Forum: ACAASA - Sele Enat

4. S'le'nat orphanage.

A small poorly funded orphanage, the children are allocated to an overseas country, but not to Australia. Gaylene visited S'le'net earlier this year and can give more information about this orphanage.

http://www.aacasa.org.au/Aid03.htm

Subject: Fw:

I have been in Ethiopia now for almost three weeks.. For two weeks

we have been in Addis and I have been working hard, spending a lot

of time in researching orphanages and homes and working on future

strategies with Lakew and Misrak in order to please the continual

complaints of Australians who want a faster program with more

children being processed. We have accomplished a lot and as I have

indicated in an earlier post, I believed our members would have been

pleased with the result. This was time that I should have been

spending with my own family and with my own little girl.

But, instead of enjoying the moment with my own family, I have had

to put up with the repercussions of Australian parents acting in the

most selfish and deceitful of ways who have now led our Australian

representative to proclaim that `enough is enough'.

Now, in the past when parents have acted badly and caused problems

we have not immediately said anything in order to protect the

Australians concerned from embarrassment, scrutiny and criticism.

But as ADVICE AACASA has given for a number of years now, not to

search for relatives on the first visit, is continually being

ignored and ignored on a more frequent basis, I'm going to tell our

members what has been going on whilst I've been here and the trouble

it has caused. For those who will find this post disturbing, I make

no apologies and hope that it will encourage you all to think

carefully before doing similar things.

One Australian family, members of AACASA and package members on the

first day they picked up their child then proceeded to embarrass

Malato of the Godansaw Rehabilitation project by turning up without

an invitation and asked questions about the true orphanage of their

child and questions about the child's birth date. Let me quote

Malato to me when he arrived at the Gabriel Hospital the next day,

where I was spending hours getting our own daughters medical

redone, `Why do these people doubt the information I supplied, do

they think I'm stealing these children?'. The next day the same

couple turned up at the S'elent Children's Orphanage asking

questions about the child. I was with Misrak having a cup of coffee

when Misrak received a phone call from the manager of S'elent. It

was very clear that Misrak was being told off and the manager was

furious that she `Misrak' had sent these Australians to her and

saying that she will not send anymore children to Australia... I

rang the couple concerned to warn them of the damage they were

doing, `oh she seemed okay to us when we visited them' was the

answer.. That afternoon I got a personal phone call from Hanna, who

is in charge of the orphanage and after what I'd describe as an

emotional phone call I convinced Hanna to give us another chance.

But it came with a warning, `If one more Australian couple turn up

at my door without an invitation or appointment asking silly

questions about the legitimacy of a child's adoption then we are

through with Australia'.

Now wouldn't you think this would be a serious enough warning to all

of us.. After all S'elent Orphanage provides most of the children

that come to Australia now and all of the children from the Godansaw

project! I rang the other couple to warn them not to do the same

thing, just in case they were thinking of doing so and I posted a

message from both Hanna and Malato on the AACASA egroup.. Just for

the record this was not my request, and Lakew didn't know about it,

nor is it an attempt by AACASA to `control' things over here.. That

statement was a request by both Malato and Hanna. As far as they are

concerned, Lakew is the Australian agent and how Australian's behave

is his responsibility. Asking questions like, `is my child really an

orphan? Does my orphan child have a mother', is highly offensive to

them. Because if they knew this to be the case then they would be

breaking the law. So are Australians believing that Malato and Hanna

are complicit in procuring children by illegal means? The couple

concerned are now banned from returning to S'elent Orphanage.

But, it get's worse. After years of warning our members about the

dangers associated with searching for family on the first visit, the

other couple I had warned not to visit the orphanages does something

even sillier. The other couple, AACASA members, package members,

were advised by Misrak when picking up their child that Lakew would

be willing to take them to the area where their child was found.

Then they would be able to talk to the police, the social workers

and anyone else there about the child. A time was made for this to

occur.. but this couple weren't happy to wait and instead behind

Lakew's back went to the regional authority and started asking

questions of their own. The regional authority contacted Lakew and

wanted to know why these Australians were asking questions about the

legitimacy of the adoption. Lakew, now concerned that he is under

scrutiny from the authorities rang me to advise me that unless

something is done about this he is ceasing to have anything to do

with the Australian program.. this will of course please some

people, but those with a little more intellect will of course

realize that the program depends on Lakew and Misrak. If Lakew and

Misrak decide to bail out because of the continued bad, deceitful

behavior of Australians who have been influenced by other deceitful

members and past members of AACASA, then who do you think is going

to run the program? Who will see that the 32 children at Koala, many

of whom are yet to be allocated will be processed?

Lakew and Misrak have made it clear that they want nothing more to

do with the two couples here in the country. They will finish the

processing of their travel documents and send them by taxi, but

other than that they are entirely on their own.

I have no doubt what so ever that these two new couples to adoption

have been influenced by others. They chose to ignore advice given to

them repeatedly in the AACASA egroup, magazine and package. One of

those spoken to claimed that the advice given by AACASA and that

given by `others' has been contradictory.. well who turned out to be

right? And at what cost?

For me, this has been my third trip to Ethiopia and yet I have to

admit it has been my worst. I have not enjoyed much of my trip at

all and it is now tarnished by the bad behavior of the selfishness

of others not content that there was an Australian review of the

program which concluded that parent concerns were as a result of

naivety and ignorance by Australians.

At this point in time, I honestly do not know where this program is

going to. All I want to do is return to my family in Australia.

Lakew and Misrak are contemplating their futures as well, in amongst

the hurt of Australians causing trouble behind their backs and now

of possible further repercussions by regional authorities here. I

hope this can waken others up who will soon be traveling that you

are ambassadors for Australia and AACASA and the adoptive community.

If you respect Lakew and Misrak and treat them as they deserve, as

the people who have united you with your Ethiopian angel, then they

will bend over backwards for you and treat you as true guests should

be treated. They will even make arrangements for you to visit the

orphanages and homes. They will do what ever they can to assist in

information.

But if you are intent on traveling to Ethiopia to search for

your `orphans' family, to secretly make enquiries behind the backs

of our Australian representatives who are responsible for us, then

do your child, the rest of Australians and AACASA a favor and

transfer to another program. At the very least resign from AACASA so

that we at least have the excuse that you aren't members of this

organization.

When I return to Australia I will be taking this continual problem

up with the Australian Authorities and I understand Lakew will be

making a formal complaint to the Authorities as well.

Ted Sherrin

AACASA President.

This notice can be passed on to other email groups. As can the

request from Malato and Hanna.

.