From hardships in Ethiopia to a loving home in KC
As a 48-year-old divorced single woman with no biological children, the last desire on my mind was adoption. But on Sept. 21, 2008, God told me I was going to adopt two older children from Africa, so I get prepared. Very scared and confused, but walking by faith, I got busy. Amazingly, every single obstacle was removed from my path, financially, physically and emotionally. On Aug. 24, 2009, I walked into All God’s Children Orphanage in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia and met my two new sons: Zelalem, 10, and and Dereje, 8 (Zele and DJ are their nicknames). They are biological brothers who experienced the deaths of both of their parents and a little sister. I believe God called me to rescue them and raise them up for the glory of His Kingdom and to someday return and help their people.
Coming to America has been a complete life change for these boys. They were born in a village called Debre Markos, in the Gojam area of northern Ethiopia. Their village was relatively primitive: no refrigeration or electrical appliances. All cooking was done over an open fire. They lived in a house that had only enough electricity for a couple of light bulbs. The village had no clean water supply--only river water. They would carry buckets of the river water to their house and boil what they needed to drink and use the rest to bathe, clean dishes, etc. Their house had no functioning toilets and very little furniture.
The boys do have an older sister named Equanich who is about 22 years old now and living as a round-the-clock house maid somewhere in the city of Addis. She was forced to abandon the boys after their mom’s funeral back in Gojam because she could not care for her brothers and keep the house maid job she had acquired. So the boys were passed around to different neighbors in the village and were expected to tend sheep and other animals. They also stopped going to school. One neighbor began beating them over the head because they didn’t bring the same number of sheep in from the field at the end of the day, so the boys decided to leave one night. Barefoot and with only the clothes on their backs, they set out walking from Debre Markos to Addis Abeba in hopes of finding their older sister.
Their roughly 200-mile walk to Addis was filled with both hardship and God’s mercy. When they stopped to wash their clothes in a river once, the current swept the garments away. They had to walk almost naked until some kind people took them in and provided food, clothing and shelter for a night. The next morning, they continued their journey to Addis.
In Addis they walked the streets asking people for their sister. They made friends with a woman who owned a restaurant in a hotel. She brought them scraps of hotel food that patrons left on their plates. She also found them a nurse when Zele came down with a bladder infection and helped him through it. They slept on the streets. Then a stranger found them walking around the city and took them to the police station. The police searched for their sister or any living relatives for days. The boys were put into a government-run orphanage and the police became their legal guardians in order to make them eligible for adoption.
They were passed to All God’s Children Agency to be posted on the waiting children’s list the week of Thanksgiving 2008. I read their story online on Thanksgiving night. Zele’s profile said that he wanted to grow up to be someone who helps other orphans like him. I immediately knew these were the children God had chosen for me to raise. After counseling through my agency about adopting older boys, they approved me. The boys were moved to my agency’s orphanage in late January 2009 and they entered America with me on Aug. 28, 2009.
Zele and DJ are amazing young men of God. After being in the Shawnee Mission School District ELL (English Language Learners) program for eight months, their KELPA test scores are soaring. Today, they ranking higher than most ELL children who have been in the United States for more than two years. The brothers are active in church ministries, Johnson County Soccer, summer camp, swimming and the local Boy Scout troop/pack. Incredibly, Zele trained and traveled on a children’s mission trip with our church to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, over Spring Break 2010, sharing Jesus with the children there. My new sons are incredibly social, love animals, playing outdoors and traveling places in cars and airplanes.
Zele and DJ are also incredibly dedicated to God. They know how blessed they are and often speak of it when good things happen to them here. They know it’s all because of God.
Teri Boldizar is a 50-year-old single mom of these two Ethiopian boys who lives in Overland Park. She had no personal plan to adopt until she heard God’s call to support these two young men back in September 2008.