Ethiopia

You may have already heard (or figured out), but just to reiterate, we've decided to pursue an adoption from Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is a beautiful country shaped by a rich history and the deep religion of its people. It is a culture that values its children and family connections and is one of only a few places where people of the Christian, Jewish, and Islamic faiths live together peacefully. It is also where our future child(ren) will come from.

But Ethiopia is struggling.

These statistics give a glimpse of the unfolding tragedy:

~ One in ten children die before their 1st Birthday
~ One in six will die before their 5th Birthday
~ 44% of the population is under 15 years old
~ 60% of the children are stunted by malnutrition
~ The median age is 17.8 years old
~ 1.5 million are infected with AIDS (6th highest in the world)
~ There are roughly 4.6 million orphans in Ethiopia
~ Half the children will never attend school
~ Ethiopia's doctor to child ratio is 1 to 24,000
~ Per capita, Ethiopia received less aid than any other country in Africa


* i took this from a page in my journal. I'll have to find where i got this information and will post a link when I've found it.