September 12th

Hello from Ethiopia! I’ve had a bit of a time getting access to the Internet. Sorry about that.

I had a LONG trip. First Debra drove me to Denver, next Chicago, next Istanbul, next Khartoum, finally I arrived in Addis to find out that Legesse, our fired staff member, had stolen my phone number and sold it to a woman from Somali. Thank goodness Kassa was at the airport even without a call so he took me home in the middle of the night. I quickly regretted ever complaining about doing my laundry with lye soap because I haven’t had water in my house since I arrived. So no laundry and I’m using lots of perfume.

But now for the parts that make all those little inconveniences nothing! Today is the first day of the year 2000 so everyone is celebrating. (we use a different calendar here) Cristina and Stephan Gompertz, the French ambassador and his wife, invited me to lunch so I was a little late getting to our small houses. I arrived with gifts of bananas, oranges, and cabbage. The women had been waiting all day for me and I visited not only the Trampled rose but all 14 of our other small houses. My heart broke as the women held me, shaking, telling me how much they love me. Who cares if I have a shower?????

The women have all been asking about you too. They know their sponsors and they want to know all the details about your life.

Last night was the Millennium. The Black Eyed Peas were playing at the BIG party in Addis. I really do love them but it didn’t seam right to celebrate on 9/11. The day of our tragedy. So I cooked dinner for about 25 people and took it out on the streets to the homeless. What better way to celebrate than with the hope that each of those people had a holiday also?

On Monday night I was invited to dinner at the home of the new ambassador from Denmark. I LOVE her! It is so fun to see another woman of like mind here.

Tuesday was one of my favorite days. Our ladies just opened a new restaurant. And I was the head waitress at Soda Straw ice cream parlor in high school, so we jumped right in. I was serving injera and wot, washing the hands of construction workers who get paid less that $1 for a 16 hour work day, filling water glasses and I loved it. Now here is the funny part. I was wearing Steve Madden high heeled shoes in tiger stripe print with little black bows. How did I get here?

I wish I had a way to tell all of you how much you mean to me! I know I may have been able to help a few by myself but with your help we really are making an impact. I only wish it was you who could look into the eyes of one of our women.