This year, I’m giving away my birthday.
I’ve had 40 of them already. It’s not like I need another one.
But experiences I have had since my last birthday made me realize what it truly means to need something. I am far from wealthy, but I am grateful for everything I have.
In the past year, my wife and I have been to Ethiopia twice. Our new son was housed in foster care through the Gladney Center for Adoption for almost a year while the Ethiopian courts and government agencies worked out all of the details to bring us together for good.
For the past few years, Ethiopia had sanctioned about 2,500 adoptions for U.S. families per year. However, policy changes have cut that number down to under 200.
Our agency has received placement of 125 orphans (out of the almost 5 million orphans in Ethiopia) in its foster care system. The children range in age from weeks old to almost 10 years old.
Our son was there for almost a year. By the grace of God, our case was heard just in time to fall under the old system and not suffer the extended delays facing so many families on the waiting list now.
There is no mechanism for Gladney to return these children to other orphanages and no desire to skimp on the overall care the children receive there.
Almost 50 of the 60 caregivers were also orphans who have been trained to by Gladney to work in the centers so that they can have a career and a chance to make it on their own.
Dawit made it home just in time. But what about Ayat, Shoshambo, Antone, Alamayu, and Marshet? We held their hands, hugged their necks, and played with them.
How many of them made it to their new homes?
What happens for those that didn’t make it out is pretty simple.
They wait.
With more than 70 agencies trying to place orphans in loving homes and only a couple hundred approved by the government each year, that wait could be lengthy.
But they still have to eat. They need clothes. They need their caregivers.
I don’t know how to rescue 5 million orphans.
But we can help the children I know. That’s why I am asking my friends, my family and anyone who reads this to help these children out. It takes about $75 per week to provide everything these children need. That’s less than $4,000 per year.
That’s why my birthday wish list is simple this year. Donate money to help these kids. They need it.
Dawit got his family. Those left behind deserve to have someone take care of them, too.
Together we can make a difference in their lives. We can know these children are fed, clothed and cared for until they find their way to a loving family.
No child should be left on their own.
The best way to donate is to go to the page I set up through Gladney’s Project 320 site (http://bit.ly/n36moL). All proceeds will go straight to the program to make sure these children receive the best care possible.
Together we can make a difference in the life of a child who hasn’t had many advantages.
Every day when I look at my son, I think about what his fate would have been if the government had made this decision a month earlier. If he were still in one of these centers, I would hope someone would help take care of him.
That’s the only reason I am doing this. Dawit has friends who are there and will be for some time.
If giving up a new shirt, a dozen golf balls or a dinner out means these children are taken care of then that is the best birthday present I will have ever received.
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