Connecting with Ethiopian-French Adoptees through LES ADOPTÉS D’ÉTHIOPIE

Since my entry into the adoptee world, thanks to my fellow Ethiopian adoptee and good friend Aselefech Evans, I’ve been wanting to connect with more Ethiopian adoptees. In fact, Aselefech and I often discuss the absence of Ethiopian adoptees in adoptee circles.

My initial thought was that most Ethiopian adoptees are probably much younger than us since adoption from Ethiopia became more popular toward the end of the 90s and early 2000s, which might help explain why there is less participation in adoptee advocacy.

However, a few weeks ago I stumbled upon a French-speaking Ethiopian adoptee Facebook group with over 350 members called “Les Adoptés d’Éthiopie (The Ethiopian Adoptees).” This was a delightful discovery because I hadn’t known that there is a whole community of adult adoptees in Europe from Ethiopia.

Most of them hail from France, but there are some from Belgium and Switzerland as well. Some were adopted from Ethiopia as early as 1979, others in the 1980s like me, then others in the 1990s and 2000s. Most were adopted through religious missions, French-run orphanages, or French adoption agencies.

Eager to be part of the group, I started posting links in English on the page about adoptee issues in Canada and the U.S., and initiatives like Gazillion Voices, because I realized that many of the adoptees in Europe are probably unfamiliar with our adoptee communities and vice versa.

Read more

Are you done ruining my movie yet, overly critical adoptee? Sure. When you stop watching shitty movies

Below is a transcript from a conversation I had with myself. All selves are fictitious and any resemblance to real selves, living or dead, is purely, most likely coincidental. Contains random spoilers to movies. Read at your own risk.

Me: Oh my god, come over here and sit down. I’m watching this flick called Orphan. It is so fucked up. You should make us some popcorn.

Me2: Are you serious? You’re watching this? Do you even know… anything? Yes. Let’s portray adoptees as murderous evil children, who by the way, try and seduce their daddies.

I mean not only EWWWW and WTF, but they actually put in the line “It must be difficult to love an adopted child as much as your own” until they got their ass handed to them and had to change it.

I mean, really? Because orphans and foster kids already get such incredible pub these days? That’s why they’re still orphans? You might as well just get a t-shirt that says, “Orphans can die and I’m okay with that.” And, distinctly, without an exclamation mark because it’s not like you care that much about dying orphans anyway.

Read more