Today was our last day with the wonderful people of Addis, after the usual wake up call from the Mr Simon we were on the streets of Addis playing football with the locals living in the slums (did I mention this was at 6am!?). This was a wonderful sight, as young an old came together to play a truly splendid game of football. It was crazy how many times the word Rooney could be heard!
As this was the last day, we were all treated to a slap up picnic at the extinct volcano ****. Unfortunately, some had to take on the cultural experience of an Ethiopian drop loo … as they say, that’s one to tell the grandchildren!
For our last meal we were treated to a buffet style Chinese, here we laughed, joked and remembered some of our wonderful experiences in Addis. It was sad to think that our months of planning had all come to an end, however, from the kind words of Annie (our local tour guide) we were reminded that our hard work and dedication to the project would stay in the lives and hearts of the wonderful children and adults we had to leave behind (for the meantime).

Monday

Good morning Megan …. Good morning Shauna …. Speak to me … are you awake? These were some of the words we began to dread in the morning. Unfortunately today was the last day we would be hearing them. 5am and the alarm clock had chimed. As we sleeply and begrudgingly left our rooms for the last time, we were back on the road to Addis airport. It was a strange feeling of emotions, we were leaving behind a city that has taught us so much, how to love those around us, to support those in need and to always follow your dreams. Addis is a city that has very little, but what they lack in property and possessions they make up for in smiles and friendship. I know I can speak for the team when I say this has been an amazing experience that will change the lives of all of us.

thank you all for making time to read the blog we hope it has helped you journey with us. I will be putting together the best photos and in the new year we will have a film. take care Paul S

Today was a day that we were all dreading, not only were we saying goodbye to the beautiful children but we were also starting our venture back home. After a mad rush around for our last bits of resources, we were back on the manic roads of Addis heading for Ahisdo and the Meskerete Kindergarten school. We arrived early enough to witness their daily outdoor assembly which finished with the children all proudly singing their National Anthem as the flag was raised in the centre of the playground. Our morning was yet again filled with laughter and joy and lots of fun as the teams treated the children to yet more crazy and sometimes messy activities including mask making , puppets, bracelets , balloons and finger painting along with singing and dancing and a fantastic break time of playground games. As we all knew the time soon came to an end. After we said many sad, tearful goodbyes we were thanked endlessly by the children and the staff as they served us up a traditional coffee ceremony. Many a tissue was needed!

Back at the youth centre, we were treated to an amazing show put on by the young people of the community, which included acrobatics , dancing, singing , more coffee (!) circus skills and heart felt speeches . One of our interpreters ( a teenage lad who met some of us last year) told us that the community would be talking about this celebration for the whole year and that our presence in their midst this past week had created a real buzz. As we said our goodbyes to the after school children that we had got to know and love , we were almost overwhelmed by the crush of hugs and kisses and ‘high fives’ which made our walk back to the mini buses quite an experience and even as we drove off through the rugged pot holed tracks of the slum the youngsters ran around and tried to climb on the back until we picked up speed and made our way out of their lives …….. but with our hearts very much left behind with them .

A visit to the traditional cultural restaurant for our evening meal lifted our spirits as we attempted to unpack what we had all experienced in this past week . Many of us joined in the dancing and sampled the local delicacies ad we were finally able to relax.

Saturday Day 7

I started today sat on the roof of our hotel as the sun was still rising, looking out over Addis, a sea of tin roofs punctuated by the odd tall building and the silhouettes of the trees and hills on the horizon, twas a beautiful sight. The sound of the call to prayer echoed in the background accompanied by the sounds of birds singing and glasses chinking as our breakfast orange juice was being prepared below. A wonderful way to start the day. After the usual breakfast routine we all bundled into our buses, opened the windows, turned up our favorite tunes set off for a driven tour around the market. The marcato is one of the biggest in Africa and sells just about everything. It was amazing, chaotic, inspiring, like a car boot sale x 100,000! Nothing is rubbish everything has a potential and value. We witnessed what we reckon is the world record for the number of mattresses a person can balance on their head whilst walk down a mentally crowded street. Are you ready? Take a guess. Nope not even close. 28! That’s right people! Go and try to balance one, go on, I dare you! We then stopped at a less chaotic street market where we were able to do some shopping and practice that art of batering. There was them some inbetween stuff like lunch and a hotel stop, bla, bla, bla. But the real good stuff everyone is this: Some of us took up an offer of a friend of Pauls to go to a coffee ceremony at a house in the slum just round the corner from our hotel. I have never experienced such genuine, heartfelt, selfless hospitality. What followed was pure, special, beautifulness. As we then wandered around the slum our party quickly increased in number. The Party of dancing, games stories and the biggest grins I have ever seen lasted until the sun went down. That is what it’s all about people! Wahooooo ☺

