A few pics from Ethiopia

A mission team from the University of Kentucky football program is in Ethiopia this week - I hope to be able to post several updates from the team if the internet cooperates!


Jeff was able to email just a couple of pictures this morning from their first day with the University of Kentucky team.

Mark - on the phone arranging things for the projects they’ll be working on this week.  Ethiopian coffee to start the day off is a must!

The three UK football players meeting some kids in Addis.

Monday will be a visit to a sponsorship program and serving at the Hope Enterprise Feeding Project.  What a week this will be for these young men!  Thanks so much for your prayers over all!

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First Mission Team of 2012

In a few short days, Adoption Ministry’s first mission team this year will be arriving in Addis Ababa. This team is from the University of Kentucky and is made up of several football players, the football coach and his wife and the assistant athletic director. They’ll be running several sports camps for kids, doing work projects for several of our Adoption Ministry 1:27 families living in Addis and working at our Widows and Orphans Home in Adama.

Mark and Jeff are already in Addis and have been busy gathering supplies they’ll need for these projects.  If you’ve ever shopped for something specific in Ethiopia, you know it takes about 10 times longer than it would here in the US. 





Please join us in praying for this team – for safety, for all of the different opportunities for interactions with and serving people, and for God to have a big impact on many hearts and lives.  Stay tuned for updates as we get them!

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Gifts on Mother’s Day

“Once upon a time I held a child

whose eyes did not match mine

 

Her hair a different color

His smile was just divine

This child was not born
from my womb

but given by another

For me to love and give a home

to one day call me Mother

No greater gift will I receive

or cherish more than this

Thank you Lord

with all my heart

for granting me my wish."
by Linda Paige-Tolis

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Linking You Up

Meditations on a Messy Life
@Empowered to Connect
When we love people, we invite their brokenness and mess into our lives. Mess is inconvenient; it takes our time, energy, and sometimes money to make it better. Despite our efforts, the mess cannot always be fully contained. It spills over and touches the people who dare to stand near.

Helping a Child with Sexualized Behaviors
@Empowered to Connect
It is important for parents to understand healthy touch and to communicate respect for personal boundaries as they help their child learn to seek and give affection in healthy and appropriate ways. Watch as Dr. Karyn Purvis provides insights for parents to help them respond effectively to a child who exhibits sexualized behaviors.

How Do You Measure Success as a Parent?
@Empowered to Connect
It is critically important for parents to remain focused on what it means to be successful as they navigate the adoption or foster care journey. Watch this 3 minute video as Amy & Michael Monroe share their insights about how to measure success on this journey.

Bringing a Message of Hope
@Show Hope
Nearly two years after we brought our first adopted children home, our lives were quite literally falling apart, but Jesus met the needs of our hearts when we stumbled upon an online lecture of Dr. Karyn Purvis teaching parents just like us. She gave us hope that our children could heal and that our family could be restored. Best of all, she explained why our little ones behaved the way they did, and gave us tools to parent them productively. Trust me when I say, we had to learn a new way of parenting our children from “hard places.”

10 Overseas Travel Tips (You’ve Never Read Before)
@ShaunGroves
As the Compassion Bloggers start packing for Tanzania (May 6-12) I thought I’d offer a few overseas travel tips you likely haven’t read anywhere else.

12 Travel Tips for Overseas Adoption Trips
@Parents Magazine
While there are no surefire ways to plan for all of the circumstances you might encounter, there are some general guidelines you can follow.


Baobab Haus
An Illinois couple who adopted from Ethiopia have created an online shop for African items - for kids and adults.

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Desperate Mothers

by Joy Casey
A woman without a husband in Ethiopia has a very, very hard life. The social pressures and implications of being pregnant are unbearably hard. If a girl is pregnant and not married, she may use rape as the best explanation for her condition because it is shameful to admit to being promiscuous.  As hard as it is to hear, rape is quite common in Ethiopia.  In the society of rural Ethiopia, being unmarried and pregnant means you are an outcast.  A woman who gives birth outside of marriage and keeps her baby most likely will never marry.

 

 
Backstreet abortions are all too common in Ethiopia with some disastrous results for birthmothers.  Because of the extreme taboo of pregnancy outside of marriage, girls are driven to desperation.  Why do we find babies, complete with placenta, lying on the jungle floor and no sight of the young woman who just gave birth?  Or women who have to have a complete hysterectomy when the stick she used to abort her child perforates her uterus?  These are acts of desperate women and they are common.   If I were to put myself in their shoes, I am not at all sure I wouldn’t leave my baby in the hospital and disappear into the woodwork never to be seen again.  Leaving a baby in the hospital where a mother knows the child will be cared for is a safe thing to do and she wouldn’t have to face the humiliation of having a baby when she is not married.

 

 
I have worked in adoptions for 30 years and have counseled over 400 pregnant women (we also run a maternity home here in Washington).  I was surprised when we started working in Ethiopia that our ministry would be to pregnant women and women who have relinquished for adoption.  I was further surprised that the basic emotions of an unwanted pregnancy are the same here in the U.S. and in Ethiopia.  We in America just have sanctioned ways of getting rid of a pregnancy, our society doesn’t ostracize the woman and adoptions are easier to do… but the angst, emotions and many of the motivations are the same in both societies. 

