One of the goals of my trip to Ethiopia was to meet Judah's birth mom and brothers. I knew that we would be in the general area of Judah's mom. I didn't know if that would mean a 2 hour drive down a dirt road or what. What I didn't know is that she was a 20 minute drive from where we were staying in Soddo. On Sunday, Tuto went out on his motorbike with the information and a picture in his hand to find Ms. A. Four hours later after my hopes were slim, he arrived at Shanto and gave us all a thumbs up. Who knew such a simple gesture would make me cry!
On Monday morning, our driver took us back to Ms. A in his landcruiser. My emotions were overwhelming as I watched the local village people break branches along the foot path so the "ferenge" could get through in the landcruiser. While one woman walked along the path that led us to Ms. A, I was overcome with how wonderful the people of Ethiopia are.
We did meet Judah's birth mom for a second time. And we met the brothers. And I'm so, so thankful. In addition to that, my friend, Dr. Jo went along with us to check on our birthmom who said she'd been very sick. Jo happily reported that mom and boys were well and then proceeded to treat 30+ people for MMR.
Thank you FOVC staff, Dr. Jo, and Guillermo (our driver) for blessing us in such an incredible way!!!
For the other AP's reading, there was no involvement of Holt for this meeting. They didn't have the staff available. We did not take her anything except the one picture of Judah. She had received the letters and pictures we sent in the past. Great news.
More from me later...
