Meeting Kasech's Family

We left Addis Ababa at 6:30 AM on Tuesday morning. Our driver, Fetsum, drove so fast! We were going 120 km per hour weaving through people, donkeys, cows and goats. We actually hit a Donkey on the head on our way back. I was thankful to get there and back safe and sound. It took only 4 hours to get there. We were told it was a 5 or 6 hour ride!! Anyway we drove into Chuko, which is a town in the Sidama region. (Southern Region of Ethiopia) We picked up A local guy in town and he showed us how to get to Kasech's family. That was rough terrain for about 10 to 15 minutes. It felt like riding in a tractor over hardened mud tire indents the entire time. I was so sick to my stomach from that and I was so nervous on top of it! Anyway we get there and the Uncle comes right up to us and gives us hugs. Some people set up benches under a big tree in their yard for the meeting to take place. We were brought over to sit with the local man who brought us there, who we found out later is the adoption contact for the Sidama Region, and The Social Worker/Translator that we picked up in Awassa on our way. (About 1 hour before reaching Sidama). We were just sitting there looking around as more and more people walked into their yard from every direction, through the fields, the trees and the drive up. I think their entire little village showed up. In the end I bet there were 50 people watching the meeting. The translator told us that we were waiting for the Uncle to get the children, Kasech's brothers and Sisters from the field. It was a pretty tense and quiet moment. The people were all staring at us intently. Except for one boy who was playing with a ball made out of cow hide. He was playing with it like "Hacky Sack". So, Jeff gets up and starts playing with him. He was trying to do the tricks that the boy was doing, and all the people started laughing really hard. That is one of the things I love about Jeff is his ability to lighten moods and make people laugh. It lightened the whole feel of the moment. Until the brothers and sisters and grandmother arrived for the meeting. The Grandmother was teary but, gave us really tight handshakes with both her hands and bowed her heads as if she were thankful for us taking Kasech. Her brothers and sisters looked Sad and scared to death. From that moment on I couldn't stop tearing. If I could have I would have taken all of them. The oldest brother, Dawit and the Oldest Sister, Azalu were teary and looked devastated. The middle brother Esrael was the curious one, very interested in us and I think the youngest brother was shy and didn't understand what was happening. The social worker read our letter to them and translated it. Then we asked our questions. We really didn't get any information that we didn't already know except that Kasech's mother died 3 months after she was born and her father died before she was born. The calendar in Ethiopia and the time is so different that to communicate dates and times is impossible in Sidama where nothing is recorded on paper. We laughed when we asked them what Kasech's favorite thing to do was. They said JUMP and dance and run. Kasech jumps all the time. She jumps down the hall in our hotel to get to the bathroom, she jumps to get to her bed, if she isn't jumping she is running to get there as fast as she can. We showed them the photo album we brought for them. They smiled and gasped at the picture of our house and the picture of Kimball school. They are nothing like anything they have seen before. They have probably never left Sidama. They told us that they thanked god for us and to please let Kasech know that they love her and that they are good protestant faithful hard working family. I felt like I was in a movie. It was really surreal. Jeff leaned over to me in the middle of all of it and whispered "Can you believe we are here"? And the answer was no and its still no. I can't believe this entire experience on so many levels. I'm still in shock that we have a daughter, and this entire week has been experiences of a lifetime on a daily basis.