Day 1, May 20,2009: I first have an early meeting at VGH, then pick up Dr. Rick Hodes at airport late morning. As a precaution we talk to Customs and Immigration to try to preclude any potential complications for him due to possible language issues. I then get Dr. Rick settled in at our house and fed, then we find out that Tesfaye is landing early, so we hurry back to the airport for Tesfaye's afternoon arrival. Lucky that Tesfaye made it on his scheduled flight; the visas arrived with not even a day to spare.
Tesfaye comes out of customs relatively quickly and on the same flights from Addis through Amsterdam was an Armenian mining guy,Vic, that I had met over drinks last year at the Sheraton bar in Addis and he remembered me. Tesfaye looked happy, calm and alert after such a long trip on his own for the first time, almost halfway around the world. It was great that Rick could coordinate his travel to be here as well at the same time, which must have been comforting for Tesfaye. Made our way to our house where Tesfaye was greeted by Nanci and then Stephi and Brandon and balloons. People were going to be coming within an hour to meet Dr. Rick Hodes. Tesfaye enjoyed the pizza we ordered. People who came seemed captivated by Rick’s story – he tells it so well no matter how many times he has repeated it. His quiet passion and sincerity comes through. Most were able to stay to watch a short film about Rick and his work.
Day 2, May 21, 2009:One of my guests from the previous night,Mark,was very taken by Rick's story and so he went this morning to Vancouver College Catholic boys school and sets up a 2 pm talk for Rick in front of around 150 senior grade students. We bring Tesfaye as well. The students and staff seem interested in getting involved. We will see where it goes. Before that Rick, Tesfaye and I spent the morning at the VGH. I am always impressed with how professional and nice all the staff in the various departments are. Rick and Marcel go over matters and are able to also examine Tesfaye in person. The whole morning is taken up at the hospital, but Tesfaye is very patient and takes everything in stride. They want us to make sure that Tesfaye eats well and get “fattened up”.
After the presentation at Vancouver College,Tesfaye and I took Rick to the airport and said goodbye. Tesfaye also said “pray for me”.That night Nanci and I took Tesfaye to Fassil Ethiopian restaurant so he could experience a local taste of home and perhaps also meet the owner and some other Ethiopians that have been hearing about the impending arrival of Tesafye for some time.Well, when we got there we did not notice a sign on the door advising that the restaurant was closed for a private function and so we just walked in only to see about 20 or so Ethiopians sitting around a long table.As we walked in somewhat unexpectedly they saw us with Tesfaye and immediately burst into spontaneous applause and gave us all a very warm welcome.Tesfaye was very happy with the friendliness of the people and felt at home with so many coming over to talk with him in Amharic.At the end of the meal, one of the Ethiopian gentlemen introduced himself and said that he broadcasts a one hour show in Amaharic on Sunday mornings and would like to interview me and Tesfaye about his story for the show, so we exchanged telephone numbers.Later Thursday night we ended up at Richmond General Hospital to deal with an emergency situation involving Nanci’s sister, so we ended up being up most of the night.
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