This One is for You, Anonymous.

This comment was left for us this morning:

Anonymous said...
Why Ethiopia? You give lots of stats about it but why that country and not another African one? =)

I believe the stats I have down can stand for themselves as to WHY ETHIOPIA…..However….

… on a more personal level, this whole thing started with a series of messages I heard a few years ago on Social Justice. It mentioned (among other things) HIV/AIDS and the toll it was taking on African nations. As I tend to do, I went out and did my own digging and researching on the subject. It was then, that I read about how generations were being wiped out by HIV/AIDS (poverty, hunger, diseases….) . How child-run households were almost becoming the norm. i knew I had to do something to help. Initially I was drawn to three areas – Swaziland, Uganda and Ethiopia. I read up on as much as I could on each of these places, I sponsored a child from there, bought beads from women of Uganda to sell, so they could make a living and prayed for these countries.

A lot of time and research went into these three countries, but I wanted to do something more. Then I started reading about the number of orphans that was being created by this disease (with almost 5 million being in Ethiopia). It was then that I got the itch to adopt. Pretty soon the initial itch became more of a, “WATCH OUT, I'M GOING TO ADOPT" – then it was just a matter of letting Boz in on it, and hoping he was going to be on board. HA HA!

Even before I told Boz, I started researching international adoption. I knew we were going to adopt and I knew it’d be from Africa. Though I didn’t know where yet. At first I thought about Swaziland (as it was kind of the ‘ground zero’ for AIDS – at least from what I’d been reading). But as i started looking at agencies, I learned that there was no international program for that country. There were programs for Uganda, Ethiopia and Rwanda. I can’t say WHY exactly, but I felt a pull towards Ethiopia. Maybe it was a God-thing. Maybe it was the pull of my child, or maybe both. I knew then that my child(ren) was (were) waiting for me in Ethiopia. I’m one to second guess a lot of things (I do this all the time), but this was the FIRST real decision where there was no second guessing myself. I knew right away and I haven’t looked back since. This was where my heart was. It’s funny because I know exactly where I was when I made this decision (in the basement, next to the storage shelves). It was one of those things that just HITS YOU square in the face.... I’m going to adopt. And it’s going to be from Ethiopia. Now how am I going to tell Boz!?

So maybe I didn’t choose Ethiopia, so much as Ethiopia chose me? I dunno. It’s one of those things that ‘you just know’. And that’s a pretty big statement coming from a girl who had never ‘just known’ anything.

Ethiopia also has the highest number of orphans due to AIDS than any other country, so naturally that was part of the decision as well. The more I read about Ethiopia and their people, the more I fall in love. And have you tried their food!? AMAZING.

For the rest of our reasons, please refer to the sidebar.

Why Ethiopia? Why not?