Our Trip to Ethiopia: May 2011

Sunday, May 22, 2011

And the winner is......

And The Winner is............ Gondar, Ethiopia.

Montgomery County in Maryland has a Sister City Program. They are partnering with different African countries in a cultural exchange. Many African countries are bidding for the position to be a "Sister City" to Maryland. Yesterday was Ethiopia's opportunity to present a contending City for this project.

An Ethiopian Selection Committee chose 25 cities in Ethiopia to represent. They then chose 7 from the 25 cities and used a questionnaire as an assessment tool. The committee looked at historical facts, culture, location, assets, reputation, etc. After much debate, Gondar was chosen as the represented city for the project.

Gondar was the Capital of Ethiopia in 1635-1855. It is known as the Camelot of Ethiopia due to it's five castles and architectural ruins. Also it is one of the largest city throughout Ethiopia. It has 44 churches and Mosques, with the oldest Christian, Muslim and Jewish communities in the world. It is 35 Kilometers from Lake Tana. The city trades grain, oil seeds and cattle.

Now that the city has been chosen, Gondar will be the city to compete in Montgomery County African Sister City Program. If we win; support, communication and cultural exchange between the two cities will be "history repeating itself" stated Dr. Melesse. Halie Selassie, came to the tristate and opened these same doors of opportunity, as the first black man to spend the night and days at the White House, as a guest of John F. Kennedy. So if chosen, this will not be a newly developed friendship but a rekindled relation.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Spending Time with Little Leah

I don't know if it is the fact that I do not have a little girl or if I am extremely nurturing or if I am just a total girl's girl, but female children love spending time with me. Now that other parents have seen my best work they want me to watch their children! The boys think I am cool too but that's because I have training provided by my own boys ; )

(I understand children. You have to appease them with what they enjoy and what their strengths are. Work with them not the other way around. Make them feel important and not just for now but give them a happy vision of themselves for who they will be in the future. Nothing to specific so that they can still imagine bigger than what you described. So that is my secret. Sum up all their good qualities and how their not so good qualities can be useful to them when they grow up. You have to remember they are little creatures who have only lived on this planet not long to Master anything. To control a strength that looks like a weakness at the time is not easy. What have you Mastered in the last 3 to 5 years or are you still working on it? We expect kids too have control over some powerful and useful energy. Maybe it seems like a nuisance when they are little but as an adult they will need it for success in relationships, careers and handling family and relatives. They should never stop a behavior only redirect it to something positive. Okay so I will take the professional route with this one to certify and justify my opinion on this by doing what I don't do when blogging and put my seal of approval on this one- Raising Awe Inspiring Kids 101, by Petrina Yemane, MA, PC/MHC )

Now many of the children just tell their parents "I will be spending time with Petrina. I'll be at her house" (if you need me). It really is the cutest thing and parents get a tickle out of it. I have another appointment two Saturdays from now. I enjoy that the girls are all nationalities. Honestly, I don't even charge as it helps these mothers. (So when I need assistance, I always have help as well).

Now getting to one of my most fun and memorable play dates was with little Leah. We call her little Leah because my boys also refer to another relative they call big Leah who I was able to encourage and spend time with when she was small also. Now each child has a specialness to them and little Leah has a flare for being girly and speaking her mind. I could imagine that she will be the CEO of her own company one day but for now she loves her pocket books and pink and shiny shoes. This is how our day went:

Baked Cookies and chatted about girl stuff in school. She did most of the talking and I listened. It was extremely interesting. Girls, birthday parties, "stupid boys", birthday parties, her cousin, mommy and trips of the past, future trips, favorite ice cream, gifts for her birthday that past....
She is a wizard at her age of 5 when it come to putting puzzles together. For a Christmas gift her mother suggested one of the items to buy was a 100 piece puzzle. Yes at 5! I cannot even put together a 25 piece puzzle, to be honest. So I took out my sons 75 piece so that I could watch her in action. She turned down my request as it was "too BORING" for her! (My son is not interested in puzzles so it has not been used, yet). She wanted to play the new advanced Connect Four Game. It was about a 50/50 win.
Next we ate our fresh baked cookies with a Disney movie. I love Disney movies.
While the movie went on, she wanted to pop popcorn, so we did that. I painted her toe nails and finger nails after. They were dried by time the movie was over.
I gave her a gift of a cute ruffle pink purse that she opened and loved. She played with my sons, her cousin for a while and told on them every chance she had.
Then she played the Wii with them. Her famous line is, "Why doesn't anyone (the boys) listen to me around here. I get no respect". To which point I have to speak to all of them about fairness and listening to one another.
Leah then decides that we could listen to some music before her mother comes to pick her up. We chat again about what she likes and I get to add here and there about cool things when I was younger. Her surprise to my youthfulness makes me laugh, which makes her laugh.
Her Mom comes and she says,"Auntie Petrina, we have to do this again sometimes. Next time, I'll bring the cookies".

I love girls.