Ethiopia Journal – Trip to Durame

If I’m going to be honest, the trip to Durame was (next to the actual flying to Ethiopia) the most dreaded part of the trip for me.  I felt like I was going WAY out of my comfort zone to even GO to Africa, but then to travel 6 hours in a bumpy van (when I get really car sick) to the middle of NOWHERE in Africa?? Well, that was pushing it a bit in my mind.  I was really hoping that once we got there, at least 1 other person wouldn’t be able to go to Durame or SOMETHING…well, as luck (or now, I see God :) would have it, EACH and EVERY member in our travel group was all gung-ho to go to Durame.

GREAT

Plan B. Maybe I get just a wee bit sick?

Healthy as a horse the whole time we were there.

Plan C. GO to DURAME

They likened going to Durame (in our travel group call) like camping. I can tell you, Durame  is NOTHING like camping. I would camp again in a heartbeat. While I’m SO glad that I went, that I saw what I saw, met who I met…I am not ready to hop back in a van and stay overnight in our “special hotel” anytime soon.

 

We left early on Sunday morning, had a 6 hour drive to get there. We stopped halfway (which wasn’t really halfway but that’s what they kept calling it) to use the “bathroom” and get a soda if you wanted one. It was actually a beautiful drive. I didn’t get car sick AT ALL (thanks to some drugs) and I was in the back of the van – really amazing. We had a great trip (although support undergarments for those well-blessed in the cleavage area would be recommended). Good laughs in the van, some time to just sit in quiet, take in the surroundings and pinch myself that I really was in a van, in Africa, dodging people/animals on the highway. 

 

We got to the place we were staying the night and we had some lunch. There was some confusion when we all ordered CHEESE pizza and it came back as GARLIC pizza. This was right before meeting the birth families so I’m sure they must have thought American's have some super garlicky breath!

We then went to the Holt center in Durame where we waited to meet a representative from the birth families (some birth mothers, some fathers, grandparents, etc..). This was a highly emotional and cherished meeting. I was so thankful I was there. To soak it all in, to have my own time of sharing with Maleah’s birthfamily. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I was blown away by the love and compassion felt in the rooms that day.

Maleah’s story, her birth family, etc are things that we are choosing to keep special for her. When she is old enough and decides which part of her story she wants to share with her family and friends we will love for you to hear it.  This is HER story, her beginnings, her heritage.

It’s HER story to tell.

We were all emotionally exhausted after that meeting. We went to the Durame intake center (orphanage). This was were Maleah was brought in. Very emotional to meet who brought her there, to see where she spent her first days in Holt’s care.

We went back to the hotel. I napped, most of the group went down to the restaurant and had some refreshments to help get them back to reality. Had my first night under a mosquito net.

Super-cozy :)

The bathrooms had probably the worst smell I’ve ever smelled. Ever. I rationed my liquid intake so as to use them the least amount possible.  Some of the room doors shut, some did not. Ours did and it had an electronic key card – so funny. BUT, there was only one master…for more than one room. So, we shared the key card.  This was truly one of the longest nights I can ever remember. It was like sleeping on plywood. There were malaria-infested mosquitoes buzzing above my head, there were no windows where there should be some, the smell was odd…at one point I asked Clint what time it was and his response was “you don’t want to know”.

It was only 12:30am

by 5:30am most of our group was awake, some playing cards. I think my favorite line of the weekend was from Will. After walking out of their room on Monday morning he said something to the effect of: “it is going to be my life goal never to step foot in that room again”.  I couldn’t agree more.

We made the long journey back to the Union Hotel. We couldn’t get there fast enough.

This was the day.

The day we took her out of an orphanage and into our custody FOREVER.

I saved the outfit she came “home” to us in. Here is us walking out the gates with our daughter!!

It felt so good to take her to our room, to dress her in clothes that fit her. To just have her all to ourselves.

I think we all felt this way and just breathed a huge sigh of relief once we were all back at the Union together. Here are all our babies..I can’t wait to see the reunion pictures!

Tomorrow (hopefully) will be the last post about our trip. It will cover our Embassy app’t, the farewell ceremony, and coming home!

Is anyone reading this???

Stay tuned….