Reprieve

On Friday morning, Robin and I packed some belongings for a weekend in Addis at a hotel … a HOTEL!! Shower … maybe no fleas? … I N T E R N E T!! After a challenging night, the very thought of being clean and connecting to my world lifted my spirits to near giddiness.

            As we left the Home, we ran into Magadee, the bookkeeper for MMHCH; always smiling, Magadee offered to call us a cab. Transportation into town is always an adventure in itself. A typical journey to Addis is to walk into the town of Asko (half mile), find a “mini bus” that is going to a half-way point, a town called Medhanilem (I haven’t even figured this one out phonetically yet). This costs about 2.75 Birr (I’m told “birr” doesn’t have a symbol like “$” or “£”), equivalent to 16¢. I’m guessing that’s about 3 miles and takes about 20 minutes amidst construction out of Asko, meandering cows, goats, and donkeys. We unload there and hunt down another mini bus to the “piazza” in Addis, another 2.75 Birr. From there we walk to the feeding center on Churchill Street, probably ¾ of a mile.

            Today we carried a weekend bag so a cab all the way to the city would be a blessing. Gurma’s (GURR-ma) cab bobbed up the dirt road about a half hour after we called; Magadee instructed him in Ahmaric to first stop at the Embilta Hotel near Medhanilem so that we could check into our hotel and drop our bags while he waited, then take us all the way to the feeding center! Luxury! And worth every cent of the 200 Birr ($11.37).

            The feeding center was already in action even though we arrived early; consequently, Robin and I served only a couple hundred people before pulling out. We were anxious to clean up but chose      to walk across the city and to the hotel, probably 2 miles. I could hardly WAIT to wash my hair for the first time since I’d left the U.S.! Robin let me go first … heaven. Hot water (all the way to the end!), soap that hinted of pineapple, double shampooed my itchy head … on top of that a toilet that flushed and toilet paper!

            I tended to my flea bites (Aveeno Anti-Itch Cream), combed my hair, rubbed lotion on a clean face … ahhhh. BBC World News, update my blog, get my email. It’s amazing how “comfort” lifts one’s spirits. I looked out my hotel window over slum homes, toward the city, and took a moment to be grateful for the very privilege of comfort. Undoubtedly my view stretched across tens if not hundreds of thousands of human beings who would be sleeping on the ground, the sidewalk, on a flea-ridden mattress, many with no shower to look forward to, no comb for their hair, no Internet connection to another world and a life they can’t even imagine.

Our hotel bill:

     First Night: 820.55 Birr ($46.66)

     Second night: 820.55 Birr ($46.66)

     Surcharge (10%), VAT (15%) : 434.89 Birr ($24.73)

     Dinner Friday (2 soup, French fries, 1 water, 1 beer): 169.00 Birr ($9.61)

     Lunch Saturday (pizza): 96.01 Birr ($5.46)

     Dinner Saturday night (soup): 116.02 Birr ($6.60)

   TOTAL: 2,457.02 Birr = $ $139.73 ($69.87 each)

One funny: While checking out Robin and I pulled out our cash; Neal Hendrix had given me a wad of Birr left over from his photo trip to Ethiopia so I handed the front desk person a 500-Birr bill. She handed it back to me and after some confusing exchange, I realized that the bill was from Bangladesh! haha! That Neal ... no tellin' what kinda money he has lying around. :-)