Time and Travel in Ethiopia

Officially Waiting:

We recieved this email yesterday from the Ethiopian Adoption coordinator:

"I received your dossier. I've reviewed your dossier, and everything appears to be in order. CHSFS will send your dossier for authentications at the US Dept of State and Ethiopian Embassy and, from there, it will go on to Ethiopia where it will wait for you to receive and accept a referral. Our records show that you are now officially waiting for the referral of siblings of either gender within the age range of 0-48 months. Our records also show that you plan to travel to Ethiopia when the time comes to receive your child(ren).As with all international adoption, the estimated referral wait reflects our best understanding and projection at the time this email is being written, but it is possible that the wait could extend beyond that estimate. We are currently estimating that families will wait approximately 12 months for the referral of a single child, but it is possible that the wait could extend beyond that estimate. The wait for a sibling set is undefined at this juncture.I’ve also attached Travel Packet Part B so that you can begin preparing for travel to Ethiopia to receive your child!Please let me know if you have any questions."So we are officially on the waiting list as of TODAY (January 14th, 2009). So exciting!!!!!We have been reading more on the CHS forums and have discovered that parents waiting for sibling groups have the longest wait, compared to any other group (even compared to parents waiting for infant girls). For example, the "wait time" for a single toddler referal is around 6-10 months, an infant referal seems to be almost exactly 12 months, and sibling groups referals seem to be taking 13+ months. Once a family gets their child's referal (which involves their person information), the family usually travels to Ethiopia 3 months after that. The longer wait time for a sibling group seems to be a fairly new development. Apparently, there were a large number of families that requested sibling groups last year. At the time of our homestudy, we understood that the wait for sibling groups might be longer but we didn't realize how long it really was. It was really interesting to see how the adoption agency address this in the email. Thus, Scott and I are considering entering a "dual wait" in which we would take either a single child or a sibling group, which ever came first. We realize that we will more than likely get a referal for a single child, but we are willing to put it into God's hands.We see pros and cons of both situations. It is a very challenging decision. We initially were interested in a sibling group since we felt that they would at least have one other person that looked like them in the home and someone they could connect with. We also thought it would provide a nice spacing between children.However, as we have started reading more of the CHS adoption forum, we realize the decision is much more complex than we ever imagined. We have read about some families that have come home and have had their biological child(ren) really struggle with two adopted children coming into the home. Since the adopted children speak a different language and have relied so much on each other for survival, the biological child has ended up feeling really left out. If we adopt a single child, then the child may rely more on B. for feelings of security and attachment. We also just consider the dynamics of three children ~ if we have one girl and two boys or two girls and one boys or all girls - someone will always be left out.We also think about the additional daycare expenses, the fact that we still only have one bathroom (and it will be that way for a while), the size of our current vehicles, the size of our house, and additional adoption expenses. Although we could manage to "make-do," the economy is still shaky and we are really trying to make a good decisions here ~ so we are trying to look at the situation from multiple perspectives. I will keep you posted - but for now we are celebrating this day - the day we made it on the official LIST!!!]

Travel Information:

We recieved our travel information with the confirmation of our dossier. We need to go our clinic to get updated vaccinations for travel. They recommend that all caregivers and persons in our home get the Hepatitis A vaccination. I am not sure how that plays out for grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins, but it may be something that our extended family members talk with their health care providers about. I will send all the information about travel to those family members that are considering traveling with us.

The adoption agencies expectations during travel were listed as such:

* Use alcohol in moderation only, perferred if family not use it at all

* refrain from bringing any alcoholic beverages into the guesthouse

* do not walk anywhere after sundown (be back at the guesthouse)

* strongely discourage taking the children out in public places. It is not culturally appropriate to bring infants into public.

Ethiopian Clock and Calandar:

When you travel to Ethiopia, you are on “Ethiopian Time,” both literally and figuratively.
Literally, Ethiopians use a different system of time-telling AND a different calendar. In Ethiopia,
the clock “resets” at sunrise, meaning that Ethiopians refer to sunrise (6AM for us Americans) as “12 o’clock.” For example, if the American watch reads 7AM, the Ethiopian watch will read 1AM (having nothing to do with time zones!). Be sure that you confirm whether someone is referring to the Ethiopian Clock or the U.S. Clock; if you are told to be ready at 10 o’clock, the person may really be saying 4PM U.S. time. Figuratively, Ethiopians have a much more laid back attitude towards time and schedules than Americans. The tentative schedule with suggested times that you receive in Ethiopia will be just that—suggested. The staff in Ethiopia has a great deal of experience processing adoptions and will ensure that all of the necessary steps are completed before you leave. Relax, be flexible, and enjoy your stay. The Ethiopian calendar is based on the beliefs of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. A few notable differences between the Ethiopian calendar and the Gregorian calendar (the calendar used in Western countries) are that the Ethiopian Calendar:
• is made up of 13 months: 12 months with 30 days each, and the 13th month with 5 days
(or 6 in the case of a leap year).
• is approximately 7 years and 8 months behind the Gregorian Calendar (October 2008
in the U.S. is February 2001 in Ethiopia)
• starts (Ethiopian January 1) on September 11th (or September 12th in leap years)
Please refer to these websites for more information:
http://www.ethiopic.com/calendar/ethiopic.htm
http://www.triotours.com/faq/et/calendar-and-clock.htm
http://ethio.com/calendar.html
http://www.ethioembassy.org.uk/fact%20file/a-z/festivals.htm

Pretty CRAZY hun! It so weird that it is only 2002 in Ethiopia.