Three Poet-Writers of the Ethiopian Global Diaspora—Lemn, Heran, and Kassaye

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There has recently been a convergence of words and wonders, of poets and power.

Our Lions Roaring Far from Home: An Anthology by Ethiopian Adoptees co-editor Kassaye Berhanu-MacDonald has an essay in the newly published book The Global Ethiopian Diaspora. Kassaye, raised in Canada, also has an essay in Lions Roaring.

Heran Tadesse, another Lions Roaring writer, is also a poet. Heran was raised in The Netherlands, and returned from that diasporic life decades ago to Ethiopia, where she is teaching yoga and raising a family.

Recently, Heran attended events at the British Council in Addis with the luminary writer-poet-playwright Lemn Sissay, OBE, another adoptee in the Ethiopian global diaspora, raised in England, who frequently returns to Ethiopia.

Lemn Sissay and Heran Tadesse, Addis Ababa,
May 2024.

Lemn did not write in Lions Roaring. He did write a lovely comment about it: “This book is all about connection, connection to story, connections to homes, to the many homes that one person can have, and connection between writers. Bravo for getting this book together and for getting these authors together. It’s important testimony.”

How compelling that these three have “converged” in Lions Roaring as well as in the diaspora.

Here is an excerpt from Lions Roaring by Kassaye. Her essay is titled “Hunger.”

“…For me, finding my family is more about my right to truth than about fulfilling my desire to be biologically connected to someone. I’m well aware that blood relations don’t guarantee harmonious, trusting, safe, or loving relationships. However, I believe we all have an inalienable right to know who we came from, whether or not we decide to pursue a relationship…I am part of a lost generation returning to Ethiopia with only bits of information about our families. Our Ethiopian parents, on the other hand, do not have the resources or information to track down or locate their lost children in the diaspora.”

Here is an excerpt from Lions Roaring by Heran. Her essay is titled “The Search for Home Within.”

“Layers of conditioning still to unravel have taught me to love my hair naturally, my dark chocolate skin, and embrace my past unconditionally. As Meshell Ndegeocello so aptly wrote, ‘My beauty cannot be measured by the standards of a colonized mind.’

…Living in Ethiopia and re-learning the language and culture were the next steps toward making me feel that I belong. Being in Ethiopia gives me the biggest challenge and the biggest gain. Neo-colonialism is also prevalent in Ethiopia, but the history, tradition, culture, spirituality, and pride are deeply rooted in the society, and heal me on a daily basis…”

Lemn Sissay haș written many books and poems on an astonishing range of subjects. In his powerful, poignant memoir, “My Name is Why,” he wrote

“Look what was sown by the stars/ At night across the fields /

I am not defined by scars / But by the incredible ability to heal.”

“I am not defined by darkness/ Confided the night.

Each dawn I am reminded/ I am defined by light.”

Cover art of Lions Roaring;
Original art by Nahosenay Negussie

The Global Ethiopian Diaspora: Important New Research, Including an Adoptee Voice

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Congratulations to the editors of and contributors to the valuable new book, “The Global Ethiopian Diaspora: Migrations, Connections, and Belongings.”

I am especially proud to share that Kassaye Berhanu-MacDonald, an Ethiopian-Canadian adoptee, has an essay included in the book. Too often, adoptees’ voices are not part of diasporic research and literature. Kassaye is also a co-editor of “Lions Roaring Far From Home: An Anthology by Ethiopian Adoptees.”

Gratitude to the wonderful Hewan Girma, Ph.D., and the other co-editors of The Global Ethiopian Diaspora, Shimelis B. Gulema, Ph.D., and Mulugeta Dinbabo, Ph.D.

Remembering Hana Williams, 13 Years After Her Death

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Hana Williams died outside her adoptive family home May 12, 2011, from malnutrition and hypothermia. So many people keep her in their hearts, and always will.

This year the anniversary of her death falls with a special poignancy on Mother’s Day in the U.S.

In 2013, Hana’a adoptive mother was sentenced to 37 years in prison for manslaughter; Hana’s adoptive father was sentenced to 28 years.

A photo of Ethiopian adoptee Hanna Williams at the orphanage. Hanna is wearing a blue and white striped shirt and has a slight, shy smile.
Hana in Ethiopia, prior to adoption. May she Rest in Peace.

I often think of Hana. I am the adoptive parent of Ethiopian twin daughters, each of whom is now a mother herself. Hana’s brief time in the United States was full of sadness, horror, and cruelty. There was no oversight of her adoptive parents, who essentially isolated themselves and their 7 biological children here in Washington state, along with another Ethiopian adoptee (Immanuel, who is still alive). All of the children suffered, whether at the hands of their parents or as a result of the trauma they all went through. I hope they have found peace and solace in the world.

I often think of what we in the adoption community have learned as a result of Hana’s death. I don’t have any quick or comforting answer.

Today, I hold Hana in my heart. As a mother and a grandmother, I think of Hana’s Ethiopian mother as well, on this Mother’ Day, and on the anniversary of Hana’s death at 13 years old.

