Journey to Ethiopia - Day Six

One year ago today: 

Monday, January 19, 2009

Monday morning we went for some much needed time with our baby S. We'd missed her so very much on Sunday, and it was good to see that she was happy, as usual, when we arrived. We shared lots of snuggles with her, and really treasured the time we were able to spend loving on the other kids. The toddlers were absolutely endearing with their laughing and playing, and the babies were all such sweet little things. There was one older boy with whom we spent a lot of time, and he was such a kind, smart little guy. We were thrilled to hear he was almost ready to come home to his family. He was a genius with our watches and cameras! One of the tiny babies came to the center extremely malnourished, just like our S. Any time R was not holding baby S, she was holding that sweet baby. We prayed a lot for her. We were not allowed to photograph any of the other children in the center, so that is why you can't see them here. But trust me, we will never forget their beautiful faces and smiling laughter. 

There is no way to express how loving the nannies are to the children. They love each and every one, and even in that exhausting environment of constant poopy diapers and runny noses and neediness, they are cheerful and affectionate to every single child. And they so enjoyed telling us about the kids' personalities. We are so thankful S was there in their care while she waited for us. They love her so very much.

When it was naptime for the children at the center, we kissed sweet baby S goodbye again. That was getting harder, and harder, and harder to do.

We were excited that we were going to get the chance to observe a special religious event known as Timkat. This is the Ethiopian Orthodox Church's celebration of the baptism of Jesus.

Dawit drove us to the heart of the city and parked the van where the streets were teeming with thousands of worshippers. The crowds had been building for days with folks walking to Addis from all over the countryside. We were caught up in the spectacle as we followed Dawit toward the main square passing thousands of celebrants as they returned from the center of the activity. This was a full-on street party bigger than anything that our homegrown Texas family had ever experienced! It looked bigger to us than Times Square on New Year's eve. There were street vendors selling food and shoe shines, all sorts of organizations with banners and posters, and, of course individual worshippers and church officials marching in groups behind the Tabot (a replica of the Ark of the Covenant).

Worshippers singing as they return from the festivities

Every now and then we passed severely disabled men, women and children dragging themselves through the streets or sitting in the gutter hoping to receive alms from the crowd. It was a heartbreaking thing to see, and Mike had to stop shooting video footage more than once to choke back tears. It brought to mind the many scenes described in the New Testament where Jesus came in contact with people in similar circumstances and healed them.

We pressed on to the main square where a re-enactment of Jesus' baptism was taking place - I think. I say, "I think," because we never made it quite that far. As the crowd tried to squeeze through a very narrow gate in a sheet metal fence, a surge of pushing and shoving separated our entire group! R and HA were with me and my parents, Mike and HW were stuck behind the gate with Dawit, and our travel buddies were somewhere ahead of us with the rest of the crowd.

Click on this photo to get a sense of the size of the crowd.

After many prayers and some vigorous crowd control by horse-mounted police officers, most of us managed to backtrack and retrace our steps. Our family regrouped, waiting in the van while Dawit went back for the rest of our group, and we were finally together again.

This young man spoke fluent English and was proud to show off his language skills.

Some curious young men that came to our van window while we waited for Dawit to find the rest of our group.

Ethiopia has more than 80 ethnic groups. Facial tatoos identify this woman as a member of the Amhara. 

Calling this experience a "celebration" doesn't do it justice. For Ethiopians, Timkat is a bigger deal than Christmas and Easter combined. The colorful pageantry, the throngs of fervent worshippers and the chance to be right there in the middle of it is something we will never forget as long as we live. With our journey barely halfway over, we wondered what the next day had in store for us.