A post before leaving

This is just a quick note to say that I am leaving today at noon.

I'll be in Kenya at the 1st Afri.can Conf.erence on Fam.ily-based Care from the 25th-1st.
It will be an amazing conference! www.anppcan.org/node/45

All of the presenters are from African organizations working to preserve family in the face of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Attendees are coming from child protection and development groups around the world. I have been organizing 3 partner organizations as well as some of our core working group members' attendance and presentation. It's been crazy. Middle of the night phone calls to talk to people across the world. The presentation is far from done right now but I should have a day or two to wrap it up when I get there.

From the 1st-4th my colleague and I are going to Victoria Falls in Zambia. We're going to spoil ourselves at a Lodge and Spa right next to the falls, take a one day safari into Chobe, Botswana, and swim in the Devil's pool at the top of the falls. It will be incredible!

From the night of the 4th-7th we are going to be in Choma, Zambia writing the story of a little church here in the U.S. that partners with a church and organization caring for 250 orphaned children in community member's homes. It is a great example of the work being done by church partnerships to ensure that no child has to grow up in an orphanage. We'll be doing photography, interviews, and appreciative inquiry.

We spend the 7th night back in Nairobi and then will be in Nukuru, Kenya from the 8th-11th. We'll do another case study in this community studying a much larger church-church partnership and the work they do caring for orphans in the community. It will highlight a children's center, education program and a lot more.

Then I will be in Addis from the 11th-early morning on the 16th. My time there is already filling up. I have 3 letters to deliver to kids waiting for their adoptive parents. Instructions to photograph 3 babies matched with families here. All of the AAI homes to visit. A presentation at an international school. Dinner with one friend. And volunteering at the drop-in center that we help to support with 2 other friends who are spending the year in Addis.

Everything is ready to go. I got the Black*berry. Of course it took us until 4pm yesterday to make the new phone decision and I spent most of last night at a hockey game trying to figure out the features. So you can text me on the phone at my normal cell number. But please don't call!! The roaming rates are ridiculous.

Last night we went to an Aval.anche pre-season game and had box seats. Now I never want to sit in the "normal" seats ever again! The box has tv. The box has internet. The box has a bathroom!!! It was heaven. Defintely improved the game.

In adoption news, the fingerprinting took all of 20 minutes to get there and 5 minutes to do it. Then our police records check arrived. So today J will photocopy our dossier and send it in to AAI. I expect that they will send it on to Ethiopia for final approval sometime in the next couple of weeks. One thing to clarify - if we have a referral by the time I'm in Addis that would be great for visiting him/her. But we can't bring baby home until we pass court and get a visa, and on and on. There is a long list that happens after the referral.

Next time you read this blog I hope you'll get to see baby animal pictures!

~A