Situation in Ethiopia and Adoption Update

It has been on my list for some time now to update those of you that read our blog on the status of our adoption.  There are many who read this that are currently in the process of adopting from Ethiopia so you already know most of what I am going to write, but for those of you who might not know how bad the circumstances are in Ethiopia, this one's for you.

Over the past few weeks we have been hearing more and more bad news from our agency and also from the media about things that are happening over in Ethiopia. Things that have been greatly hurting the Ethiopian people which in turn also affects the adoption process for everyone.  Ethiopia is struggling right now mainly because they are in the middle of a terrible drought. This drought affects crops and drinking water but it actually goes way beyond that. 

Around the end of the February power rationing was started again in Ethiopia. Power rationing is done by the Ethiopian government to meet the energy demands of the country. Due to a shortage of power, the electricity is turned off to save energy. Most electricity is generated through dams and without enough water (and dams being built taking longer then scheduled) the problem continues to grow. Back in February everyone was very annoyed with the rationing but as it continues, this is no longer simply an annoyance, but a catastrophe for the economy and for many people. And it is not over.  We have been hearing that soon the power rationing could be as high as 48 hours of no power and 12 hours with. When there is no electricity, businesses cannot stay open, offices cannot conduct their business and factories cannot produce.  You can see how this might affect the adoption process.  No electricity equals no lights, no copy machine, no phones, no computers and the list goes on and on.  Kinda hard to get the necessary paperwork in order for a court case when you don't have these things.

But the impact on the country is so much bigger. There are many small business that operate in Addis Ababa and other cities where that business provides the income for the owner and/or employees and supports a large household. Income is shared within families as unemployment is high. As power rationing continues, businesses close down and more people will lose their jobs, with little prospect of another one.  

Small businesses like coffee shops, translation offices, secretarial services etc. are dependent on power to operate. On days without power, they cannot work, which is a big loss for those that needs to bring in a specific amount of income to stay operational.  Larger business like restaurants suffer greatly too. A lot more time and effort is needed to prepare food and keep it fresh and many need to spend money on purchasing generators. 

Government offices, banks and others also suffer great slowdowns with the power cuts. The work of one week is forced into a few days and people wait longer for things that otherwise take only a few hours.

Large factories, which provide needed items for the society, or sent products for export, and bring in the needed foreign currency, are struggling to stay operational and every day you read in the papers of another one shut down. Without sufficient power the large machines cannot operate and many hours of work are lost when the power is shut off. The government is even requiring some factories to purchase generators for their power needs or to be cut off completely.  Specific factories are currently still exempt from the rationing, such as pharmaceutical factories, but if the power shortage continues, even they will need to be included in the rationing, forcing them to become dependent on generator power in order to keep the power properly regulated. 

Something to think about from a fellow adoptive parent that posted this on our adoption group website:

As I have been reading about the food and electricity shortages in Ethiopia, I have come to realize more and more that we as a community must be about more than just adoption. We MUST be about HOPE for a nation that struggles in ways we will likely never understand. There are so many people in the U.S. who never learn about crises elsewhere. They have nothing with which to compare our standard of living in the U.S. because they have never left the "developed" world.

We, as a community, have already begun a response through adoption, but it simply is not enough. Susan PD said in a post on the AAI site that if you are inclined to pray, now would be a good time for prayer.

**If you are not able to add a child to your
household, please find a way to support humanitarian work. Children are waiting... for HOPE, sometimes for FOOD, many times for a CHANCE at FULL LIFE.

There are so many ways to help. Donating (money or time) is always a great help and there are so many places to do so. Here are just a few, but the options are practically endless:

*Feed the Hungry-- http://www.feedthehungry.org

*World Food Program

*Adoption Advocates International - Check out our agency's Humanitarian page where you can donate funds, items, or volunteer.  There are also many other adoption agencies that you can contact that would have many ways for you to help and/or get involved.

*MercyCorps-- http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/ethiopia

*Spreading the word. Thanks to the Internet, there are so many ways to get the information out. Facebook, MySpace, Blogger, and Twitter are great places to start. 

*And, lastly - please pray. Right now we are praying hard for rain. The country is in need of so many things, but right now rain seems to be the strongest need. Please join with us in praying for this country that is so close to our hearts.

Update concerning our adoption:

Due to the drought and the huge slow down of day to day activities it is causing, we are now thinking that we might not receive our referral until some time in December.  Right now it has been taking about 9+ months to receive a referral for a baby girl.  The good news is that our agency is finished going through a couple of months where they had a lot of waiting families, this contributed somewhat to the wait for others that were farther down the list getting a bit longer.  The next few months are said to be not quite as busy so we are hoping that things will even out and maybe we could get back to looking at a Sept./Oct referral!