We are so excited the playroom has been completed! Mostly. Angannette made some awesome rattles with our old water bottles by filling them part way with chick peas and gluing the bottle tops on which the kids LOVE. I really love creating things in Ethiopia with just what we can find, which actually is a lot (see Merkato post), but it’s important to have in mind what you need before you go. Cheap and easy toys that are easily re-made and safe for babies through older children who use them as musical instruments. We also had the chance to go through some storage areas and see some things that Kebeb Tsehay has but aren’t using because their old buildings are under renovation. We pulled out some toys and stuffed animals but wish we would have had a few more hard toys, too. We set up one of those alphabet foam floors and some foam Ethiopian mattresses, along with some blankets and quilts that people gave us to bring over to create nice, soft spaces for the kids to sit.
Before
As soon as we finished, our first toddler wandered out to test out the space. He LOVED it. Raphael was playing with the balls we blew up, throwing them, chasing them, sitting down rolling them with us. It was only the second time I had actually seen him laugh. The first was when he was playing with an electrical outlet (yes, we made him strop). The director of Kebeb Tsehay came upstairs to check things out and said she loved it. The last step is that needs to be completed is covering the bamboo weave from the inside with a plastic so the kids won’t put apart the weave (yes, they figured that out quickly) and since of course we ran out of time (how does that happen?! No matter how long you’re there- two months, two weeks, there is never enough time for it!), we left some money for Alex to head to the Merkato and we have no doubt he will take care of it.
Busy making things safe!
Complete!
Here are some before, middle and after pictures (yes, we’re home now, we can send pictures!). If I could create my dream playroom, it wouldn’t be on a second story balcony with wire railing, but that’s the name of the game; creating great spaces that are realistically usable for caregivers that will be continued once you leave. Otherwise, you’re wasting time, resources and it can be pretty disappointing to see what you worked hard to create go unused. I know Kebeb Tsehay has plans to create a new playroom in the old buildings but that still won’t be realistic for them to carry babies downstairs and into another building, so hopefully this can allow the children to get more stimulation during the day and encourage better motor and cognitive development.
Kelly
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