Day 11 Monday
Monday morning Nuni came to take us to IOM to read Sifan’s skin TB test. I was surprised that BFAS did not have a car for us we had to take the equivalent of the city bus to get to the clinic. I wore flip flops and was not ready for the hike to the bus station. Nuni said the car was not available. We were told on Monday to come at 9am to have the skin test read. We arrived a few minutes after 9 and were told that there was no one there to read the test and we had to wait until 11am. So we sat outside with several other people waiting for TB tests and results. I sat next to a family on a bench outside. They were hoping to get a visa to come to the US to join the woman’s husband who is a doctor in Maryland. The kids spoke pretty good English and asked lots and lots of questions about adoption. Sifan showed them her photo book and proudly told them everyone’s names. After about 40 minutes of questions and the woman’s diagnosis of the reason for my miscarriages, thankfully Sifan got tired of sitting so we walked around a bit. At 10am someone came down to say that the doctor would see us to read the skin test and everyone ran up the stairs to be seen. Sifan’s TB skin test site was swollen, red and sore. The doctor looked at it and shook his head. He took out his clear ruler and measured 12mm. He spoke English and told me he would send the result to the Chicho (keekoh) clinic that afternoon. So we went to the Chicho clinic by minibus. In the waiting room many of the women spoke Oromo and talked to Sifan. I didn’t understand anything they were saying except when they asked Sifan if I was her mother and she said no, ferengi (foreigner)….oy. After about 30 minutes Nuni came out to tell me that we needed a passport size photo of Sifan and that the results would be sent to the clinic that afternoon. So we went to the photo studio. There we ran into Freihiwot in her car and the driver for BFAS in his car with some of the children. We ran up to the photo studio and they took Sifan’s picture and told us to come back at 6 for the photo (not sure if that was ET time or regular time….noon or 6pm). As we were coming down we happened to run into Frehiwot as she was leaving and asked for a ride back to the Guest House. Thankfully she saved us another minibus ride. After lunch I called to check to see if someone had called to get the results from the clinic so we could go for the chest x-ray. Helen and Yoseph, Agitu’s family was very helpful in translating what was going on to me….I would have been totally lost without them. They helped me to push to get things done here. So at 4pm Nuni arrived to say that we were going to the clinic to get the results. We stopped at the photo studio for the pictures and they said they were not ready because the power had been out. Nuni pushed to get them to print out our picture out of order. While we waited Sifan and I looked at some shoes next door. Every time we walked past the store she would whine and say “suki” (shopping). So we tried some shoes on and they were all too big so I told her we would buy bananas instead. As we were shopping Nuni handed me the phone with someone form IOM. I had no clue what I was asking for and neither did the guy on the phone. I handed the phone back to her and she continued a long conversation that I later realized she was talking to the lab that read the result (IOM) to tell them to send the result to the Chicho clinic as they had promised. They agreed and we sped over to the clinic by minibus and then by taxi (without the bananas….and now with a very mad Sifan). By the time we got there they were closed. So we asked the taxi to take us to the Hilton to change my flight from Tuesday to Friday. At the Ethiopian Airlines office I took a number and then 30 minutes later they realized that the numbers were out of order. So some that came after me were served before me. Another hour later (and several trips of Nuni taking Sifan to the bathroom) I reached the airline desk. The Friday flight was full but we were put 4th on the waiting list. They had a flight for Saturday so they said to come back at 12 et time (6am) to see if we made the Friday flight and if not to finalize the Saturday flight. By that time it was 8pm.
We decided to eat at the Hilton and I really enjoyed treating Nuni to whatever she wanted. She said this was her first time because it is very expensive (for real…even by American standards for some things. I really needed the American atmosphere though….I miss bland old American food!!!) Nuni enjoyed some Zil Zil tibs and I had another salad!! YEAH SALAD!! And some chicken!!! Service was slow and it was after Sifan’s bedtime so she started to get antsy and tried to eat her bread under the table. Nuni was fabulous and took her on her lap and told her something to keep her very very quiet and still. I wasn’t sure what it was until I saw her make the cut your throat motion to Sifan…..apparently she told Sifan that the guy that makes pizza doesn’t like kids to make noise or move around a lot and that he would hurt her is she was loud….he did look scary….and not the way I would have done it in America but it worked for the time and situation for sure. Nuni was a lifesaver for this American who is too full of Ethiopian spices. Nuni’s English is very limited but we tried our best to communicate. She said she is going to school to be a nurse. She has 3 months left and then an internship. She has 7 brothers and sisters and she is in the middle of them all 3 older 4 younger than her. Her parents are farmers. Her older sister is working as a maid in Dubai because there is no work in Ethiopia. She says her sister likes it there. After dinner it was 9:30 so we headed out to get a taxi. The taxis outside the Hilton said 90birr ($9). Way too expensive….then as we walked away they said 60 but we decided to walk up to the bus station a few blocks away. After a few minibus changes Sifan fell asleep so we had to carry her from stop to stop. I was an interesting experience. Kind of scary when we made our way through the part of town without Electricity (which also means no street lights). (side bar on electricity…..since there has not been enough rain as predicted the city is split in half….half of the city has electrify and then it switches the next day and the other half has electricity. Usually the change over happens at 2-3am. So everyone knows when the scheduled outages are).
So about 10pm we finally walked into the guesthouse with a very heavily sleeping Sifan. Nuni and I traded off carrying her for about a total of ½ a mile. She stayed asleep and I came down to update H and Y on the status of the chest x-ray situation. I told them about how Nuni kept Sifan quiet and she said it is definitely a cultural thing. Her son was talking on and on and on and one of the relatives told him that they would cut his tongue out if he was not quiet for at least a little bit. Also she said that when children are crying at night sometimes they say that the Hyenas will come for them. Interesting insight for Wubitu who is still horribly frightened to see dogs….she climbs on the kitchen table when they come near.
H and Y were headed to the southern border of Ethiopia near Kenya the next day for a couple of weeks to visit Y’s family. He left Ethiopia in 1985 and this was his first time back. He said that Addis looks the same as when he left except that now there are more apartments going up ….but from the ground it looks the same. Driving around Addis there are numerous apartments and condos going up all over the city. Some are government housing…when I ask people say they are for “long term payment”. Then right across the street there are condos for the rich. The bottom floor of these apartment and condos are store fronts.
So after saying goodbye to H and Y and wishing them a good trip I headed to bed to get ready for a busy morning.