Bringing Home Abera by Michael: Tuesday - Embassy and Farewell Ceremony

Tuesday, August 30th

Michele and I woke up around 6AM to the sound of a dog barking outside.  It is something that you hear occasionally at night in Ethiopia and a couple of dogs lived somewhere close to our building.  We got up and enjoyed a tasty pancake breakfast.  Today is a big day, it is the one official act that we need to do while in Ethiopia; go the the US embassy, answer questions about the adoption, get approval and receive the paperwork to bring home Abera. 



Doing our best to look presentable for the Embassy




Michele and our friend Danielle prettied up pre-Embassy



The adoptive parents, all dressed up for our embassy appointment, piled into the van around 8:30.  We stopped at the guest house to pick up the kids and then drove on to the embassy.  This was the first time we were able to drive through the heart of the city in the middle of the day.  It seems 90% of the cars on the roads are taxi vans that are full of people.  I have no idea how their taxi system works but with how many people are in them, there certainly is a rhyme and reason.  Many of them seem to have two people working the taxi, a driver and a person standing up on the side of the van trying to get new riders.  The traffic was slow as the roads were very full.  There are numerous roundabouts at the major intersections, which makes for interesting and tight driving.  We had a great driver and he handled the traffic well.

As we neared the embassy, we saw a bunch of kids and adults selling flowers.  We soon saw why they were selling flowers, a large university was having a graduation and we saw all of the graduates standing outside in their cap and gowns.  It was a nice site to see with all of their smiling faces.

Right near the embassy there is a city park for kids that is about two city blocks long.  I remember seeing this park last time and what struck us then and again now is that no one is at this park.  This is by far the nicest park I have seen in the country and it is strange to see it so empty.  It is surrounded by fencing and there is a charge to enter it, but from what we have heard, it is not expensive.  But it must be expensive enough to keep most people out.  I think it is mainly used guest by foreigners and the upper class.  The grandparents who were staying in the guest house took their grand-daughter there while we were at the embassy and they only saw one other family at the park. 

We arrived at the embassy around 9:30.  The US embassy is a sight to see.  Driving around the city we were able to see a number embassies but none look like the fortress that is the US embassy.  The embassy looks like a bunker.  It provides a good perspective of how we have to protect ourselves in other countries and provides a reminder to what happened to the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in the recent past.  The group that we traveled with, during their first trip, had someone take a picture of the embassy as they drove past.  A car shot out of the embassy, tracked down the van and jumped into the van.  The embassy employee became more relaxed when he saw 12 American faces looking very scared.  They did take the person who took the picture back to the embassy, erased the pictured and proceeded to question them.  Certainly a memorable experience.   

We parked on the other side of the street, piled out of our van and worked to cross and enter the security area.  There were a number of kids, knowing that Americans show up in this area on a regular basis, were there trying to get some money from us.  Soon we were going through security and walked to a building where we meet with the embassy agent who approves the paperwork.  We sat in a waiting area on the first floor with other people who were at the embassy for immigration and other needs.  We were the only Americans in the waiting area.  We spread out in the waiting room and cared for our kids.  We were taken one by one for our meetings.  It seemed that we had to wait 30 minutes before the first family was called and a new family was called about twenty minutes.  There was a TV with armed forces programming and a play area for the kids.  So the name of the game was to sit, make small talk with the others and keep your kid happy.

We were the third family called and we walked up the stairs with our agency's lawyer, who stood next to us the entire time to make sure the proceeding went to plan.  The embassy lady was good looking, professional Caucasian American who was very kind to us.  We are separated by glass and had to speak though a microphone.  She first had to comment that she got a kick out of Abera's faces.  She pointed out the distinct different expressions that he had with his birth certificate, his social report and his passport picture.  She asked the standard questions and everything went to plan.  Our meeting was about five minutes and went smoothly.  She approved the paperwork and our agency lawyer took the paperwork.



