A Stolen Post
06 Feb 2009 Leave a Comment
My good friend Carole Turner just returned back from a trip to Ethiopia to bring her son, Abel, home. She recently posted this amazingly beautiful, completely raw blog that I had to pass on in case you missed it. Read with caution- it might stir something up in you that you didn’t know was there. Here it is:
I think I’m gonna just start typing..
..and not worry about how this post sounds, or make sure I have enough white space, eye grabbing title or sharp,to the point, flow. Or worry I will be misunderstood or judged.
See, I just don’t know how to express all my thoughts and feeling about Ethiopia. I am a passionate person. Going to Africa has been my dream for so long, but going finally has really tore my heart up.
I still don’t know what to do with it all.
I felt so wrong for leaving behind a country so impoverished and at the same time so rich. I saw exactly why people there are angry at rich white Americans taking their children. Sure, I was so happy that just on our trip alone, if I count all the families adopting with our agency and others that shared our flights, 17 kids were no longer Orphans, they now had families. So that is so great, God did that. But MILLIONS are still without parents in JUST Ethiopia. MILLIONS, like 4 MILLION. And I do not believe us going over there and adopting them all is THE answer. I do believe it is ONE answer but it can not be the only thing we even consider.
So many times on this blog I feel like I am a broken record about sponsorship, clean water, adoption, Orphanage development, etc. But now that I have seen what I have always been passionate about, it’s almost too much for my heart.
I want to scream at everyone at the mall, “she was sleeping on the sidewalk with her TWO toddlers!!! TWO toddlers!! They lived there!”
We saw so many people living on the streets. Here in America Orphans have many government programs to take advantage of. We also have welfare,free clinics, grants for education, etc, etc. There, you have none of that. And the little bit of welfare type organizations are overwhelmed by the 59% of the population that is unemployed. Yes, 59% are unemployed.
Johnny our desk clerk at the Guest House told us that he works, eats, sleeps that’s it. But he is one of the lucky ones who has a job and he is very grateful.
But also I saw such wonderful hope and happiness. It made me just so disgusted with all we think we have to have. We had extensive training before we went on how to act while we were there because so many Americans go over there and act like complaining spoiled brats. Insulting their country and treating the people as if we are doing them a favor by taking their children. They don’t think so. Many wonder why we don’t spend the money it takes to adopt one child from there (15-20 thousand dollars) and use it to help THOUSANDS of Orphans. I understand why it needs to be done in many cases, but I also see why it upsets the people.
That is why sponsorship has to be as much of a focus as adoption in my opinion. If groups like Watoto, World Vision, Compassion International, Mocha Club, Childrens Hope Chest, and many others were all completely funded, and every child sponsored, then more such organizations could start up and more children could stay with their families or extended family.
Sure, there are Millions of abandoned babies, children without living relatives, AIDS orphans, etc that need to be adopted, again, I think it is one answer, but like I said it is not the only answer. If a child living with an impoverished grandmother could get a sponsor that pays for school, clothing, food, etc, then they could stay with the grandmother.
I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for Ethiopia, I am just trying to express what I am thinking and feeling right now after being there.
It was shocking. When a 10yr old boy walks up to you on the busy street saying “shoes mother?” and I look down at his huge filthy feet, that messes with you. When you look into the eyes of a crippled man crawling on the side walk, or a pregnant police officer as she swats away street children from your car, it messes with you. When you spend time in a home with no yard the size of a small town home, that 26 kids live in who have no parents, that messes with you. When you take them from such a wonderful, beautiful country because you know it’s right, it still messes with you that they had to leave.
Why didn’t I buy more gum from the street kids? I should have,they weren’t begging, they were trying to earn some money to eat.
Why didn’t we spend every dime we had at shops ran by little Ethiopian woman who made beautiful things? It would have helped their lives and their economy.
Why didn’t I bring more pads for the ladies or more snack bars to hand out to begging street children?
All this and more runs in my brain.
Every night Abel and I watch the picture slide show, he always wants to watch it. He says “oww” when he see’s different pictures of the landscape of Ethiopia. He kisses his fingers and puts them on the screen when he sees Tes, the little girl he loved who now lives in Indiana with her new family and he cries sometime because he misses her.
I’m glad he’s here. I’m glad he is now home and a part of our family.
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