Day 14 Thursday
I didn’t sleep much because I was so nervous about our embassy appointment in the morning. Sifan and I were up at 6 and ready to go at 7. At 7:30 I started to panic sand tried to call Korsa….I think my phone was out of outgoing minutes so I had Betti call on the other phone. Korssa’s phone was busy. We tried to get through to Dr. A. We finally got him on the phone at 8am……he said Korsa should have been there and that maybe Beti could take me in a taxi or on the minibus to get there. Beti said no and told him she would call Nuni to come and take me by taxi or minibus……so we waited outside the gate for Nuni to come…..at 8:30 Korsa walks up to the guest house casually. I told him we had an embassy appointment and he seemed surprised. He called Dr. A….. my strong wall broke down…..I started to lose it again. Korsa handed me the phone with Dr A on it and he said that they don’t have the medical document at the embassy…….and that we will go another time….I told him my plane leaves tomorrow night and I need to go home!!! He said…yes yes we will go to the embassy tomorrow. I said will they have Sifan’s visa ready by then? Usually it takes a full day to get that….he said yes yes, they can do it……..i asked if he was sure and verified it with the embassy….he said yes.
Torrey tried to contact the embassy for me to verify because we didn’t want to take any chances of me having to stay another week. He sat on hold for 20 minutes then called me back to see if I could call…..I sat on hold for 30 minutes…; So we thought about Plan B…..I get my New Flower driver to take me to the Chicho clinic to get the results and take them myself to the embassy after lunch……but the driver must have had another client outside of the city because his phone was out of range. Plan C FREAK OUT….have a small panic attack and decide to call Dr. A again to tell him that I am very nervous about all of this. The embassy is only open on Friday for 3 hours…..can we send someone to the clinic to get the x-ray results….can we please get in today???? He said that he had an employee on it now to go to the clinic to get the results and we can try to make it today if we get the results and that the embassy is aware of the situation and will let us have a drop in appointment and get us out of here on the Friday flight……I only felt slightly better. The good news of the conversation was that Sifan’s chest x-ray was negative!!! We are cleared medically to come home!
So I decided to take Sefan for a walk to the Care Center….it always helps to clear my head and makes me feel like I am doing something important. Sefan walked a lot of the way with no problem....and she walked into the Care Center with no problem and I didn’t have to hold her hand the whole time!!!! She ev en played with the other kids for awhile….it was very nice. That freed me up to take TONS of pictures and video of the other kids. Unfortunately not all of the kids were there….most of the babies were out getting vaccinations….and a few siblings were at doctors appointments. Sefan and I spent the last week making beaded bracelets for all for all of the kids. We happily handed them out today and the nannies each got one too (the nannies were so cute!) The kids enjoyed flinging the bracelets in the air and putting them in their hair. Unfortunatley one broke and D tried to eat one of the beads….oops. It was great to get a better feel for each of the children’s personalities after spending more time there…..the “shy” ones were not so shy after a few hours. Right before I left the head nanny lead the kids in some songs…..I am so glad to have those on video for Sefan. Sefan knows so many songs that I am afraid she will forget when she learns English…..I hope these videos will keep her native language alive at least a little bit. Anyone in FW have a friend who speaks Oromo? As we were leaving the kids were getting ready to eat lunch…..they invited us to stay but they were having their regular injera and wot….and well…it was worth the chance that maybe Beti had made some nonEthiopian food back at the Guesthouse.
On the way home Sefan started to fuss for bananas but I didn’t have change and the banana guy I like (because he speaks English fairly well) tries to sell me 5 apples for $3.50 and I might actually give in this time….plus I didn’t want to carry her and the bananas back to the guest house. Her fussing became louder though as we passed the last stores before the guest house and I didn’t want to make a scene so we slipped into a store to buy some water and found banana flavored gum! She was sold! The guy there told me he was a tour guide and asked for my email to tell my friends about him…..and he carried my water to the guesthouse for me…..he mentioned that he say me with my friend last week and asked where she was…..after awhile here you forget that you stick out like a sore thumb being pasty and all.
The walk to the Care center always makes me feel better! We ate some lunch and played blocks. Then Betti came running up the stairs with her phone. She said that Korsa wants us at the US embassy in 20 minutes!!! So we grab out things and run to the taxis down the street and around the corner. There is only one taxi car there and he knows it…..i can tell Betti knows that the driver is charging too much because I am white but what can we do, we have to get there ASAP! So we get in and drive like maniacs. Korsa calls Betti and asks to talk to the driver. The driver slows down to hear what Korsa is saying…….he laughs and speeds up…Korsa just told him to hurryl About 5 miles from the Embassy the driver starts to go very slow and it seems like we are bumping on one side…..i thought for sure we had a flat tire!!! A little backfire and off we go in our pimped out ET taxi (fur around the stick shift and all) We get there and Korsa is waving frantically but the taxi driver keeps being pointed in different directions by men with big guns. He finally lets us off down the street and we run to the Embassy entrance. Pass through the 2 security check points and up the stairs. Korsa goes to the window to check us in and then asks me for the $400 visa fee. I tell him I already paid in the US and show him the receipt from the agency. He shows it to the embassy staff and they say that they need the agency to pay them. Korsa asks me why I paid in the US and I said that it was supposed to be “easier”. So he asks if I have $400..and I can only come up with $230 in birr……and Korsa only has $20……so he calls Frehiwot who is about 30 minutes out to bring the money. Korsa sits and waits for a few minutes with me and then goes out to wait for the money to arrive. I am FREAKING out by the way! Afraid we are not going to make it in time……after about 15 minutes I see the embassy staff leave their post and some head out the back door…..I start to bawl in true Kimberley style…..the old Ethiopian ladies who don’t speak any English try to comfort me and I tell them I just want to go home. After another 10 minutes I can’t stand it anymore and I go up to the US citizen’s window and ask them if I can still have an interview….the agency is coming with the money….I have already been here to long…..and I just want to go home……crying again. They said that as long as they have the money by 4 I would be fine….still freaking a bit but not as much….i sit down and am running out of things to keep Sefan busy….I try my best but she is tired from the long walk to the care center and I didn’t pack anything in my purse during the rush out the door….a few minutes (felt like an eternity) later Korsa comes in with a big wad of birr…..pays the lady and checks us in…..10 minutes later we are called to the window. The lady was different from who usually does the interviews so she was a bit uncertain but very very very nice. Everything went well and I asked when we can pick up the passport and visa for Sefan and she wrote the time down for me and handed me Sefan’s official BC, and court documents. WE PASSED THE EMBASSY!!!!
Korsa and I jumped for joy and praised God that we made it!!! Betti was waiting outside for us with a HUGE smile! We all caught a taxi and headed back to the guest house. I asked Korsa what happened with Sifan’s age because in the court documents it says that 2 days before our court date Sefan’s age was changed to 2 1/2 officially by the courts. He said that the embassy said she was 2 ½ and not 3 ½ and they had to change the paperwork to match it. Good to know!
When we got back I repacked everything……I am leaving tomorrow!! For real!!!!! Betti was so sweet and gave me a bracelet as a gift for passing the embassy. I sang a made up we are going home tomorrow song until Sefan put her hand over my mouth to stop. Going home!!! I almost forget what home is like now.