Visit To Manger-Weil House In Ethiopia

Just got back from Mekelle, Ethiopia visting Manger-Weil House, the orphanage that Donna and I helped to establish. I brought our sixteen year old daughter, Samara, and her friend, Amanda, for what proved to be a life changing experience for them.

Flying to Ethiopia from New York takes about 17 hours, between layovers and the fact that you are traveling halfway around the globe. To make it easier for the girls to adjust to a new civilization and the 7,000 ft. altitude, we stayed at the Sheraton in Addis Ababa upon our arrival.

The Sheraton Addis Ababa is the pride of Ethiopia, and the hotel rivals the finest five star hotels anywhere in the world. Just beyond the gates of the Sheraton lies a shanty town comprised of a series of tin roofed shacks. No running water (but electricity is siphoned off from somewhere which accounts for the glow of television sets in the night). The residents of the shanty town are incredibly friendly and accost any Americans who pass by with offers of shoe shines and guided walking tours (in return for small donations, of course.)

After enjoying our well appointed Sheraton rooms and the choice of five luscious restaurants for two days, Samara, Amanda and I took the one-hour propeller plane flight to Mekelle, where Manger-Weil house is located.

The Axum Hotel offers the finest accommodations in Mekele, yet is certainly a stark contrast to the luxury of the Sheraton. Samara and Amanda were taken aback by the stained carpet, non-matching sheets, open stall shower and tiny hot water tank, which you must remember to turn on to avoid dealing with icy cold shower water.

This was my second trip to the orphanage, and seeing the new "Manger-Weil House" sign installed over the front door (in both English and Tigrinyan) was an incredible thrill. On my last visit, the building itself had just been completed, but was not yet inhabited.

Now, we were greeted by 11 boys and girls between the ages of 4 and 7. Yitbarek, Fikadu, Birhan, Embaba, Adhanom, Kapital, Mehari, Abadit, Matthewos, Dawit and Kehasit.

These happy, energetic children are not what one thinks of when you hear the term "orphans". All credit must be given to Connie and Gabe, the Ethiopian couple who, after escaping Ethiopia for the United States during the unrest of the '80s, decided to return to their homeland for the sole purpose of helping their less fortunate countrymen. They are the ones who not only oversaw the entire process of securing the land and building the orphanage, but now almost singlehandedly tend to the daily care of the Manger-Weil House orphans.

Samara and Amanda brought arts and crafts projects to work on with the kids and it helped to break the ice. The first thing I noticed was how well behaved all of the children were, how they barely raised their voices above a whisper while they colored and drew and applied glitter to their projects. I learned from Connie that they were putting into practice what all all American parents try in vain to elicit from their own youngsters: "indoor voices".

Later, the group made their way outside to enjoy the swing set and running games. It was nice to see them having fun and as raucous as you could imagine. They played what appeared to be a kind of "Simon Says".

The kids returned inside, filing past the lined up shoes, perfectly made beds and clothes cubbies neatly organized. It turns out the children themselves, even the youngest, maintain all this as part of their chores. After 15 minutes of quiet time in the play room, they spontaneously lined themselves up in size order, walked straight to the dining room, said grace, and ate their lunch in silence. (Eating in silence is one of Connie's rules. Probably makes for better digestion, as well as practically nullifying the chance of food fights, dontcha think?)

Samara and Amanda joined the kids for their 20 minute walk to the local school, across fields filled with roaming cows and sheep. Samara and Amanda were immediately surrounded by over 500 students in blue school uniforms and given the same kind of welcome you see Angelina Jolie receive on her visits to Africa.

Though overwhelmed, I think Samara and Amanda began to understand the magnitude of the blessings they enjoy as Americans compared with so much of the rest of the world. The Ethiopian students were treating them as if they were strange gods, weird beings blessed with riches that are unimaginable in Ethiopia. (The two names Ethiopian children have for Americans are "forengie" (meaning foreigner) and "money", because they believe that Americans have pockets that simply overflow with money, money, money.)

I reminded Samara and Amanda that the only thing they have done to deserve their amazing blessings was being lucky enough to be born a few thousand miles west of where we were now standing. Nothing more. Pondering that fact should be enough to inspire any American to share what they have with those in the world who do not.