While cleaning out the magazine rack today I found the most recent issue of Adoption Today magazine (April/May 06) still in its shrink-wrap. Somehow someone had whisked it off to be put away before I'd even gotten around to reading it.

Within seconds I had it unwrapped and was reading it while sitting right there in front of the mess of half-sorted magazines. The magazines didn't get put away until some time later, after I'd read the magazine cover to cover.

I was especially moved by a piece written by Cindy Champnella, the mother of two Chinese daughters. She shares the story of being... more

One of the things that is important to me when evaluating adoption agencies is their level of outreach to the children who still wait in Ethiopia, especially those who will probably not ever be adopted. Here are some of the things that various agencies are doing.

Adoption Advocates International has a very active child support program, called the Nazaret Orphan Student Sponsorship Fund. The program is based in Nazaret, a town about two hours south of Addis Ababa. HIV/AIDS is a very serious problem in this area and the school has identified 1000 orphans who live with extended family but are at risk for dropping... more

I wanted to mention that I have added a new category to this blog, entitled 'How To Help'. In many of my posts I have shared my heart-burden for the desperate need of the Ethiopian people, at times without mentioning solutions.

I don't remotely pretend to have ALL the solutions--- if I did, I'd probably be in the running for a Nobel prize. But that fact that we don't know the entire solution does not excuse us to do nothing. There ARE things we can and should do, especially as adoptive parents of Ethiopian kids.

I would like to put together a list of the ways that various adoption agencies help the children who cannot be adopted. My agency is AAI,... more

Last week I read a long story in my local newspaper about a woman who is doing what I might like to do in an alternate life. Or maybe she's doing what I'll be able to do when my kids are grown, I don't know.

Her name is Mary Dirksen, and she recently returned from a 21 month work trip in the Somali area of Ethiopia. There she served as project coordinator and the medical person responsible for a regional tuberculosis control program.

This was not her first similar assignment. She is affiliated with Doctors Without Borders and has also worked... more

Today while writing and thinking about HIV testing for adoptable children, I got wondering what the actual statistics are on HIV in Ethiopia. I found many of the following statistics here: NIC Ethiopia AIDS statistics.

Ethiopia’s adult prevalence rate of HIV is estimated at between 10 and 18 percent. Government figures cite 2.7 million Ethiopians currently as HIV positive, although experts believe the actual number may be between 3 and 5 million. The prevalance in cities is higher than in rural areas: 13-20% in cities... more

Ethiopia is currently facing one of the worst water years on record. Making matters worse is the fact that this is the second year where rain has been severely lacking. Some people say it's been 5 years since a decent rainy season. The hardest hit areas of Ethiopia are south and east of Addis.

As always, the children are the hardest hit. According to the UN Office For Coordination Of Humanitarian Affairs

"We have already identified critical malnutrition rates in the Somali region, with 20 percent... more

Awhile back someone recommended to me the book "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder, a story about a doctor doing ground-breaking work in Haiti and around the world to fight TB and HIV.

When I heard about the book, I was immediately interested, partly because I have read other books... more