Cost:
16.00 per adult a night
1/2 that for children 2-12
0-2 free

Ray and I talked about possibly having a special adoption rate for families adopting 3 or more children. He was considering that.

Where you really save is on the hotel taxes and also on food. CWA will take you to the grocery store and you can pick up some staples to have for the week. If you cook and use the gas stove it costs 1.00. If they cook for you its a few dollars- I forgot to bring the fee sheet home with me. They will do your laundry for a donation and that was really nice for us since we did not bring a lot of extra stuff for ourselves.

You could do a spaghetti dinner for a few dollars for you whole family and those who have stayed at the Ghion, Hilton or Sheraton can tell you they paid a lot more for a simple (and not always that great) spaghetti dinner at the hotel. Also- we all know that sometimes a kid just wants a bowl of cereal but you end up paying for a breakfast buffet.

Our whole bill for 10 nights- two adults a kid and infant- including phone calls- was 500.00- and it could have been less but we always let Ray cook when we were home- he liked it and so did we-Phone calls are cheap to make in Ethiopia but 2.00 a minute to call the us. we made only two calls- the first one to my mom to tell her we were ok and to spread the word was 13 minutes and 26.00. The second was a very quick call about work - 6.00. Your best bet is to schedule times for family to call you or use an internet cafe phone to call home.

10 nights at the hilton would have cost about 1500.00 - about a thousand dollar savings. And the perks were wonderful.