U.S. Certificate of Citizenship is Now Free for Intercountry Adoptees

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For international adoptees who acquired citizenship before they turned 18 but have not yet acquired the Certificate of Citizenship, the cost is now Zero. It’s usually about $1200, so this is a significant savings!

The Certificate of Citizenship (CoC) is the permanent proof of citizenship. Passports (from the U.S. State Department) prove citizenship and are used for international travel, but they can expire. The CoC never expires, and is a gold standard for proof of citizenship. The CoC is issued by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, USCIS, an agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Here’s the link to the Form N-600, Certificate of Citizenship, via USCIS. The N-600 is the form that adoptees should use to get their CoC.

Here is a link to the USCIS fee schedule, showing the N-600 cost as 0.

For adult adoptees over 18, here’s a link to a helpful USCIS page: Adult Adoptees and US Citizenship.

The legal documents are crucial in all this. This can be a difficult challenge for some adoptees who do not have access to their documents (the adoptive parents refuse to give them to the adoptee or have lost them, for example.)

That said, adoptees who are over 18 and unsure of their citizenship status can file a Freedom of Information Act request with USCIS for all their records, to determine their status, via Form G-639.

Here’s some other great news: Adoptees United will be launching a legal clinic in July to help folks with requesting records and obtaining a CoC. More details will be available in the coming months. Costs will be minimal. Bravo, Adoptees United!

Why bother with getting the Certificate of Citizenship?

As mentioned above, it’s the gold standard for proof of citizenship.

Beyond that, as years go by and government policies change, the CoC may be even more necessary for those who were not born in the U.S. and who immigrated here, as is the case for international adoptees.

Currently, different states have different approaches to citizenship verification. Some require a CoC for drivers’ licenses at the Department of Motor Vehicles. Security clearances may require a CoC, as do some military roles. Some states may require a CoC for voter registration, particularly online. (Non-citizens are not allowed to vote.)

All these state and federal policies could change in the future, and could affect international adoptee as much as other immigrants.

Adoptive parents who don’t feel the need to get their minor child’s CoC may want to think about when their children are adults, when the parents are no longer alive, and when citizenship verification may change. Noncitizens, or those who cannot prove their citizenship, may have trouble accessing Medicare, for example. That is true now. Access to other government benefits could also depend on proof of citizenship.

And of course noncitizens, including international adoptees who cannot prove citizenship, can be deported. Until the U.S. government decides that all international adoptees should have automatic citizenship, the solid proof is the Certificate of Citizenship.

José Montoya, actor, artist, and Colombian adoptee, on grief, loss, and adoption

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José Montoya–a Colombian adoptee born in Cali in 1979, adopted at 3 1/2 years old, raised in the Netherlands–is an actor and playwright. I highly recommend your taking the time to watch his play, “To Be or Never Been.” It is autobiographical. Both his acting and his story are powerful. He shares his memories of being in the Casita de Belen orphanage, of his travel to and childhood in a northern Netherlands village, and of his visits to Colombia in search of his family and himself.

The play is visceral, sparse, and riveting. The same can also be said of his incredibly powerful monologue, “Grieving from the perspective of an adoptee.”

Increasingly, and I am thankful for this, the role of grief is being accepted and acknowledged in the adoption community. In the maelstrom of possible emotions around trauma, loss, and love, grief is interwoven in all of it.

In both “To Be Or Never Been” and in “Grieving,” Montoya brings voice to the reality of grief in adoption viscerally and genuinely.

Grief is of course complex. JaeRan Kim, Ph.D., has written and spoken on ambiguous loss in adoption. “Ambiguous loss—a feeling of grief or distress combined with confusion about the lost person or relationship—is a normal aspect of adoption,” she says. Kim is a Korean adoptee, raised in the U.S., and a professor at the University of Washington-Tacoma.

I am currently working on certification in grief therapy for non-death losses through the Portland Institute for Loss and Transition. We think so often of grief as being the emotion following the death of a loved one, and of course it is. Non-death losses, such as adoption, can also evoke a grief response, one that can manifest in so many ways. Yes, there can be gains in adoption—and those are complex also. As an adoptive parent, I am constantly looking for better ways to understand adoption, especially through the voices and lived experience of adoptees.

Many adoptees use art as a way to share their understanding of the complexity of their stories. Montoya, for example, is also a visual artist. Inter Country Adoptee Voices has information on a variety of adoptee artists here.

C.S. Lewis said “No one ever told me that grief felt so much like fear.” Shakespeare suggests that we “Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak knits up the o’er wrought heart and bids it break.” The Irish rock band U2’s song “Until the End of the World” says, “In my dream I was drowning my sorrow. But my sorrows they’d learned to swim.” The writer and novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells us “There is value in that Igbo way, that African way, of grappling with grief, the performative, expressive outward mourning, where you take every call and you tell and retell the story of what happened, where isolation is anathema.”

Speak (act, draw, paint, compose, write) your truth, even through the tears.

A Course for Estranged Adoptive Parents

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We may not like to think about it or talk about, but estrangement happens a lot in families, including adoptive families.

