Girl From Ethiopia

Picture This

The other day, when A. showed her special photo album to my friend, she said something she has never said before. She pointed to a photograph and said, "That's my birth mother."

She now has the language for who that person is. The language we've taught her. At various turns, she calls me Mama, Mom and Mommy. It's as though she's trying out every variety, to see how each one rolls off her tongue. Yet, there she was with no hesitation, saying, "That's my birth mom."

It's time, I think, to add that picture to the ones arrayed on the shelf in our living room, right next to all the other framed family photos.

BIRTH FAMILIES FIRST

Wide Horizons For Children, the agency we used for our adoption, is doing a much-needed thing: supporting efforts to keep children in their birth families and communities even as it continues to provide international adoption.

This video created by adoptive dad Tyler Stableford, shows the full scope of WHFC's work in Ethiopia, including the Family Empowerment program. It's powerful beyond words.

Africa Now

 My hope is that we are at a tipping point, that the world is ready to focus on the African continent in a real way.

Maybe, as playwright Lynn Nottage has said, the raped women of the Congo showcased in her play "Ruined" can trust that the world is waking up to their plight. My hope is that we in this country are ready to acknowledge our true connectedness to the continent, that what Bono said is true:

Africa is not just Barack Obama’s homeland. It’s ours, too. The birthplace of humanity. Wherever our journeys have taken us, they all began there. The word Desmond Tutu uses is “ubuntu”: I am because we are. As he says, until we accept and appreciate this we cannot be fully whole.

Could it be that all Americans are, in that sense, African-Americans?

 My hope is that with the first African-American president of the United States' visit to Africa, as he brings with him more than symbolism, as he brings example, inspiration and tough love, that it pays off. My hope is that when my daughter grows up and says, "I'm from Africa!" she can say it with both cultural pride and joy, because the continent has rid itself of the evils of greed, disease and war. My hope is that one day, international adoption from Ethiopia will no longer be, because it won't be needed.

That is my hope.