First Mom and Son picture - Same spot as we took Handi's



Now with our official paperwork done, we were relieved and that made the waiting for the rest of the group easier.  We changed Abera's diaper, fed him and relaxed.  Finally, around 12:45, all the families had met with the representative and we left.  It was now raining and our van was on the other side of the street.  Some kids came out with umbrellas to help but I did not have any money on me to accept their help.  Once everyone was back in the van, we made our way back through traffic to the care center.  We dropped off the kids for one last time and drove back to the guest house for lunch.

We enjoyed a nice lunch, got our room ready and left to go back to the care center around 2:30 for the farewell ceremony.  The farewell ceremony is the unofficial transfer of the kids from the agency to the families.  We were brought to the big room in the downstairs for the ceremony.  The agency brought down the older kids (1-3 years old) who lived in the house for the cheering section for the ceremony.   

When the adoptive kids were carried down the stairs, the kid cheering section all started clapping in unison.  The kids were wearing traditional Ethiopian outfits and were carried by nannies who cared for them in the rooms that they have been living.  After all of the kids were downstairs, the lead social worker lead off the ceremony with a nice speech about how this is a sad and happy day for them.  Happy that the kids now have a new loving family and sad that they no longer get to care for these kids.  Then the kids are handed over one by one to their new parents.  There was one toddler in the group who lived with the other older kids who were the cheering section.  When they said her name, the kids went crazy.  It was really sweet how they celebrated for their friend. 

After the exchanges, we were asked to speak up and give any feedback that we wanted to provide.  Patrick spoke up and gave some nice comments about how thankful we were for how they cared for the kids.  After a group prayer, to remember the kids by, they called each family up one by one and put the kids handprints into a book.  We did this with Mehandis but it was put onto a wall.  Unlike Mehandis, Abera did great with this and his handprint was almost perfect (Mehandis had a smudge on the wall).  To close the ceremony, the staff brought out a huge cake and drinks.  During a bit of downtime, the cheering section of kids, broke out into song and dance.  They did a great job and it was really cute with one of the kids leading the song and dance. 

The party ended around 4:30 and we left the care center, this time with kids in tow for good.  Around 5:30, we had guests come to meet with us.  Our friends, Paul and Courtney, met a couple when they traveled to Ethiopia when they adopted their daughter.  This couple, Jerry and Cristy Shannon, also adopted a child.  The Shannon's, now a family of six with the oldest kid around 7, decided to move to Ethiopia and start a non-profit.  They had now been living in Addis Ababa for about seven months.  When Michele had traveled in July, she had spent some time with them when they met her at the hotel that she was staying at.  When they found out we were coming back, they asked if we would bring them some things.  Apparently it is expensive to send American products to Ethiopia.  So their parents sent us a box to bring along with us on our trip.  So we had a Rubbermaid box of stuff that weighed about 49 pounds, one pound less than the maximum for checked bags, that we brought along with us on our trip. 

The Shannon's arrived around 5:45 with their entire family.  They live on the other side of Addis Ababa and do not have a car, taking taxis and walking to get to us.  We brought them up to our room to talk and get to know each other.  They are still working on their Amharic and have been working to get integrated into society.  They do not yet have their plans for their specific non-profit but are getting close to finalizing their plans  We give them tons of credit for following their ambitions.  We had a great visit with them, they have wonderful kids and it was insightful to get perspective of living in Ethiopia from an American's perspective.  They stayed until around 7:30.

After they left, we ate a quick dinner from the kitchen (hamburger and fries) and put Abera down to bed for the first time  When he first put him down, he looked around his crib, crumbled up his forehead and started to cry.  I loved the fact that he took in the situation, realized he was not in a area he was used to, and started to cry.  After a couple of tries of putting him down, he settled in for the night.  We left some lights on and read in bed. 

As usual with the first time you spend the night with your kid, we were sensitive to all of his sounds and we did not know when he would wake up.  Around midnight Abera was making some noises and Michele was sure he was awake, so she jumped up to feed him.  But when we turned the lights on, we found him fast asleep.  Abera ended up sleeping through the first night like a champ, only waking up around 6AM when we woke him up to bring him into bed with us.  That makes us two for two, Mehandis and Abera slept through the first night with us.  It has to be our parenting.