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Half a dozen times during my time in Ethiopia, I was approached by a friendly Ethiopian, a waitress or a cleaning lady or cab driver. Each would chat me up cheerily for quite a few minutes, and then just as I was starting to get antsy, they would all ask for the same thing: my address.
You see, most people in Ethiopia who want to come to America need to have the address of a friend in America before US immigration will let them in. This is supposed to be a person who will help them if they experience financial difficulty.
But these peope are so eager to have a name, any name, that they don’t seem to be concerned with those minor details. In Ethiopia there are so many people eager to come to the US that they actually conduct lotteries for the limited number of visas that are available to Ethiiopian people.
We in America often take our freedom- our privilege- for granted. If we want to visit another country, we simply show a few documents, get our passport, and buy a plane ticket. It isn’t that easy for most people.
Not all the Ethiopians I met up with begged for my address. But many people said that they wanted to come to America some day. Even more told me how lucky my babies were to be coming to America.
Funny how a perspective from someone in another country can make you thankful for being an American. No, it’s not perfect. But we also have freedom that much of the rest of the world can only dream about.
Happy Independence Day to you all! May we never take our freedom for granted.
I just returned from Uganda last night and that was the same thing….everyone you would meet on the street would 1)ask for money to send their kids to school or 2) your address to sponsor them…
I came home very grateful for my home. I spent lots of time in an abandoned baby orphanage in Nairobi. It broke my heart to see those babies and know that there wasn’t a mamma to watch out for them. Kenya doesn’t allow adoption…… so many emotions….
One of the babies died while we were there. Others wouldn’t let go of our fingures. The sweet couple that runs the “orphanage” (just their home where they take in the babies) were doing the best they could, but it made me see how great the care in Ethiopia at the agencies is…..