Day 9 in Ethiopia (Saturday)

Our mood was a bit different as we woke up on Saturday knowing it was our last day. We ate at the hotel restaurant for breakfast and had a somewhat quiet meal. There was a combination of excitement, nervousness, sadness and even dread in the air – from all of us. We tried to prepare ourselves mentally for Biniam’s going away party at Layla which we knew would be emotional for everyone.

We got the kids dressed in their traditional clothing – Biniam in his new “Millennium” shirt and head/wrist bands, Emma in her new lavender dress, and Isaiah in a shirt we picked up for him last time in Addis. Dawit picked us up early so we could have time for lunch and taking Emma to the salon across from Layla to get her hair braided.

The ladies in the salon were thrilled to see Emma walk in and just giggled at the sight of seeing her in the tall salon chair. Emma was a bit shy at first and wanted me next to her, so I “helped” for a while by holding her loose hair out of the way. After only about 20 or 30 minutes Emma’s head was in full corn rows and looked beautiful. She paid the ladies, gave them a tip and out we went.

We ate our lunch in Dawit’s van parked outside the gate at Layla. We didn’t want to eat in front of all the kids, so we ended up eating in front of every passerby. Not sure which was better.

Once inside Layla we walked around as Biniam found people he wanted to say goodbye to, and as many kids handed us letters to bring home for their friends and family in America. We must have been given close to 100 letters. It’s amazing how these kids form relationships that seem to last for life.

One treat was getting to meet Merrily, the Director of AAI and her husband, Ted at the party. They live in Washington State so I find it amusing that we had to travel around the world to meet them in person.

The party started with loud clapping and drumming on the tables, followed by loud singing by the children – some of the songs being recognizable such as “If you’re happy and you know it…” Biniam was then called to the front of the room to get the line started for the food. We picked up fancy pens with Ethiopian colors earlier in the day to hand out to the kids, so along with their cake and pop they also got a new pen, which seemed to be a hit.

Things broke up pretty quickly after everyone had a chance to eat, but we were quickly invited to a “private” going away party in one of the girls’ rooms. The girls had set up a table with leftover crackers and candy they had collected over time and had it nicely displayed, along with VIP chairs in the center of the room for our family, Nate, Ted, Ivy and a couple other people.

Things had been surprisingly unemotional to this point, but that quickly changed as the girls read letters directed to us as Biniam’s parents, and then letters to Biniam, telling him how they will never forget him just as they haven’t forgotten the friends who left before, then naming each of the friends.

As things were getting really serious we were interrupted first by pouring rain that was deafening, then by screaming and cheering coming from the meal hall. After a minute or so we couldn’t stand it so we all went to check out the commotion. Turns out there was a running race on TV, and Haile Gebrselassie, Ethiopia’s darling had just won. After that the party was pretty much over and it was clear that Biniam was ready to leave so we gathered our things and headed for the door.

I was surprised that Biniam didn’t show a lot of emotion as we said goodbye. I was the one who sort of drug my feet as we left, and by the time I got to the gate the rest of my family was in the van waiting. There was a group of girls who had helped me carry my things and gathered at the gate, waving as we left. I was completely aware that my son was leaving his home – his family – the only thing he’s know for 2 ½ years – for his whole life.

Biniam really wanted to play some video games so as we headed up the road we stopped at Adam’s Pavilion where there is a gaming store and let him play a game of soccer with Brian. Then we headed back to the hotel, said goodbye to Dawit, our friend, and went upstairs to pack.

After eating dinner in the hotel restaurant and heading back up for bed we got a call from the restaurant saying we had a visitor there – Biniam’s Uncle from Bahir Dar, Getachew. He was in Addis for business so we went back down to the restaurant for a quick visit. I was so glad I had a chance to meet one of Biniam’s relatives since Brian got to meet so many of them. The meeting was pretty brief as I think Getachew didn’t want to impose, and since the kids were already in jammies for our early morning flight I couldn’t really protest. I wish timing could have been different and we could have visited all night.