 

 
An Ethiopian woman who relinquishes her child goes through a rather grueling and humiliating process to do so.  She has to explain her circumstances, why there is no known father and basically expose herself and her private life to three courts and some White strangers at the Embassy.  In America, a relinquishing birthmother meets with a lawyer and signs papers - no official usually confronts her about her decision or pries into her personal life.  Critics of international adoption will say - and I'm sure there is some truth to this - that there is a much higher chance that unscrupulous people will coerce a woman in Ethiopia to relinquish because she is so poor and uneducated.  Perhaps so, but I think women in Ethiopia who go through the relinquishment process have to really want adoption for their child or they wouldn't put themselves through the ordeal.
 
In an ideal world, men who father children wouldn’t abandon their families and women would have equal educational and job opportunities and would be emotionally and economically able to parent.  Unfortunately, especially in Third World countries, the reality is that many poor and downtrodden women get pregnant and these single mothers are thrust into the role of providing care and economic support for their babies which they are ill-equipped to do.  In many cases, both in the U.S. and in Ethiopia, turning to adoption as a viable parenting plan is a good option both for the woman and her child.  Adoption Ministry is working with local Ethiopian churches to find families in their congregations to adopt some of the 6 million orphans in their country.  Foster families are also being encouraged and supported to take in orphaned children.  International adoption is also a recourse for a very small number of children.*

 

 
The bottom line is that God has His hand on these little lives and saves them (from abortion) and then further blesses them through adoption into wonderful families.  He has a fantastic hope and future for them!

*In 2011 there were just under 1,732 children adopted from Ethiopia into American families.  This affected .00003 of the children needing families in Ethiopia.  To see creative solutions to the orphan problem and ways to prevent homeless children, read about YWAM’s Adoption Ministry 1:27.
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The reality of abortion in Ethiopia

We are sharing an update from Living Hope Maternity Home in Adama, Ethiopia.  Enjoy!

by Dinah Monahan
We are aborting Ethiopia’s children!  I say “we” because it is U.S. money that is training, equipping and paying for the operating costs of clinics – both in the cities and in the outlying villages.  There is NO regard for the women.  In the clinics they are giving the pregnant women RU486 without accurately establishing to how far along they are.  The women are NOT told anything of the health risks, which include many complications, possible death or sterilization.  If the baby is obviously too large, the girls are receiving surgical abortions in clinics and government hospitals. The abortions are done through the third trimester.
 
While there are many healthcare professionals who oppose abortion, there is no organized opposition….until now!  Living Hope received a shared grant from the Storms Family Foundation and another family trust to start a Crisis Pregnancy Center in Adama.  It is the first and only CPC in Ethiopia!  Our CPC will be staffed by our Maternity Home nurse, Mulu and our purchaser, Abu.  We will be returning in November and hope to carry in a portable ultrasound machine with us. 
 
Meseret is not only running the maternity home, she is laying the foundation for organized opposition to abortion in Ethiopia.  People there are being lied to and abortion is being pushed on this culture with a passion.  Not only do babies die, but the fabric of this child-loving culture will be torn irreparably .  In this country, women are victims to many terrible circumstances.  Yet abortion is particularly cruel because it is being offered as a simple, painless solution to their problems.  No assistance or real help is offered.  No genuine caring for the woman as a person.  The women are herded in and given the abortion pill, or given a surgical abortion with no information or understanding of what is being done.  
 
The church is silent because there is so little accurate knowledge of abortion.  God has opened doors for Meseret to speak to pastors, health professionals, and women’s groups.  There are now groups of people meeting regularly with the purpose of educating others about abortion.  This is how it starts.  What a privilege to be at the very beginning of the Pro-Life movement in a country!
 

 
Meseret was recently asked to speak to a group of pastors and women’s groups where she shared about the sanctity of human life.  She explained the stages of development of a baby in its mother’s womb because most people in Ethiopia believe that before 3 months gestation “the baby is just blood.”  She told how the heart begins beating after the 21st day and the facts about abortion.  Two pastors invited Meseret to speak at a training center for pastors and leaders in that community.
 

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Two of the newest residents at Living Hope…
 

Fanose is a grade 5 student and is 17 years old.  She was a house maid when she became pregnant.  She was told about Living Hope by the wife of the guard.








Zelalem is also 17 years old.  Her parents died of HIV and she was living with her aunt along with her two younger sisters.  She left her home to work at a hotel in the northern part of Ethiopia.  The hotel owner was using the girls who worked there as prostitutes and collecting the money for himself.  When Zelalem became pregnant, she asked the owner’s permission to get an abortion but he didn’t want to be held responsible if anything happened.   She returned to Adama where she heard about Living Hope.





Be sure to visit Living Hope’s website to read more about the important work they are doing in Ethiopia:
www.livinghopeethiopia.org

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The Truth That Troubles Me

by Jeff Butler
Program Director, Adoption Ministry 1:27

The Truth:
We as Christians believe in and worship an all-powerful, perfect, loving and gracious God.
We as Christians today are part of the richest church in the history of Christianity.
We Christians live in a world that is experiencing the greatest global human suffering.
 
