If you look at most of the news coming out of Ethiopia, it seems that bad news about Ethiopia is a lot easier to find than good. Ethiopian adoptees growing up in America may get a wrong picture of Ethiopia if all they ever hear about Ethiopia is people dying of AIDS and families who cannot care for their children any longer. That's why I think it is important to also tell our children about Ethiopian people who are doing great things.

Meseret Defar is one such person. She was born November 19, 1983 in Addis Ababa, and is an Olympic runner. She won gold in the women's 5000 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. She won a silver medal at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki, losing only to fellow Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba. In 2006 she won the World Indoor Championships over 3000 metres, and that same year also broke the world record for 5000 metres in New York City in June.

This past weekend Meseret Defar continued her winning streak by breaking the world record in the women's 2-mile run at the Adidas Track Classic. The new record was her fourth world record. She won in 9 minutes, 10.47 seconds, leaving her rivals far behind. After winning she grabbed the green, gold and red Ethiopian flag and jogged around the track, stopping to greet well-wishers.

There is so much more to Ethiopia than poverty and illness. We as adoptive parents have a responsibility to make sure our children know about some of the wonderful people and things that have come out of Ethiopia. Are you teaching your children about the good things about Ethiopia? If you aren't familiar with any famous Ethiopians, check back here. This post is the first in a series about famous Ethiopian people.

Other Ethiopian accomplishments to be proud of:

Ethiopian Coffee
Ethiopian Music