We got some information in the mail today from CHSFS (one of our adoption agencies) detailing some fun facts about Ethiopia. It’s very interesting… Charles and I are pretty clear with ourselves and each other that we aren’t doing this to “SAVE A CHILD” or whatever altruistic and noble reason people might think. People keep telling me how brave we are, how special, etc. that we are doing this. But ultimately, we are doing this for pretty self-interested reasons. We want another kid. We have always wanted two kids. I specifically want a girl. Being pregnant sucks. We have the means to provide for another child (biological or adopted). We have a little space in our life that we can fill with a kid, so… cool. Let’s do that.
But anyway, the more I read about Ethiopia, the more I start to feel like we may be doing a bit of saving along the way. Since only about a third of girls there learn to read, the life expectancy for women is about 40, and one in twelve women die in childbirth. We were working on this transracial parenting plan (Charles teased me that only I should do it, since he’s not technically another race than the new child), and there was a question about if you would incorporate celebrating holidays of your child’s birth country into your family life. So I did some reading about Ethiopian holidays (which mostly seem to be Catholic holidays, so we sort of celebrate them anyway), and their big celebration day is Timket (American Christians know this as the feast of the Epiphany) which is celebrated through feasting, parades, festivals, etc. Anyway, it turns out (according to the materials I read, anyway) that the girls stay home. I didn’t include that in our plan though.
Gender issues aside, Ethiopia seems to be a very cool country. I’ve always been particularly interested in ancient civilizations, and Ethiopia is supposed to be the only country in sub-saharan Africa with tangible historical remnants from ancient times. Of course, that’s mostly because they were never colonized (briefly occupied by Italy during WWII but never colonized).
Anyway, the packet of stuff also included a bunch of recipies which seem to be Americanized versions of Ethiopian foods, since the recipe for inerja (sort of an unleavened pita-type bread) has pancake and biscuit mix in it… That frightens me a bit. (C says I sound cynical, that’s not what I’m going for here. I know you can’t get the same ingredients and whatnot in the U.S. I just am highly skeptical of faking it with pancake mix… I have a very eclectic style of cooking. Like tonight we had burritos with hummus instead of refried beans. I don’t keep my “ethnic” foods segregated, I guess.)
So, out of time for now, time for Dillon’s violin practice. If you want to look up stuff about Ethiopia, you can always check the State Department website: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1113.html