Finally Meeting Jubilee's Family

Wednesday morning I had two girls with very big hair. I had promised Lisa that I would get it braided before we came home. We jumped in with the other Ritmo families and walked to Layla first thing. I wanted to get my suitcase back to the guesthouse ASAP as well. The salon that we had gone to on our first day was closed, so we headed on down the street knowing there were several in the area. The next one I came across had the door open and a man working away. I shoved the girls in and asked if he could braid their hair. He did the head nod with lifted eyebrows that means yes in Ethiopia. We got comfy and waited our turn. I told Jubilee to tell him what she wanted, which she did. He washed their hair, conditioned and combed it out. He did a much better job than the first salon. He sat her down and started putting big rollers in. I started waving my hands and asking about braids. He communicated that she asked for straight. Okay, so not what I had in mind, but this is her day and I am certainly not going to straighten her hair myself, so TAB. I did make it clear that Honeybee would have braids. Honeybee, who has a TON of hair, was not happy about having a man do her hair. He seemed to be very competent, so I assured her all would be well. She wasn't buying it, but she really didn't have a choice. As it turned out another, female, stylist came in and did her braids. That took almost three hours, so when I was done we hoofed it back to Layla house.



When I peeked in the office, my suitcase was not there. I looked around for Ivy, but found the other Ritmo guests instead. They had taken the suitcase back for me. I was pleased since that meant I didn't need to walk back to the Ritmo and the girls wanted to have lunch at AHOPE so off we went.



I was met at AHOPE by L's aunt wanting her address. OOOps, it was still at the Ritmo with my camera, and the pictures I was supposed to give to Dimple's sister. I went into the office and asked if I could hop on facebook for a momento. They got me on line and I found the address for L's aunt. She then wanted to know if L had made it home and how things were going. I looked helplessly at Jambo (the social worker) and said "how should I know, I'm in Ethiopia." He told her he would call Gail. I then went in and asked if they could take pictures for me and burn a disc for us. They again said "It's possible." See what happens when I am left alone in a foreign country?


Jubilee's family showed up right on time. I knew she had a brother, and aunt and two "sisters." Here is the group that showed up. Three uncles an aunt and two "sisters." I really think the sisters are cousins, but who am I to argue? I let them talk for a bit, and then we had a brief Q & A. They were relieved to see Honeybee looking so healthy and happy. She did a great job as ambassador to families that aren't really sure what is happening to their family member.

This is Jubilee and her brother, note the strong family resemblance. Jubilee is very close to him, and really needed to say goodbye to him before we left Ethiopia. I was able to ask him some questions about their family. He told me that their father had gotten very sick quickly. He had not been able to work, and then died. Their mother died four years later. He had wanted to take care of Jubilee, but she became very sick. He realized that he could not take care of her the way she needed and told himself it would be better for her to go to America. It was obviously a very difficult and purposeful decision. He told me to tell her someday that he would have taken care of her if he could, she knows this already. It was very sad, but I assured him that we would stay in touch. We tried to call the other night but did not get through to him. We will try again. He is the reason that I will be adamant about her keeping her Amharic. If she loses the language she will in a very real sense lose her brother.

This is Dimple's sister. We were able to take pictures to her and let her know that Dimples is doing well. She lives in a tiny house and works as a waitress. She seemed a little surprised to see us, who wouldn't be? It was a very interesting day. It impressed upon me how much we are now tied to Ethiopia. There are people there that care about our children as much as we do. They have made the sacrifice of loving someone and letting them go where they had hope of something better that they could not provide. They laid their lives down for our children because they loved them. It is very humbling. I don't want to forget these people or their situations, they are "my people."

We were off to the airport at 11:30 to catch our 2:30 a.m. flight. You should have seen the skeptical look on the immigration guy that checked our passports. I assured him we had been at the salon, but they were the same girls. The guy at security looked at the girls and then called them by name. I popped up and asked how he knew them. He had attended some kind of religious school with them, small world. We were very rummy when we finally got on the plane. When we got off of our last plane at 8 p.m. still Thursday, January 21 we were very ready for bed. My sweet husband had driven up in our 15 passenger van to get us. Everybody grabbed a bench and went to sleep. When Jubilee woke up in our garage she had four siblings staring at her. I'm sure it was very weird for her. She smiled and let us lead her off to bed.

It was a long but wonderful trip. I miss Ethiopia, but Lord willing I will be back someday.