Culture and Language

A few days ago someone commented, wondering how our child would be able to retain his culture and language. We have discussed this particular issue over and over again. Obviously, being a black, Ethiopian born child in a white, American born family has its difficulties. There isn't a way that we can give him the level of culture and language he would have if he were to stay in Ethiopia. But there are ways that we intend to continue to honor his heritage and teach him all about the place he is from. To begin with, I have an incredible, indescribeable passion for Africa. I have always loved and been drawn to Africa. I visited Kenya, one of Ethiopia's bordering neighbors, in January. I often miss Africa and intend to travel there many times. Nathan has traveled extensively and is open to traveling often. We both intend to return to Ethiopia as often as possible with our little one. We hope to be able to travel at least once every other year. The best way to give our son a love for his native country is to bring him there and allow him to develop his own affection for Africa. In addition to travel, we intend to eat ethiopian food at home (or as close as I can get to Ethiopian food in my kitchen!) We also intend to study Ethiopian history in our home and to talk to our son about his birth family and about his country on a regular basis. As far as language goes, I am attempting to learn Amharic as we wait for our adoption process to continue. I speak, read and write Arabic and I believe I am capable of learning at least some base level of the Amharic language. We are intending to adopt an infant. Language may not be something he is interested in as he grows but I do desire to try to grow a passion for language in his life.

The bottom line is, we will do everything we can do to teach our son about where he comes from. We want him to develop his own identity and we want his Ethiopian heritage to be a part of that identity. He will be an American. He will lean toward his American upbringing because that will be the prominent influence in his life. We don't believe that being an American robs him of identity; it just changes the face of who he will grow to be. What we do believe is that if he stays in Ethiopia, he may not live to be an adult. He may never have the opportunity to become the man the Lord desires him to be. Both Nathan and I have stood face to face with the orphans of this world. We have both held sweet, starving, sick young ones in our arms. There are faces of children we could not help that will haunt us forever. Adopting our son is and will be a blessing in our lives and we pray that it will also be a blessing in his life. We will do all we can to teach him about Ethiopia and more importantly, we will do all that we can to teach him about Jesus and to teach him that he is a child of the Most High God. We will pray for him continually and we will love him with all that we have. We pray that that will be enough to raise him into a man that he will be proud to be.