drink at KFC—with the arrangement that Heidi and the kids would come there next.

The shopkeeper took Heidi through this back hallway to someplace where there were lots of beads and jewelry in every store. Heidi looked around and with so many beads in so many stores she decided that this was something David had to see and started back toward KFC. She couldn't find it—the mall was all there in all of its beaded size and glory but KFC was no longer on the second floor on the end. Finally she wrote down KFC on a paper for someone who sent her in the right direction, back to the first mall where the KFC is. Either it was some time-space-continuum-alternate-universe or there is a second identical size and shape mall, completely full of beads and jewelry. It is incredible.
300 stores of beads—a entire shop of blue beads, another of purple, and the next one half red and half yellow. Several more in a row of only green jade. One full store of just jewelry findings, more stores of just pearls. I think if I were reading this and had not seen it, I would be saying “right—the Sneaths had a bit too much Three-Treasure Wine” but it is there. All three hundred shops of roundish objects with a hole through the middle.

Well we found some nice things and headed back toward the hotel—stopping to buy a suitcase along the way. A large lightweight suitcase was about $12 and we always need big cases when we take stuff to the Dominican Republic so we got one. We stopped for spaghetti at a coffee shop and went back to the hotel, ending our last full day in China.