Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Tuesday, April 02, 2013


Aubrey and I woke up this morning to Mrs. Turlington politely knocking on the door saying, “we’re leaving in five minutes. I forgot to wake you guys up,” so as usual, we looked great. We took a short drive to The University of Addis Ababa where the Center for Creative Leadership, an organization originally based out of Greensboro, has an office. We split up into groups to help give feedback on their Tool Kit for girls, which helps teach girls a variety of lessons, like leadership and healthy relationships. The tool kits are used in afterschool programs called Girls Clubs, which are designed to empower young girls outside the classroom.
Florrie and Erin’s group talked about leadership, while our group talked about relationships. We did activities involving sets of words and determining their importance in healthy relationships. A student from the university helped our group understand the concepts from the viewpoint of an Ethiopian girl. It was clear that relationships are very different culturally, specifically regarding male and female interactions.

After we left the university, we made our way to Island Breeze for lunch. We had to drive through a special gate to get to the parking lot, walk down a pathway, and enter the restaurant through a dark hallway. The restaurant was virtually silent because there was only one person in there, and apparently the power was out. Everything on the menu looked great, and we all had a little trouble deciding what we wanted. We were all also disappointed when the waitress told us we couldn’t have fries because the power was out. Luckily, after we had ordered, she came and said the power was back on and we could have fries. Hooray! Everyone enjoyed their food when it came, especially Florrie. Amy left before the food came to go pick up a cash register for the Cherokee office and didn’t come back in time for her food. We all finished our food and she still wasn’t back yet, but her full plate of nachos was still sitting on the table. Finally, she came back and ate a little, then took the rest to go.

From the restaurant, we drove to pick up Biniam on the way to Kingdom Vision International Orphanage. After getting Biniam, we also stopped to pick up another Ethiopian woman who works with Biniam at the church and visits orphanages regularly. When we got to the orphanage, the woman in charge said the older kids were still at school but would be home soon, so in the meantime, we got a tour of the orphanage and saw the babies and toddlers. Soon after, the kids arrived and immediately grabbed our hands and pulled us around. We gave them all bubbles to play with and made some new friends. The older kids started making necklaces outside, so we went inside to see the toddlers and babies. We sat in the playroom with about 13 toddlers and played with all their toys. Some were very friendly, while others cried every time you looked at them. Some of us left the toddler room to play with the infants because they like to be held. We all gathered back together outside one last time to see the kids, played a little bit longer, and then we left.

On our very long drive back to the house, we got stuck in a lot of traffic. Amy got a call telling us once again, our dance instructor had to cancel, so our evening plans are iffy. Hopefully, we can reschedule for Thursday night because Yeon Mi was sooooo excited about learning how to dance. Now we’re sitting in our room writing this blog post, waiting for dinner. It’s taco night! Maybe tonight we’ll play some board games, watch a movie, and work on our journals. Overall, it was a great day and we’re looking forward to our trip to the countryside tomorrow!

                                                                                           -    Julia Weaver and Aubrey Finley ‘13

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