Promise for Children-Kalkidan LeLejoch

I am not sure where to start it has been awhile since I have written and so much has happened. We have had a few birthdays and many basketball games in this last month. After Kidus and Aaron celebrated their birthdays in January, we had Clint, Erica and Sierra all in February.


Sierra turned 18, I can't believe it! She only has 3 months left of High School and then on to Aveda Institute Denver. She has been accepted into cosmetology school in Denver on the 16th street mall. She is very excited and I think is ready for a change.

Erica is doing well and working at a brand new vet hospital in Boulder. This will help her to gain more clinical experience for her application into vet school.

Aaron is in Ithaca and is continuing his training with the Cornell track team.

Nati is preparing for his birthday on Monday the 9th. He has it all planned out. We are actually going to celebrate on Sunday with presents, cake, ice cream and hamburgers on the grill. I asked Nati if he wanted Injera and DoroWat and he said "no, I want a hamburger and french fries". Do you think he has adjusted? I will do another post about his birthday party.Bailey ran in the State Indoor Track Meet this weekend in Laramie. It was held at the University of Wyoming Feild House and was quite an event. She finished Basketball on the 28th of February and that next Monday she started track. She only worked out for a week with the team and then participated in the 400 meters on Friday the 6th. She placed 9th overall in the 400 meters and her 4x400 team finished 6th overall. We were very proud of her since she never really trained for any of it. She will go directly into Outdoor Track season and wish for greater successes and warm weather.

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Kidus is just Kidus, loving, funny and a real mamma's boy. He can now ride his bike without training wheels and wants us to go outside and "watch this".

So what does the title of this post mean....before Christmas I tried many times to communicate with Cheryl at the adoption agency about the three older siblings that we met when we were in Ethiopia. We wanted to see about supporting them and our office staff had gathered money for Christmas and wanted it to go towards their education or living expenses. After many attempts I decided to contact Tigist in Ethiopia and see if she could give me some information on the three, Etagne(girl, 15), Zemedkun(13,boy), and Taddesse(boy, 11). I was shocked to receive this news from Tigist. AFAA house in Ethiopia had been shut down and all the children had been moved back to the orphanage that they came from. I was not only devastated for the children but also for Tigist and all the house mothers. What about the waiting families that had referrals? I emailed all my "ethiopian adoptive mothers" that I knew and asked if they had heard of any of this. Nobody had any idea that this had happened. But what about the kids especially the siblings? Tigist already had a plan in place for several of the kids that are NOT "adoptable". These children will be put in the government orphanages and Tigist said these are BAD! I can't even imagine. So Tigist had identified 6 children out of the group that were at the AFAA house. They included Etagne, Zemedkun and Taddesse also a set of twins, Tiblet and Henok and an 8 month old boy, Robel.

Bailey, Etagne and Sierra March 2008 -I have a photo of the three siblings and I will try to get it scanned and put in next time.Tiblet-Twin (girl)Henok -Twin(boy)These children will not be able to get adopted for several reasons. Too old and a group of three, the twins' mother is mentally ill and is not able to complete the paperwork, and Robel has truly been abandoned and they are looking for some family to be able to do the paperwork.

Tigist was able to rent a house with 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms and a large yard for all these kids and we thought we had it all figured out, when...I recieved another email from her stating that the MOJ passed a new law that any child over the age of ten cannot live in an orphanage with younger children for reasons you can imagine. This meant that the three older kids could not be with Tigist in the new home. I shed many tears and Tigist and I talked back and forth for several days trying to come up with a plan to keep them from going to the government orphanage. These talks included a plan for them to come here to live with us. After much consideration and great commitment from Tigist, we decided that the children will be moving to Debrezeit with Haregwoin. Haregwoin's orphange will be moved to Debrezeit in a few weeks. (Debrezeit was a small town or village that we had visited when we were in Ethiopia. Nati actually has family that still lives there. ) This is the orphanage that the boys were at before coming to AFAA. It has been difficult in Addis Ababa because of the economy and corruption. She has agreed to help them find housing close to the orphanage and has arranged Etagne to become trained in cosmetology and Zemedkun in mechanics and still attend school. Taddesse will be attending school full time. Tigist felt like this is the best option. We cannot imagine that these children will be living by themselves, however, we do not always understand Ethiopian ways. These children will be better off staying in Ethiopia and learning a trade rather than coming to America and being undereducated. Tigist feels this is the best thing for them and I have to trust her. Debrezeit will be a better place for them rather than Addis Ababa. Less crime, less people and close to Haregwoin. Tigist will visit as often as she can, the trip is about 45 minutes from Addis Ababa.

Tigist will continue our "new project" in Ethiopia-Promise for Children. The remaining children, Tiblet, Henok, and Robel will live there along with some of the house mothers that came from the AFAA house. Tigist has worked with these women for 11 years and this was very hard to let them go and see them struggle for survival. We have agreed to support the three siblings, Etagne, Zemedkun and Taddesse and whatever we can do for Tigist as well. You would be surprised how far our money goes there. For example, the house that Tigist has rented will be $3400 for the entire year, which is 42,000 birr.
I know that some of you may not agree or feel like we may get taken advantage of. We know this woman, Tigist, and we know these children. We looked into their eyes and felt their hearts beating as we hugged. We saw their tears when we left Ethiopia and haven't forgotten what that felt like since we have been home. We will do what we can for as long as we can and that is all we can do. I will include some of Tigist's emails in the rest of this post. You can feel the sincerity and the gratitude that this woman feels. We thank you, Tigist, for all you have done for the children of Ethiopia, including our own two precious sons.

