Guess Who?

Solo photos

Just in case the school photos don't turn out well--I grabbed some candids in an Oak Tree at the Roy city park.

Modeling Haloween Costumes

Photos

The girls picking out pumpkins mid-October.

An important adoption story

My Ethiopia Photos

Here's the photos that I'm allowed to post from Ethiopia.

As I get more, I'll include them here. Many of my photos were taken in orphanges. For the privacy of the children and their families and in accordance with some orphanages photo rules, I will not post those, but I must say that playing with the kids was the highlight of this trip, even in spite of the beautiful surroundings and wildlife.

Perspectives from Ethiopia: Construction Standards

Since my first day in Ethiopia I've had this post in mind, but not the energy of wherewithall to write it. Now that I'm home, I'm going to take a stab at it. This one is for my friends and colleagues at work at Nuprecon. Nuprecon has been my professional home now for around three years. It's one of the biggest and best building demolition companies in the country and safety is a very important part of the culture there.

When I arrived in Ethiopia, I had some difficulty being able to discern the construction projects from the demolition projects, and that got me thinking about my friends back at home. Everyone in the construction industry is aware of the possibilities for industrial accidents, and we have OSHA and WISHA and multiple training and education resources to guard against having to make that terrible phone call back to someone's family--to let them know that their loved one is injured on a job site--or worse.

I couldn't believe how hazardous these job sites looked. The scaffoldings made of sticks (Only once did we see proper steel scaffolds), there's no shoring, there's people digging in the soft ground in holes and ditches neck-deep.

Most buildings are either concrete (sand and water really, it's not a proper concrete--it's more flaky), or corrugated tin--I usually think of this as like a barn roofing material. Concrete is poured by hand by men who climb the stick scafolds and pass pails of concrete fire-brigade style up several stories and then into the forms. Later when the concrete hardens, some "lucky" guy gets the odd job of breaking the metal or wood forms off the concrete and seeing if it stays.

Hard hats aren't worn unless someone is riding a motorcycle, and even then, generally it's hanging on the handlebar for show. Flip flops or barefoot are the norm (by the way, see my earlier posts about how EVERYTHING is slippery!). Tie offs or harnesses--not hardly. I didn't see them--anywhere.

I'm attaching here a few photos, two of a school (white walls and a blue rail), which was really nice--about ten stories of classrooms pretty much straight up, with zig-zag staircases on either end of the long narrow building. There was a large home (not ordinary housing) being built near our guesthouse, and that's on the hillside with the valley in the background. Also, several photos of some governemnt housing projects which have been in process for the past ten years and still aren't complete or even beginning to be occupied. This is an area desperate for affordable housing, and the jobs, but with builidng materials being costly and work being slow, they're doing what they can do.

This is just a reminder to be thankful for all that we have in the science and technology of workplace safety, and to stay alert and don't get hurt. Work safely everyone--I hope that one day too some of these safety measures will reach the Ethiopian construction workforce as well.

Something to think about...

"Sometimes I’d like to ask God why He allows poverty, famine and injustice in the world when He could do something about it......

But I’m afraid God might ask me the same question."

-Anonymous

Sisters video

The quality is especially low I'm afraid, but here's some candid video of the girls goofing around in the living room a few days ago. :) Today we made popcorn balls. Initally Melat was disqusted, but after we broke hers up a bit she liked it. She disagrees with practically any foods. For those who are curious the accepted foods are: Bread (Dabo) Bananas (She knows this well enough in English to ask for Bananas) Nutella (chocolate-hazlenut peanut butter stuff) White rice, with NOTHING Macaroni with nothing Popcorn (the kind cooked on the stove, don't even try microwave....) Kim-Chee flavored ramen noodles French Fries Green beans (raw) Any fried meat that you can pass off as "tibs" an Ethiopian dish. Lentils Oatmeal, plain. Cracklin' oat bran She's totally meticulious. She doesnt' loose anything. I think if I gave her 30 grains of rice in the morning and asked her to save them for evening time she'd still have every one of them accounted for even a week later. Yesterday we had a pretty quiet day at home doing as little as possible. Destiny did her chores, and we put up haloween decorations. We went for a walk in the wind, and Melat screeched and screamed every time we didn't have our heads covered with a hat or scarf. We walked along the sidewalk and kicked up leaves (we have great maple trees around here!). She climbed the rope ladder at Pirate Ship Park up about 6.5 feet without difficulty or hesitation to go down the slide. (My nerves are shot!) Well, that's my update for now, I can't believe tomorrow is Monday already. Time flies!

Zzzzzzzz........zzzzzz.....zzzzz

So, bedtime is tough as expected for Melat. She likes to sing songs--Twinkle twinkle, ABCs, Jesus Loves Me, and sometimes she makes up songs in broken English-Amharic mixed up sentences.

The songs were going on a long time, so tonight I decided to turn off the lights, and sing songs and then be as boring as possible, so she'll just fall asleep. (I still have to sit in her room I think---or I'll be battling her in and out of her room all the time, and I don't want to turn bedtime into a scheduled war).

Tonight I sang her three songs: ABCs, "Twinkle Twinkle" and Sweet Violets. (Destiny's request on that last one). Then I tried to sit in the 1/2 size rocking chair, but was too tired to sit still on that tiny little chair, so I curled up on the foot of her bed. She continued playing and singing under her breath little made-up songs, but occasionally put a big fake honking snore in there (for my benefit I think). It was hilarious.

Video: Playing with toys

Here's a video of Melat playing with toys in our room at the guesthouse. This would have been September 6th or 7th.

Update from our house

Today was Melat's first doctor's appointment. Just a "well baby" but since she doesn't come with an owners manual and maintenance checklist, we've got to get her caught up on everything. This meant five or six shots, as well as six vials of blood for testing and evaluation. She was a shaking, screaming, sobbing, snot-covered mess when she was done. The poor baby. I felt so bad for her, and she was so good the whole time. She was sweet, and nice to the doctor and nurses and lab techs and everyone, and we were at the doctor for more than two hours because they called ahead to her specialists so we could "piggyback" their tests into the same blood draw we were doing.


I've stuck a photo in here of Melat in her bed at WACAP House (our agency's transition home--she was there for just four days or so, but it's such a nice place and I know she liked it).

I have a few other posts to write as I'm beginning to process my Ethiopia experience, so watch for the following:
*Ethiopia construction practices (even though it looks like Demolition--this one is for you Dave, Pat and John!)
*The Coffee Ceremony, espresso, and tradition
*Recommended reading (Mother Theresa's biography and Three Cups of Tea)
*Culture (warm, happy babies, exercise, and disciplined living)
*Wedding crashing (I will have to look to see if I've posted on this subject yet or not).

Also, videos coming soon!