Charcoal,Diesel, Frankincense, Cigarettes and Spit Up

Those were the smells of the day! Down stairs in the lobby there is a woman who performs a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony where she roasts and brews the coffee over an open charcoal flame and then tries to cover the smell with burning frankincense (mind you this is all indoors).
We then went to the orphanage and we were assaulted with the pungent smell of diesel for a 20 minute drive. It was all worth it to visit and hold little Kai (although he did spit up on me about 5 times!). He is much smaller than I though he would be. We were able to stay for about 2 hours and play with all the babies and older children. We brought the orphanage donations and the kids were very thrilled and digging through the bag before it was even out of my hands! The orphanage is a new facility that is built in a U shape with a courtyard in the middle. There was a swing set and a slide outside with one side being the school and kitchen area, one side is the baby area, and one side is bunk beds for the older children. I didn't count exactly but I would guess that there were about 12 babies and another 30-40 older children. All the babies had blankets in their cribs with bottles of formula and they were all dressed in clean clothes. There was a play pen filled with toys. There was a basin outside filled with wash that was hung to dry and when we left at lunch time there was plenty of food for the kids to eat. The nannies sat with the little kids in a circle and hand fed them. It was pretty sweet. The older kids had soccer and footballs to play with and I think they had bubbles, as well. Although it was not the standard of living that we expect as Americans, I feel very assured that they are getting good care, especially seeing how most of the people in this city live in total poverty. There were ladies standing in the middle of a 6 lane street with their children tied to their backs while they tap on car windows begging for money.
We went shopping later in the afternoon for souvenirs and were followed the whole time by a young boy who was very disfigured asking for food and water. It is so difficult to see so many people who need so much. It's swirling around in my mind because it's been emotionally tough to see the need here, but also to be happy to be here to see Kai.
For dinner we went to a traditional Ethiopian restaurant that was delicious. They had a band playing Ethiopian music and tribal dancers that were very entertaining to watch. Tomorrow we will go back to visit Kai and hopefully post some pictures of this amazing place.
Love,
C