Now I'm a pretty knowledgeable person when it comes to foreign lands, having visited 70 or so countries thus far in every continent including Africa (ok, not Antarctica but who the heck goes there?). But when it came to Ethiopia, I realize I really didn't know much other than remembered images of drought and starving children. Oh, yeah, and I really like the food, perhaps because they don't use utensils when they eat. Having spent two weeks in Kenya many years ago, I didn't even realize that I have physically been a two hour flight away from Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia.
When we started looking at international adoption, I felt strongly that we should adopt from somewhere with great need. The funny thing about it is that it is not always possible to adopt where there is a huge need. For instance, I had recently been to Cambodia and couldn't believe the poverty I saw and how many orphaned and destitute children there were. Yet they were the most wonderful kids and I was ready to adopt several right then and there. When I got home and did some research, I learned that the US would not process any adoptions from Cambodia due to fear of corruption and child trafficking. Seems some adoption facilitators were obtaining children by paying the mothers $100 or so to give them up while leading them to believe they would later be able to emigrate to the US if their kids were there. Why in the world would anyone need to pay a mother when there were homeless kids all over the place was beyond me but it seems that adoption is cleanest and quickest when the family sign over papers giving up their kids and that is how you get the newborn girls that everyone seems to want. So Cambodia was not an option.
My mother lived for several years in Africa and always talked about how great the kids are, how well they are raised, how family oriented everyone is, etc... and we all know how bad the situation is in several African nations. Funny thing is, despite the need, not many African nations allow international adoption. Some countries have a negative opinion towards America these days, some have a strong family structure so that when parents die the extended family takes over and some countries just don't have the political structure in place to set up a formal adoption process. Ethiopia is an exception. Given the choice, I don't think any country would give up their children but Ethiopia just doesn't have a choice and realizes that adopting children out to (probably) white, non-Ethiopian parents is better than death. I won't go into the specifics and the numbers of orphans but take a look at this article if you want to know some of our reasons. If it doesn't make you cry, you probably aren't human.
And the good news is that an Ethiopian adoption is a relatively speedy process compared to many international adoptions, at least for now.
So we feel really good about our adoption choice. But we also realize we don't know much about Ethiopian culture or history but feel it is important to pass onto our child.
Turns out Ethiopia has quite a rich history.
- Ethiopia is considered the cradle of civilization or at least of humankind. Matt knew but I did not that Lucy, a hominid skeleton more than 3 million years old that may show the beginnings of humankind, is from Ethiopia.
- Ethiopia has a strong religious history with no less than 30 references in the Old Testament. Moses married an Ethiopian woman, the great grandson of Noah founded the nation of Ethiopia and the Queen of Sheba married King Solomon with the rumor that their son brought the Ark of Covenant back to Ethiopia where it now lies.
- Ethiopia was the only African nation to resist colonial rule and has been independent other than a few years of Italian occupation during WWII.
- Oh yeah, and Jamaican Rastafarians believe that the former Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie (formerly known as Ras Tafari, Ras meaning "Duke" and Tafari being his name) is the black Messiah. Who knew?
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