THE LEGEND OF THE QUEEN OF SABA

Once upon a time there was a queen called Makeda, here in Ethiopia is considered the queen of Saba that is on the Bible. The legend says that she was listening about a very wise king called Solomon. She listen so much things about him that she wanted to meet him once. She organised a trip with her servants and trusted people to go to Solomon country.

When she was there She could saw how great was Solomon's kingdom and how wise he was. When she was going to go Solomon had an idea, he made prepare very salty and spicy food for her and her people for dinner. After the dinner it was so late and he invited her to sleep in his palace. At that time she was afraid and she ask him not to touch anything that belongs to her, and the wise king asked her not to touch anything of the palace. When they were sleeping, Makeda was feeling thirsty because of the prepared food and she wanted water to drink, but when she drink the water the king comes and told her that she had touch something of the palace and as she has break the rule he can do so and asked her to sleep with him.

After Makeda went back to her country and after nine months gave birth a child called Menelik, and this child become the firs king of the solomonic dynasty that have been ruling Ethiopia until Haile Sellassie.

From my point of view is just a legend, but many countries' history start from a legend and is not bad.

ETHIOPIAN CULTURE AND ADOPTED CHILDREN

As far as I have seen the difference between adopted children and Ethiopian children is big.

Ethiopian children have grow up in a context of a family, and neighborhood where they grow up and learn about the culture. If they like it or not they learn the behavior of the Ethiopians, for example the community life, if someone get sick or have a trouble the neighbors try to help him. Here the life is hard and most of the people is poor, but if it is necessary to help each other they do it.

Ethiopian children respect their parents, they are mostly afraid of the father, and the mother is more protective and they love the mother so much, so it make a balanced family. It makes me think of a lions family, the male is the power that protect the family and the mother is the one that take care of the children with love. The way of thinking is changing but the family structure is like this up to now.

Adopted children get something but they also loose something. They can not be like Ethiopian children bu at least they have to know. Love is love but they can not cut away everything, because one day they grow up and they need to know who they are. Probably they will also ask themselves about that. The biological family can not teach them, so they need a way to learn about it.

Because of that I would like to write some cultural and historical subjects in the following posts so you can know and explain your children about the cou

ABANDONED CHILDREN

Been abandoned is one of the typical story of the children, specially the ones that are under one year. In the papers say where the child have been found and there is normally a police report. Some times is near a mission, hospital or other public place where, I guess, the mother expect that the child will be found soon.

Once I was going out of Addis and I was speaking with a social worker. At that moment someone called him and after he told me that another child have been found.

REASONS

I have born and grow up in Ethiopia, I know what means to be poor. Somehow in the city there are many associations, missions etc where a mother can get help, food or money, but out of the city sometimes the life is hard and they can not afford a child. Specially if they have no husband. so they prefer to give the child in adoption.

There can be also social reasons. Out of the city is a big problem to give birth out of the marriage. The woman is excluded from the society if it happens.

In the city sometimes the young women that have economical problems they accept to make sex with sugar daddy that give them money. It can happen they were raped. Specially in this last case for them is hard to see the child.

As a law fact a mother can not say that she can not grow up a child, there is no legal way to give the child in adoption, at least if the mother is healthy, so they must abandon the child.

THE ORIGINS

May be in a case like that you may think that is not useful to find the origins. No one knows. Sometimes going to ask about cases like that is posibe to see the files of the child and discover something new, like someone that founded the child or someone that have seen the mother even for a short time and can tell something about her.

Even it can happen that the social worker can guess who was the mother and something can be found. Is not easy, really not.

Another thing is to be sure that the child story is really true. That is also a big thing even if is difficult to tell about that

PAPERS


I start to have some experience about the papers of the children, and is really not easy to be able to believe that everything is true. Sometimes there are inexact things, sometimes all is true, sometimes there are more false things than the true ones. In this last case from my point of view without searching the real story is difficult to explain your child where does he come from and why.

If everything is true always is nice to put into images the story of the child. he or she doesn't need to create an image of the biological parents, but he can just have it, even sometimes there can be found information about the large family that is not referred on the papers, for example about the grandparents or brothers and sisters.

If here are inexact things is always good to put the things in the right place, may be in the papers say there was a neighbor who was caring the child and in fact was an aunt or a grandmother. And also to know it is profitable. Normally family keeps a mother picture or at least they can explain who she was and what she did.

If the false is more than the truth at least you can say we don't really know who you are. I say so because sometimes two children have the same papers, and of course one of the two is not the owner of the story. Or sometimes, if the family is lucky it can be found people that in the papers is died or disappeared.

Sometimes to see the true files of a child or to get an answer the people ask me to pay something, it creates  me questions, because to pay is a easy way to get what the family wants, but also a way to make bigger the corruption... 

LOVE AND BUSINESS

The stories of your children normally are love stories. I feel most of the adoptive families love their children, and I feel also that the biological families do so. The biological families have many reasons to give in adoption their children, but I think there is also love when they decide to give them a better opportunity in the life.

I like to help the children to know their stories for many reasons, and one of them is the happiness: The happiness of the biological family when they have news about their children abroad, the happiness of a child that can finally know the truth of the own story, and my own happiness to see both parts happy.

Of course there would be people that make business on that or they feel it like a job, sometimes also the ethiopian people think that the farengi (the white people) have so much money and they want a take the most  profit they can. From my point of view the business and the love have to be balanced. I like to do the things with love, but I also want to get something, I'm student and if I can pay myself the school and the things I need is for me a great satisfaction.

I would like to know what the people think about it, I remember someone telling me that they don't know the prices of the things here, so for them is difficult to know if a price is fare. Even people think that when is not possible to find anything no one have been there and it is just to say that the work have been done but it was unsuccesfull. I would like to know how is possible to do it better for all, may be your ideas can help me.

THE NEW ETHIOPIA

In the last period, Ethiopia and specially Addis Abeba is changing a lot... some times the city administration change the number of the qebele (neighborhood) or simply they decide that a area of the city have to be demolished to construct new buildings and commercial centers. It makes that the people that was living there move to another area of the city. Before it was easy to go back somewhere and everything, or nearly, was as before, but in this moment is not impossible to find that. Sometimes a large area is completely changed, or simply there is nothing as before.

I would really show pictures of before and now just to make you realize how big is the change, but the past is past and I have no way to show to you. Here above there are two pictures of Addis Abeba, one is a condominium area as now can be seen and the other one is how could look that area before.

TO SEARCH THE FAMILIES

Is just a way to think that in this moment of the country the best way to know the truth or to find the real story of your children is to search within a short time, before everything have change forever.


Normally the people here keep moving and after a while disappear forever. There is no way to find someone that change the living place easily, specially if there is no a mobile number to call to.

WHO AM I

WHO AM I

Hello,
My name is Natnael  I am living in Addis Abeba I am 24 years old. I have a diploma in marketing and  at this time I am learning music(guitar) in  Ethio Jazz School.

WHY I STARTED TO SEARCH THE BIOLOGICAL FAMILY OF ADOPTED CHILDREN?

2 yeas ago I had the chance to join a family that was searching for the father of their child, I was translating for them. At that time the child and the father could meet for the first time after some years of adoption. It was a very special moment that I will never forget. After that I have feel that I could help other families to search for the biological parents,  to give the chance to complete the history of the children.