Why Africa???

Once we committed in our minds to adopt internationally, we needed to decide which country was right for us. Over several years, we have considered adopting from Ethiopia, Haiti, Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador, and Columbia, and from my understanding, adoptions from Guatemala and El Salvador are now closed, so those two countries were no longer an option. After looking into travel time, the age of the children who can be adopted, and the time from application to actually receiving your child, our decision was becoming more clear; and after our initial conversation with our social worker, we decided that Ethiopia was the perfect fit for our family. Here are some quick statistics on Ethiopia that you may find alarming.

According to unicef.org,

- Ethiopia counts one of the largest populations of orphans in the world: 13 per cent of children throughout the country are missing one or both parents. This represents an estimated 4.6 million children – 800,000 of whom were orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

and according to orphan.childrenshope.net

- The average annual income in Ethiopia is $1,000 compared to $43,800 in the U.S.- The average life expectancy is 49 years compared to 78 years in the U.S.- Access to Safe Water is 22% compared to 100% in the U.S.- Adequate Sanitation is 6% compared to 100% in the U.S.- The under 5 years old mortality rate is 92 deaths/1000 live births, compared to 6.4 deaths/1000 live births in the U.S.

UNBELIEVABLE!! That makes you realize how truly blessed we are.

Our social worker also told us that another advantage of adopting from Ethiopia is that they do not have an alcohol or drug problem there, so we do not have to worry about fetal alcohol syndrom like we would in the U.S. or other countries. Another thing I am finding out, is there is actually quite a few people around San Antonio that already have or are currently in the process of adopting from Ethiopia, so that will provide for some excellent resources along the road. It will also give our child the opportunity to get to know other children who have also been adopted from Ethiopia.

We are obviously very excited about our decision, but we still have a long way to go. I will inform you of the adoption process and how far along we are in the next post. Thanks to all of you for your support!