It Was Beautiful There!

You know when we think of Africa and the millions of orphans and people dying from AIDS, TB, Malaria etc., many of us are struck with a feeling of devastation for the people. And it really is humbling to discover what our children have gone through to get to this point. They have been exposed to many diseases and yet are the healthiest kids I know. But tonight I spent hours listening as my Ethiopian daughter Grace went on and on about the wonderful and beautiful life she had before her parents died. Yes it sounded rugged but there was also a deeper sense of community that she longs for. And by American standards we have a pretty active and broad group of friends. But she told me how the adults would get together and cook and the kids would all run out and play and how daily she would have fresh milk from their cow 3 times. People would constantly share food and coffee. She also mentions fondly how she would go out with her friends to the public bathrooms or to get water. In seeing the admission pictures of our children to the orphanage they looked more like kids who had been living on the street rather than middle class kids. But I think that before the illnesses with the family that they were indeed that . They had access to a car from their grandmother's husband. One grandmother even had a television and a small refrigerator. I guess what I am trying to say is that I can understand the nostalgia she feels. Ethiopia is a beautiful country and in spite of the hardships it will always hold a special part of my children's hearts. It is a part of them and will always in many ways truly be their home. They have adjusted so beautifully to life here but have simultaneously given us a new perspective. Yes...things are rough in many of the underdeveloped countries but there is also so much beauty in the simplicity of life that we have lost here with our so called conveniences. I love my life in America but can learn something from my children about the benefits of breaking bread with neighbors weekly. We still have neighbors we haven't met. And with children playing freely without boundaries (something we are all too afraid to let our kids do anymore). I pray we can maybe extend ourselves to build a stronger sense of friendship with our neighbors and invite some in so that we can attempt to duplicate something they are missing from being away from their African home(a place that values its neighbors as family and a place that has opened up its homes to the children that have become orphans from the house next door.) They miss the weekly bonfires and get together and even though I have had many open houses it just isn't the same.....It really was beautiful in Ethiopia.