Durame
I have struggled with this post for a while. The journey to Durame on Sunday (9/20) was an emotional one because of the opportunity we had to meet with Mihret’s birth mother. Most of what we learned from the meeting is Mihret’s story to tell when she chooses to tell it. Christy and I both intend on protecting that treasure for our her.
As all of the members of our Travel Group who chose to travel to Durame, we experienced the entire spectrum of emotion in anticipation of meeting our children’s birth parents. It was a meeting I wouldn’t miss for anything. Ever. It was one of those life-changing moments that will forever be burned into my heart. It was also one of the most difficult meetings I’ve ever had. If any adopting parents are reading this and have the opportunity to meet with the birth parents, do it!! While “fun” isn’t the first (or second…or third…or any, for that matter) word I’d think of, it’s a special time that I’m thankful we’ll be able to share with our daughter.
I’ve also struggled with this post because we took so many pictures of our drive down to Durame. We have no idea if/when we’ll ever be there again and we wanted to preserve as much as possible for Mihret. I think I took something like 100 pictures from the drive to and from Durame, including our stay in the village. That’s a lot to go through. I think I’ve captured enough of the highlights to share without everyone looking at the picture and saying, “Hey – didn’t I just see that a few pictures back?” WordPress.com won’t let me embed the slideshow here, so I guess you’re going to have to click here to watch.
While in Ethiopia, I did a little journal writing. Not nearly as much as some people did, but I did record some of my thoughts – especially from the trip to Durame. Here’s a bit of what I had to say while in the middle of it all. Journal entries are in italics with a few of my thoughts interjected in parenthesis…
Today was the day most of us have been the most nervous about – the day we met the birth families.
…
Today is also (day of celebration of) the last day of Ramadan (called Eid)…All of us were amazed at the constant streams of people either heading into the celebration service or back home from it. We saw thousands upon thousands of people walking along the highway today. Later on in the day, most were heading to Market, but there was a vast number dedicated enough to walk for miles to and from a worship service. (It was quite humbling.)
…
The views were breathtaking! We have tried to come up with words that described what we saw and couldn’t. It’s just Ethiopia! Everyone took tons of pictures. I’m sure we’ll wonder why we took so many later on, but I’d rather wonder that rather than wonder why we didn’t take more of our daughter’s home region.
When we woke up the following morning, we looked outside our window and the mountain was hidden behind a cloud. This was not an uncommon experience while we were at Milligan. Whenever Buffalo Mountain was hidden behind a cloud, we’d look at it and say, “Look! God moved a mountain!” reminding each other that God can and does move mountains. That reminder became even more powerful as we were in the midst of our newly adopted daughter’s home region. God certainly moved a mountain.
We experienced so much during those two days and I’m still processing everything. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to wrap my mind around everything we encountered.
With all of the pictures that are shared in the slideshow, I feel like I should make sure to invite you to share any questions you may have about the pictures. Feel free to do so in the comments section below and the conversation can continue that way.
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Right on. Save the story for Mihret. We’ve avoided sharing those details about Milo as well. There are some parts of their story that they should have an opportunity to process before everybody else knows.
Exactly. And there are some beautiful parts of the story that we’d LOVE to share. But we don’t want to rob her of the chance to tell it for the first time.
Hi, my son is from Durame. I adopted him in June 2007. Can you share with me what orphanage your daughter was in?
Look for an email from me (mattdantodd “at” yahoo.com).
Hi, your are blessed people and happing poor is right thing to do.I was born and grown up in durame but know living in australia and if you want know about people and culture wel come any time.
Thank you
Thanks for sharing the photos of Durame. Our daughter is from that area and we were unable to travel there. Thanks for letting us live through your lens a bit. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and letting me share! I have tons more, but these are the highlights. I might post some more another time.
But first, I have to finish the story of our journey. For some reason, I just can’t put the next day into words…
Please, could you contact me via email, I would like to ask some questions about the journey to Durame (nothing personal, only organisational)
I like the pictures very much and your story about answering in German 🙂 I know that phenomenon
Thank you
ML
Did I ever email you? I’m sorry if I did not! Please reply again or shoot me an email at MattDanTodd (at) yahoo (dot) com if I did not reply!
thanks for your post. it is such an emotional. i live in durame. may lord bless you for evrything you did good.