Missionary of Saint Theresa

7 September 2008

Four hour hike with Karlijn around the back of Gonder. Perfect day, beautiful clear sky. Sprice on the hotel roof. Home to lunch (cheese on toast) followed by a rest. Hole in the garden to bury my rubbish and a bit of weeding of the larger weeds that have taken over my garden over the past few months. Then a cold shower and more reading – catching up on 2 months of guardian weekly.


Taking a Rest on my Gonder Walk

Had a great lunch at the Blue Assa Restaurant which apparently is some sort of ‘chain’. There’s one in Arada, one in Gonder and one in Addis! Very impressive. This one was so tucked away you might have missed it. But the food was great – fish and veg dish with injeera – although I could have asked for dabbo. I concentrated on eating as little of the injeera as possible and it worked.

Coffee at the Red Lion hotel – couldn’t have it at the Blus Assa because they had sent the machine to the new restaurant in Gonder!

At 2 o’clock we went to the Missionary of Saint Theresa – this is the place where people go who have nothing and more particularly where babies that no-one wants end up. A predictably sad place.

The carers and nuns look after the physical needs but there’s not much time for anything else. Cots lined up and tiny little beings, some with bottles wedged into their mouths, some without because they’d fallen.

I cuddled and fed three of the babies. It took some getting used to – I was fighting back the tears especially when I thought of my grandson only just a month old and already twice the size of these little ones.

I spent some time trying to engage with 18 month old twins, a boy and girl. They could sit. In fact, that’s all they seemed to do. Sit and look with serious little faces at people around them. I tried to gently ‘bounce’ them but there was no response in the legs at all. One responded to a small toy and made some attempt to hold it.

Later, I went with Miriam to another room where we organised games and activities for the toddlers and children. Great excitement. Some mothers were with them – they also took part in the colouring activities and like the children, sought admiration and approval for their colouring activities.