Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Letting Children Go

I came across a blog that is written by an Ethiopian family living in Addis Ababa. I've only read one story thus far but I am sure that it will give valuable insights. It might give you a moment of pause or cause you to think in a different way.


In the story an Ethiopian mother surrenders her child, but the story follows the father who feels the need to search for him.


Parental bond is a wonderful gift of God – an unseen and perpetual
umbilical binds the parent to the child. If ever it gets severed the world of
the parents comes to a halt – nothing else in the world matters. What happened
to Mary and Joseph for three days happened to Wondesen for seven good years.

Wondesen fell into a relationship their teens and the unexpected happened –
she got pregnant. Both of them had to flee from their homes and parents. They
went to live in a different suburb of Addis Ababa where nobody knew them. That
was when life began to harden for them. After the baby was born, the only thing
they could afford was to buy a loaf of bread daily dissolve in water and feed
the child. At a point they could no more agree because the girl wanted to go to
her parents since they were in the process of sending her abroad.

At a very short notice the girl revealed to Wondesen that she had made
plans to give the child away. Wondesen was terribly disturbed. But the girl
passed on the child to a woman who passed it on to other hands and the child
ended up in an unknown destination. Three weeks prior to this Wondesen had
become born again. The girl disappeared into the Diaspora, but the Wondesen was
sore grieved until life was no more worth living for the sake of the severed
link.



2 comments:

kn said...

Thank you for this link. I read the story and appreciate having the blog link.

How could it be any other way? I am sure the parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and grand parents, even the neighbors and school mates think of the missing child constantly.

Angela said...

Valerie,

This is what grieves my heart the most. It really is. I wonder about the birth family, the mom, the dad. I wish there were more options for the people of Africa.

Original Court Date: April 18, 2009
Final Court Date: May 18, 2009
[607 total days & 165 days w/IAN]