Anyway, our trip to Assala was a lot of things. LONG, tiring, dirty... but really eye opening too. There was tons to see and the country side is truly beautiful. We saw everything from lush green landscapes to areas totally dry and baron. I am glad we got out of the city and got to see more of Ethiopia.

When we got to Assala, we first went to the grandmother's home, where they fed us traditional food (Dan was such a trooper... he is not a brave eater and he ate it all, just to be polite!) We met some of Ben’s cousins and family members, and they all seemed happy to see him. He was shy but polite. We loaded back into the car to head to the house where Ben had lived.

As we pulled into the area of Assala where Ben’s family had lived (and his sisters still lived), we turned onto what must have been the “main road”. It was a dirt road, littered with boulders, rocks and pot holes. Chickens, donkeys, small half-starved horses and people of all ages and sizes walked up and down the middle of the road and covered the sides, and there were long rows of straw and mud houses with metal roofs. The conditions were much worse than I had imagined (although the Grandmother’s house was considerably nicer.)

And yet in the middle of the confusion, Ben recognized where we were, and gave excited instructions to the taxi driver as we neared the home in which he had been born and raised until the death of his parents.

When the cab pulled up to the home where several members of Ben’s family still lived, we were swarmed with people. Ben’s grandmother introduced us to several important family members, but other than that, we were left to make awkward smiles and hello’s to people that could have been relatives, friends, neighbors or curious onlookers.

It was the middle of the day during the week…a time in which a visit to a residential street in the US would be quiet, but there were people everywhere, and as the minutes ticked by, more and more people crowded around the small white taxi and the tiny, mud-walled home.

We met neighbors, friends, extended family, on and on and on. It seemed all of Assala came out hugged and kissed Bekalu and Josh and I. They all remembered him and they all loved him.

Ben ran back and forth between us, his grandmother, other relatives and friends. People cried out, “Bekalu!!” We met his sisters (teenagers), and best of all got to take pictures of the only two photos of his parents. He looks SO much like his father. Those pictures are priceless to have.

Ben came running back to us with a small package of crackers in his hand. He pointed across the street to a “store”, which was really nothing more than the size and design of a typical horse stall, with a smiling man inside and all sorts of various goods hanging around for sale. An Ethiopian 7-11. Ben told us that the man was his friend and had given him the crackers. I gave a quick smile and wave to the man, but we were being swarmed with people and our time to go was nearing. Ben clutched that packet of crackers for hours to come, and I still have that wrapper saved in a safe place.

Continued...