We began the journey out of the Capital of Addis Ababa and on to Eli's native village and birthplace of Alabba early on Friday morning. We would then travel to Awassa, another larger city in Ethiopia. We would spend Friday, Saturday and Sunday visiting these areas.
Friday was incredibly emotional, just the car ride alone was intense. Here are some of the few images I managed to grab along the way.
It is hard to see a land with so much promise, devestated by so much poverty. The views there truly are breathtaking.
This is pretty normal to see out the window, little homes or shops that people build themselves out of literally whatever they can find.
If you think your job is hard, imagine doing this all day long.
I didn't take photographs of the heartbreaking poverty we witnessed during this trip out of respect for those who I would have been photographing. I did not think it would be appropriate to make them an image of poverty. I can tell you though that we saw children seemingly everywhere, barely clothed, most without shoes, many of them without pants or undergarments on. Some of them using rocks and sticks as toys, some playing in dirty sewer water hoping to find something worth eating or selling. I saw what seems like thousands of children over the course of the 5-hour trip just roaming around without a parent in sight. It is heartbreaking.
Although these sights are hard images to continually see and grasp and absorb, there is one thing that gives me comfort, the Ethiopian people know something we don't. They know how to love unconditionally, I think it's maybe because they have so little that they lean on others for comfort. They know things about loving others that I think we do not have the ability to understand in our culture.
From there we stopped for our first taste of Ethiopia's #1 export... their coffee! And I'm not normally a coffee drinker, but YUMMY is all I have to say!!!
I didn't take photographs of the heartbreaking poverty we witnessed during this trip out of respect for those who I would have been photographing. I did not think it would be appropriate to make them an image of poverty. I can tell you though that we saw children seemingly everywhere, barely clothed, most without shoes, many of them without pants or undergarments on. Some of them using rocks and sticks as toys, some playing in dirty sewer water hoping to find something worth eating or selling. I saw what seems like thousands of children over the course of the 5-hour trip just roaming around without a parent in sight. It is heartbreaking.
Although these sights are hard images to continually see and grasp and absorb, there is one thing that gives me comfort, the Ethiopian people know something we don't. They know how to love unconditionally, I think it's maybe because they have so little that they lean on others for comfort. They know things about loving others that I think we do not have the ability to understand in our culture.
From there we stopped for our first taste of Ethiopia's #1 export... their coffee! And I'm not normally a coffee drinker, but YUMMY is all I have to say!!!
After that, we drove awhile longer and we ended up making a stop and trying Ethiopian food for the first time. Again, I wish we loved it, but we do not. It is VERY spicey and the injera (the bread) is VERY sour! We just weren't into it. Now, if Eli likes it someday then of course we will do our best to accommodate, but whew, it's definitely only for those who like a some spice!
I will stop here because we will leave the rest of this day for Eli to tell you about if he chooses to someday. I will say that this was a day I will never forget, and it is etched in my heart forever. I would like to just take a moment here to thank his "Enat" for giving our Eli Akram the gift of life.
Day 3 tomorrow! :-)
