Hot Springs!

Before leaving for Ethiopia, I set aside a certain amount of money that I personally wanted to give to AHOPE. I wanted to see exactly what it went towards, and what would be better (and more fun!) than a field trip?! I talked with A., AHOPE's Social Worker, and with my budget, we decided we could take a trip to the hot springs in Sodere, a few hours outside of Addis.

We had a GREAT time! About 45 kids from Big Ahope were able to go to Sodere. On the bus ride there, we finger knitted and played Bingo (I can now count to 75 in Amharic, thank you very much). Once we got there, most of the kids jumped right in! I was a little surprised that there is actually a pool there. It looked as if we were in the U.S., with one exception. There were monkeys EVERYWHERE!!! They were so much fun to watch! One monkey was missing his front right leg...just like Triscuit (my cat)! The kids had a great time swimming and splashing around in the water. They constantly wanted to show me different tricks they could do. The kids who decided not to swim had a great time watching the monkeys or taking pictures with my cameras. We also had really great Ethiopian food and ice cream (Thanks for the ice cream, Carly!) :). On the bus ride home, we did some more finger knitting, and once it was dark enough, we played with those glowing, neon-colored bracelets that you can get at festivals. The kids (and adults) had lots of fun!