There is No Me Without You

"I am not sick, its just too cold!" Haregewoin assures us from her bed at 10 AM when we finally arrive at the AWMOSA compound (its taken us three attempts). She is all bundled up under blankets, but cheerful and warm despite the rainy season chill. She welcomes us in and has coffee made for us. When we tell her we are from Georgia, her face glows and she leans up from her bed: "I am going there very soon!" She then tells us the story of a 1 year old orphan who was raped when she was 8 months old. Haregewoin is going to take her to the states for corrective surgery sometime in the next month.

Looking around the compound, we are flooded with all the sensory images from when we first read There is No Me without You. In fact, it almost feels like we have been here before. Haregewoin is as magnetic and charming as MFG suggests, which is not surprising considering her spot-on rainy season description.

As it turns out, its good we visited the orphanage today, because they are relocating next week. Her landlord just raised the rent 30%. In fact, most of the beds have already been moved and she is not accepting any more children until she settles in the new location down the street.

Since the girls have already moved to the new home, there is only a few boys left on the compound. Four of the boys are brothers and will be heading to Australia in a few weeks for their newly adopted home.


As we leave, she asks for our contact information to have during her stay in Atlanta. When asked about how she likes the states, she says she does not like the long journey or the cold weather but has no problem talking to large groups of people. We tell her that we hope to see her while in Georgia, and that she won't have to worry about the cold.

DC