A FEW OF THE MANY EMAILS BETWEEN TIGIST AND ME: (Starting with the most recent)

Hi Lisa,
I'm glad that you agree with this new idea. I am getting some furniture and household items for the kids to have once they have their own place. Thank you so much for the financial support you sent as I did pick it up yesterday. You have no idea how much you are doing. I wish you were here to see it all and hope that you'll visit sometime in the future.

I am glad to hear about the boys. We miss them so much and as you we talk about your family a lot here also. I don't have a job yet but I'm trying and applying. Thank you so much for the package you're putting together. It is exciting to be part of such a project especially since we're saving lives. The kids are so happy and that is such a payment for me.

Have a wonderful weekend.
Tigist Kebede AFAA Ethiopia Country Representative

Tigist

I am very happy for the children!! I hope they can find peace in Debrezeit. I am so excited for Etagne!! We will continue to support them in whatever way they need. I can’t wait to see pictures of the houses and will send more clothing as soon as I see how much this shipment will be. We feel so blessed to have you and the children in our lives. Thank you for all you have done and continue to do. Please do not hesitate to let us know if you need anything else.
Do you have any leads on a job yet? I hope you are doing well and think of you aften throughout the day. Nati and Kidus ask about Africa, the kids, and of course YOU often. I think since they hear us talking about everything that is going on they are always curious. They are so precious! We cannot imagine our lives without them. Nati is doing so well in school. His reading is improving and he loves his teacher and school. Has made many friends and is very active in soccer and everything else!! Kidus is such a mamma’s boy! He loves preschool and is learning very fast. An absolute sweetheart!! I think of Ethiopia and people like you everyday and thank GOD for these precious gifts! Nati and Kidus.

We will talk soon.
Lisa MerrillLisa.Merrill@laramieoncology.com

Hi Lisa,
Yes, I also wish that I can have the kids but it's better and I'm relieved to know that they will be in Debrezeit where it is less of a city than Addis and safer. The kids visited yesterday and love Debrezeit and Etagne is beside herself happy to know that they are moving. I was happy to see them happy. Haregwoin is moving her site to Debrezeit because she found a huge space to house her children that a foundation from Italy is preparing to purchase for her/orphanage. This way she doesn't have to pay rent which amounted to 90,000 birr per year.

I do believe that the kids will do better here in Ethiopia because I really don't think they will be able to fit into an adoptive home. They have experienced so much and are now growing and being accustomed to the life in Addis. I do believe that sponsoring them here and making sure that they have some education and that they will be able to support themselves will be more than you can imagine.

Thank you so much for sending the money once again. I will go to Debrezeit myself once they've moved to make sure that they are set up well and give you idea on how they are doing.

Thank you also for sending the package. As always vitamins and basic medicines like Tylenol and such are always useful.

You've done so much already and I hope you know how much of a support you are to us here. I wish there were anyother way to express our feelings and how grateful we are to you and your family. You've saved so many children and also some of our staff members and shown us that life will be better and that our grim future suddenly became brighter again just because of you. Can you please send me a picture of your family so I can have it up in the new home?

Thanks and much love.
Tigist Kebede AFAA Ethiopia Country Representative

Hi Tigist
I was so hoping that these three could be under your care. However, I do understand and know that this is the best thing to do for now. My heart aches and I have shed many tears this morning over this. I just do not want them to end up in the government orphanage or out on the streets! I so wish we could bring them here! I am trying to find some peace in knowing that this may not be the right time? Or is it? My thought is that they will be safer in Debrezeit then in the city, do you agree? We visited there when we traveled to get the boys and it seems nice and a little more quiet than Addis Ababa. Why is Haregwoin moving here orphanage? I am sure that the economy has a lot to do with it?
I trust you to know what is the best thing for these children right now. If you think this is a better then anything other option then we must do it. Please let them know that we love them and that we will keep trying to do what is right for them. Thank you again Tigist.
Tigist, please let me know what else I can do. I am sending two boxes FED EX tomorrow. Clothes, toothbrushes, ETC..
Let me know what you decide about Etagne, Zemedkun and Taddesse.
Thank You for all your hard work and dedication to the beautiful children.

Lisa Merrill

Hi Lisa,
Hope you've had a good weekend. Just to update you on the happenings here. Last week Friday MOJ passed a new regulation that will restrict older children (especially boys) to live with younger children in an orphanage. This means that children over 10 years of age (boys) will not be able to live in the same compound with younger children for many reasons as you can imagine. There are government orphanages that house older children but a horendous place to be in. So I have been driving myself crazy to see what I can do for these siblings. Thank God for Haregwoin who is the orphanage's owner who is moving her site to Debrezeit (45min out of Addis) next week. After a mind racking weekend she found a place where Etagne can train as a hairdresser and still go to school (though I know Etagne will not want to go to school. It has always been difficult to convince her to go to school when she was with me. One parent told me that she might have a learning disability.) while Zemedkun can go to school and part-time learn to be a car mechanic and Taddesse will be going to school. The kids are very excited especially Etagne since she loves to do hair. Now, with your agreement what I'm going to do is with the help of Haregwoin find a place for the children to live in closer to the orphanage so they can keep an eye on them and make sure that they have food, clothing, pay their school fee, etc.. This way they will have some training to help them get a job if necessary when the time comes. I need to know what your thoughts are on this matter since it is because of you we are surviving here. I personally think that this is the best idea other wise the government will take the children and place them in the government orphanage and that is bad.

I am hoping that the other kids will still come to the new home once the whole situation is cleared
Again, thank you for being there for us. I just wanted to update you on the latest on our situation. Talk to you soon.

Tigist Kebede AFAA Ethiopia Country Representative