Day 8

Day 8 Friday July 6th Today we visited the children's homes. It is customary here to bring a gift when going to someone's house to visit. We searched and searched for sugar but it is scarce right now. So we settled for coffee and cooking oil. I knew going into today this would be hard to swallow. Helena, one of our staff translators, told us we were to show not emotion. It was so hard.  As we headed to the first home it was clear this was to be tougher than expected. The first home was a hut made of sticks and straw. They only had one room that was their bedroom, kitchen, sitting room, everything. I am just shocked. After we walked to a few other homes, it was my turn to see Tizeta's home.  She lives in a square home made of mud and a metal roof. The room was about 10x12 at the most. They sleep 9 people in their home. I did not get to meet her parents because they were working. I met her older sister, baby sister, and little brother. In her home there was a bench, two tiny mattresses on the floor, and some shelfs with cooking supplies on it. Tizeta is blessed to still have both parents alive. I was then able to give her the photo album we made her. Her face lit up and I choked back the tears recalling the no emotion rule. Once we finished all the homes, we were all exhausted from the week and decided to have bit of a fun relaxing afternoon. We headed to a resort on lake Awassa and waited to go on a boat to see some hippos. While we waited, we all wanted to feed the monkeys that hang out in the trees around the resort. I grabbed some peanut butter and crackers from my bag and sent Bruce in as the guinea pig. Turns out the monkeys are really use to it and glad to accept food. The waiters brought us rolls and we all got to hand feed them. So fun! While waiting for the rain to pass, Carolyn and I were sitting by the water chatting. We saw a monkey out of the corner of our eye and decided we wanted to feed her. I grabbed some popcorn out of my snack bag and we got her attention. Not long after she came, a male joined her. Her leaped onto our table and aggressively took popcorn from Carolyn. As if that wasn't crazy enough, the female snagged the bag and took off! We got mugged by monkeys! We haven't stopped laughing since it happened. Next it was boat time. We took this boat out to the other side of lake Awassa. There we stopped and waited patiently. We noticed their little helicopter ears popping out of the water and then their heads surfaced. They were very calm and peaceful but didn't like us so they would quickly return to hiding.  Today was so special. I continue to think how is it possible to fit 9 people in that home. I am not sure how you process it all and sure it will take quite a bit of time and prayer.  Love to you all at home!