Even though it is just a little tear drop in the grand scheme of things, we know it has made a massive splash!

We arrived at Addis Ababa airport on the 16.10.11, exhausted, excited and enthusiastic ready for the adventure ahead.
As we hurried out of the airport into the heat, and as we watched our luggage to be stacked up as giant Jenga. (it all got to the hostel safely)
Before long we reached the hostel, we were unpacking being de-briefed and back on the road again for the most amazing view of Ethiopia on top of a hill surrounding by the sights, smells and slums of Addis Ababa. A long walk with the air full of eucalyptus and then a visit to an amazing Coptic Church meant we slept well with good dreams.

Day 2

After an early morning start we were back in our vans on our way to AHISDO
Where we learnt about the amazing culture history and development that we will be working in. Here we were fortunate enough to have a tour of the slums and to visited some of the shacks, this left the team shell shocked and elated at the challenge ahead. Some of the team helped out on the building site! Emotional reunions took place with the special needs children and the evening was finished at the local outdoor pool heated by an underground spring! We are ready for a great working day tomorrow!

all the team visit the finished homes

we came to build many things!

Wellies in Addis!

Long walk moving day

long walk happy day

Is one story more important than the other? Is one life more valuable than 75? Does one wealthy white man deserve more headlines than 75 poor black men, women and children?
9/11 remembered the 3000 who died on the day. A tragedy. But 9/11 lead to the deaths of over 1 Million civilians in Iraq. A tragedy? Not something remembered or made headlines of. What is the value of life?

Have a good day from one who loves life. Life of all colours, creeds, faiths and background

After our first lie in of the trip, after a great Saturday safari and then shopping at the Masi market, the whole team was fresh and ready to set off to the elephant orphanage and giraffe sanctuary. Having seen Lion, Zebra, Rino and a host of others animals on safari we were so looking forward to getting close up to the elephants. We managed to sneak to the front of the queue as there was so many of us. We rushed in and waited eagerly at the front. After a few minutes the place was packed and they brought the first group of elephants out. Around six elephants were brought out and they were fed and many photos were taken. We all got a chance to stroke them, and some people even got greeted by having the elephants wrap their trunk around their legs and some people even got they feet sniffed. The first group were taken back to their enclosures and the second group of elder elephants came out. Everybody thoroughly enjoyed the orphanage.

As we were in the wealthier part of Nairobi, we went for a delicious full lunch at a grill. Everybody really enjoyed their meal. Afterwards we headed off to the giraffe sanctuary. We arrived at the sanctuary after only five minutes, with a good surprise as we only had to pay a student rate, which was less than half as much than what you expected. Everyone got the chance to meet and feed the giraffes, many were also brave enough to hold food in our lips and allow the giraffe to give us a kiss. Everyone was really excited and encouraged the less brave people to give it a try as it was an opportunity not to be missed. Many people got photographed with the giraffes and some bought dome gifts from the shop.

When we got back to the hostel we had time to pack before dinner and enjoyed our penultimate meal. And we are now about to have a group reflection of the whole trip.

Tomorrow we are off to the rift valley to visit the school Woodard are building in Langalanga 2hours drive north. We will be making a short film meeting some kids and doing a bit of building work! Then back to the airport so no blog tomorrow but then you will have us back mid morning Tuesday!! Thanks for reading and for the encouraging words you have said back.