Some events between January and June 2007

Here again some sections from the progress report to the adoption authorities in Sri Lanka - it seems this is the only personal English writing we get round to. Ah well, still better than our once in 5 years letter....
Sorry for the focus on Saman, we'll try to add some more details on Yekuno later (not today!). There is no need for a progress report to the Ethiopian adoption authorities so we don't have a formal document for him to cut and paste from.

In January, after the Christmas holidays, Saman suddenly found a new teacher in his class in Andinet International School. We were a bit concerned because we had not been informed and last September it had taken several weeks for Saman to get used to his new teacher. However, this time we did not have to worry as the new teacher, Miss Afra from Yemen, was fantastic! Within a week Saman was more at ease with her than he had been with the previous teacher and together with his class mates really enjoyed the learning together.

In the same month of January we made two interesting trips in Ethiopia. One was a day trip to the prime Menagesha forest, where Saman did a lot of serious walking by himself. We saw the beautiful indigenous colobus monkeys and a waterfall (not as splendid as the ones in Sri Lanka but definitely worth the effort!). On the way back we had to cross a river in our car, which was an adventure by itself. The other outing involved a stay-over for two nights in a hotel. We made a very special trip to see the Wonchi Volcano Crater Lake. It was a real adventure that included horse riding on the way down, crossing the lake in a wooden canoe, a walk and another horse back ride up the other side, where we passed through a lovely valley with mineral springs.

On 30 March Andinet International School celebrated World Cultures Day. This was an excellent opportunity for Saman to wear his new batik sarong and shirt from Sri Lanka. Proudly he stood on the stage and announced in the microphone, not shy at all, that he was Saman, 4 years old, from Sri Lanka and wearing Sri Lankan clothes. After the party we stayed in Sri Lankan style and had lunch at a colleague’s house. She is from Sri Lanka and had her mother over to visit her. Together they had prepared a delicious meal that Saman loved. These events made Saman conscious of his own cultural background. He is becoming proud to be Lankan and we fully support him in that!

Early April we went again for a weekend to Lake Langano. Saman always likes to ride a horse there but unfortunately the horses were available to him only once. Luckily, the horses passed by our cottage and Saman dared to feed the large animals some cucumber skins and stroke them.

End of April featured the celebration of Queens Day at the Dutch School. We explained to Saman that his second name Kumara means prince and he again wanted to wear his Sri Lankan clothes, this time combined with a royal robe and a crown.