One Family

A few weeks ago we ordered this DVD called One Family: An Ethiopian Adoption. It is the story of a couple in Vermont who adopt a 10 year old girl named Meskerem from Ethiopia.

We watched it when we got home from work tonight and couldn’t help but cry. In the video Meskerem’s new adoptive parents go to meet her brother and large extended family in Ethiopia before travelling back to the USA (her family was no longer able to care for her and had to give her up to an orphanage). It reminded me of how I felt at times reading “There is no me without you”. It is just so sad that there are not more ways to keep these children with their extended families (or birth parents if they are there). It is sad to see them lose their birth country, their language, the only friends they have known, and their remaining family. There is no doubt this is a loss the child and surviving family will feel their entire lives.

When people say “oh you want to adopt, that’s great you are saving that child”, the truth is adoption is not the perfect solution for these children. The day we bring our child home will be one of the happiest days of our lives but it will only be made possible because of the immense loss our child and his/her birth family have experienced (and will continue to feel over the course of their lives).

The video is only 35min long and cost us $23 (USD) with shipping. If you are interested here is the link - One Family: An Ethiopian Adoption.