How can these truths co-exist? How can there be an all-powerful loving God, limitless in strength, knowledge, resources and compassion, yet 1,000 children die every hour from starvation and preventable diseases? 
 
There’s no lack of power or compassion within God’s heart!  The truth that troubles me is what I discovered within my own heart - this is where I found the biggest problem!  You, I, and the rest of the church are Christ’s hands, feet, arms, eyes and ears on planet earth. We have been given His Holy Spirit therefore we have everything we need to make a global impact.
 

I was serving as a pastor of a community church a few years ago. I was invited to go to Ethiopia along with a YWAM missions team to visit and serve at their Widows and Orphans Homes.  I had no idea why I was going, but I really believed God wanted me to go. The suffering and loss of the poor - people just like me - shattered my heart. Global poverty and suffering became more real and personal. I came back burdened but unclear about what I was to do about it.
 
Since then I have been back to Ethiopia five times. My wife and I have adopted three children from YWAM’s orphanages. I helped lead a church mission team to serve with churches in Ethiopia.  I was reading books such as The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns, and Radical by David Platt. God was schooling me. Each trip I took to Ethiopia, I would see more of the bigger picture - what causes poverty, widows and orphans.  
 

Orphan Care: I saw the work being done to care for widows and orphans. Most of us realize this is our biblical mandate found in James 1:27:  “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:  to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”  YWAM has four Widows and Orphans Homes in Ethiopia where widows and children are lovingly cared for, both in the homes and in the surrounding communities.
 

Orphan Reduction: Next I saw the need to reduce the number of orphans in the world through the God-originated idea of adoption. My wife and I had already adopted four children domestically before my trip to Ethiopia so I totally got this one! Orphan reduction though adoption. The minute an orphan is adopted, they become a son or a daughter!
 
I felt there was something more that needed to be done. I believe God gave me a picture of the crisis to help me understand at a deeper level. I pictured a poor struggling family, like many single-parent families I had encountered in Ethiopia, standing on the bank of a raging river when a crisis occurs. The mother, trying to hold the family together, loses her grip and the children slide off into the raging river. The mother desperately tries to save them but can’t. Downstream, on the bank, are some people that reach out and try to grab hold of some of these children before they go over the impending waterfall and are lost.
 


This is a true story that is occurring everyday in our world!  When these families, mostly held together by a single parent, fall apart though death, disease or starvation, the children fall into the most perilous of circumstances. They live on the streets where they fend for themselves without protection from abuse and exploitation. Many simply don’t make it.

 
Some are rescued by those downstream. They may end up being cared for in orphanages and a few are adopted. Should we simply wait and if it’s not too risky, or too costly, or too uncomfortable, to maybe reach out to a few to try and pull them out?  But what about those who don’t get a family? What about those who don’t get a meal or a shelter?
 

 
God was already moving to answer the question that lay heavy upon my heart and it seemed that He had laid this burden on a few others of the YWAM Leadership Team. God was also moving to connect the YWAM team with local Ethiopian churches to birth a new work… 
 
Orphan Prevention: We as the Body of Christ need to come alongside vulnerable families and help to sustain them so that their children don’t become orphans. This can’t be a government solution, or a parachurch solution; it needs to be a local church solution: Orphan Prevention through the local church!
In September of 2011 Adoption Ministry of YWAM Ethiopia launched a new work known as Adoption Ministry 1:27 to partner with the Ethiopian Church to care for widows and orphans. We have developed partnerships with several indigenous Ethiopian churches to care for vulnerable families in some of the poorest regions of Ethiopia where we launched the “Adopt a Family” Program.  Local church pastors identify the poorest, most vulnerable families in their communities – either single-parent families on the verge of collapse or guardian families who are willing to take in orphaned children but need financial help to do so.  We seek those who will “adopt” one of these families for $40 per month. 100% of the money goes in-country to Ethiopia to run the program and care for each family with food, medical care and help with income-generating activities. 
I have visited many of these families who have been adopted through Adoption Ministry 1:27 and have seen radical transformation, revitalized health and renewed hope. 
 

 
The truth that troubled me is being used to transform me.  You and I, the Church, are God’s answer!  Let’s start being the Church.  We need to get off our comfortable spot on the bank of the river, swim upstream and wrap our arms around a vulnerable family to sustain and support them. 
 

Jeff Butler serves as Program Director for Adoption Ministry 1:27 and is also on the board of Adoption Ministry.  He and his wife, Chris, have adopted three children from Ethiopia.




If you would like to ‘Adopt a Family’ or just want more information about Adoption Ministry 1:27, please contact us at:  jamie@adoptionministry.net


Also, please check out our latest AM 1:27 newsletters:

March 2012

December 2011

 

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The Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit is coming up on May 3-4 at Saddleback Church in southern California.  There you can hear Dennis Rainey, Francis Chan, Rick and Kay Warren and many other great speakers address orphan care and God’s heart for the orphan.  Click on the photo below for more information!