Where to begin?

Where to begin?

I leave tomorrow and my departure is certainly bittersweet. I am definitely glad that Friday I will return to a culture that I am at least a bit more familiar with and which brings me one flight closer to reuniting with my family, friends, and a city that I can navigate through. However, I do not want to leave as I have only just begun to explore Addis Ababa and I have learned nothing about life as it is for Ethiopians. I have seen no great mosques, churches, ancient monuments, and have not witnessed tribal life, but I have been awakened by the Ethiopian Orthodox prayers, grown accustomed to spicy meat served with injera, filled my lungs with the smog of Addis, and survived the Merkato, the largest in all of Africa.

None of the above is important to my mission here, but I am glad that I have been able to experience a little bit of culture and I have learned a lot about myself. What is important is that I have been kissed and hugged by a toddler who has no family to call his own. He spent an hour with me playing hide and go seek, touching my face and playing with my hair. He would call out my name, 'Bettina, Bettina' and then jump in the air repeatedly (I had taught him to dance and that was what he liked best about dancing). He didn't speak any English but it didn't matter. His laugh as I tickled him made it sound as if it was a rare occasion to be able to smile and sit with someone that just wanted to spend time with him.

Then came the time that I had to say goodbye to the little boy in a green sweater and khaki pants with beautiful black eyes. He gave me an enormous hug and kiss and then waved yelling, 'Bettina, Bettina.' How many times can a heart break?