Kids part deux

So the last time I wrote about our first steps with adopting.

When we arrived at the offices of Wereldkinderen(WK) our agency
for a first infomation round about all the countries in 2000,
we were pretty much convinced that we were going to adopt fom South-Africa.

That it was going to be the continent of Africa was a certainty!

Through the enthousiasm of Mieke at WK (mainly) we decided to go for Ethiopia instead, and as they say " we never looked back " - only with good memories!

And we returned with and live with an amazing beautiful boy for nearly 6 years now!

We were very happy with our experiences in the country, the local people of the orphanage. And others we met, and we also got a friendship with 2 other couples through it all.

In Feb. 2009 after being on the waiting list for a second child for 3 years, we went to an information meeting about what was going on in Ethiopia,why the delays etc. The main 2 things that stayed with me (us) after this meeting were:

> Disappointment and the possibility that it would take more years of waiting
> Surprise at how impatient people (who were much younger than us) were and How distrustful they were of the WK co-workers

[so much so, that one of them said ' You can always try your luck somewhere else,if you really believe we are doing such a bad job...!'.
and these WK people have done all the customer relations courses you can think of].

Eventually WK decided to stop working with their contacts for adoption in Ethiopia and close the orphanage in Addis Ababa after reports that there were possibly "orphans" adopted who still had living relatives in Ethiopia.

Wereldkinderen is and has always been (in our experience) very strict and thorough in their contacts with countries for Intercountry Adoption.
The Hague Convention is one of the leading (legal)background documents which is important for them in this respect.

"...Every child has the right to grow up in a loving family or family replacing situation..." (UN treaty Rights of the child)
Or as they say at Wereldkinderen :" Every child has a right to a home".

Which in a nutshell are the basic thoughts (or should be!).

As mentioned earlier, for us adopting came from a selfish wish to bring up a child and live as a family with children.

Our second adoption stems from the same desire, as I said recently to Jane:
'We have 4 chairs, it feels like there is (still) an empty space at the table, in our house and in our lives, a space for one more child.To fill it with laughter, little cries and excitement!.'

In January this year my eldest sister went as a volunteer to an orphanage in Mombasa. Me and my youngest sister visited her in February 2011.
I talked to the wonderful family who runs the Happy Rock Home and thought things over.

Ethiopia is 'closed', at least through our agency and after much thought and discussion we eventually phoned Wereldkinderen and discussed with them other possibilities like Kenya.
After phone calls and emails we had a meeting in person and decided to go for it in july this year.

So, this is where we are now!

An exiting time for us, the people at Wereldkinderen and family & friends who follow and support us.
Peter & Jane.

Feel free to comment!