I am honored to be co-facilitating a new Adoption Mosaic course starting in May, called “Navigating Estrangement: Helping Adoptive Parents With Healing.” This is for parents whose adopted children are over 18 years old. My partner in leading this is Becca Flatt, MSW, LCSW, an adoptee/adoptive parent and therapist. We’ve been working on the curriculum and it is powerful. This will not be therapy; it is consultation and community-building, providing resources and strategies.

At least one estimate suggests that one quarter of adults are estranged from their parents. I haven’t seen any statistics specific to estrangement in adoption; I am aware of many such situations anecdotally.

When children become adults, sometimes estrangement can be temporary and almost unnoticeable. The kids move out, they get busy with work, they have partners/spouses and children. And sometimes things smooth over.

Sometimes estrangement is loud, painful, and shameful: too often folks do not know where to seek help, and feel embarrassed or isolated. Finding a community can make a world of difference. Things can smooth over after this sort of estrangement too, though healing and reconciliation can be far more complicated.

The idea for this class evolved from our work in Adoption Mosaic’s Seasoned Parents course, geared to adoptive parents whose children are over 18 (and often are much older). The parents want to learn to better communicate with their adult children about adoption, including issues such as race, the adoption industry, the role of gratitude, the complexity of parenting. I have co-facilitated the class three times. We talk about why we chose adoption, about how adoption has changed over time, about the role of race in our children’s lives and our own, and about the fact that issues in adoption don’t end when a child turns 18.

In fact, sometimes the issues manifest in different ways as our children get older. We have had adoptees ask (or insist that) their parents to take the Seasoned Parents class; some adoptees might do the same for the Estrangement class.

Adoption Mosaic, while having classes for adoptive parents, is at its heart adoptee-centric. Starting soon there will be an Adoption Mosaic adoptee-only support group for any adoptee dealing with estrangement. It will be led by two adoptees, both of whom who have professional and lived experience. More info will be available soon on the Adoption Mosaic website. Be sure also to check out the “We The Experts Series,” which features a panel of adoptees and is offered every month, as well as the adoptee socials and other events.

Many in the adoption community are noting the growing movement for reform in adoption, in both practice and policy. We are hearing from and (I hope) listening carefully to the many adult adoptees speaking out. The reforms, the voices, and the demands for change are important. We adoptive parents can grow and learn as well, in ways that we hope will strengthen our children and families.

The Adoptee Consciousness Model: A Tremendous Resource for the Community

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Please read and share the “Adoptee Consciousness Model.” It is a vital and meaningful model showing how adoptees might process the complexity of adoption in their lives.

The researchers suggest that adoptee consciousness may rotate through various points: Status Quo, Rupture, Dissonance, Expansiveness, and Forgiveness & Activism.

The circle graphic is intentional. This is not a linear process. And there is no “final stage” or specifically desired outcome, Dr. Kim writes. Adoptees may go from one point to another, in a manner that works for them, as they build consciousness around their awakening, and around their connection with their community.

The authors, Dr. JaeRan Kim, Dr. Susan Branco, Dr. Stephanie Kripa Cooper-Lewter, Paula O’Loughlin. and Grace Newton, are all adoptees.

From Dr. Kim: “Critical consciousness models offer ways to think about the processes marginalized groups develop awareness about oppressive systems and structures, both as individual and importantly collective, in order to engage in activism for social justice.”

Critical consciousness is vital for all of us in the adoption community. I co-facilitate an Adoption Mosaic class, “Seasoned Parents,” geared to adoptive parents whose children are now adults. Some of the parents are estranged from their children. We shared the Adoptee Consciousness Model, and all of us found it helpful and insightful.

The academic paper, as published in The International Body Psychotherapy Journal, is available here.

If you’re interested in podcasts, JaeRan Kim spoke about the Adoptee Consciousness Model with Haley Radke via this AdopteesOn podcast. Susan Branco is featured on this episode of Adoptees Dish, speaking about the model.

On March 1, you can listen to JaeRan Kim and Grace Newton talk about the model on this Adapted podcast.

On March 11, you can attend the Monday Evening Speaker Series of Adoption Network Cleveland that will feature Korean adoptee (and podcaster, storyteller, advocate) Patrick Armstrong speaking about the Adoptee Consciousness Model.

On June 6, Encompass Adoptees will host Adoption Mosaic CEO (and Colombian adoptee) Astrid Castro speaking on “The Intersection of History, Adoption, and Mental Health,” as part of their Adoption Issues Online Speaker Series. A focus will be the Adoptee Consciousness Model.

Clearly the model is getting a great deal of much deserved traction. Please share it in your own community, with adoptees, adoptive families, therapists, counselors.

Norway, Denmark Latest European Countries to Move Toward Banning International Adoptions

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Norway, Denmark, and Sweden have all moved toward banning international adoptions, primarily due to fraud and corruption. They have commissions and investigations into the adoption process: will the United States join them?

Intercountry adoptions, which began in the 1940’s and 1950’s, have declined dramatically worldwide in recent years for many reasons. What’s significant now is that several western European countries are investigating the cases of adoptees, some of whom are in their 40’s and older, and discovering falsified documents and inaccurate social history information from the adoption agencies.

Norway’s minister for children and families called this week for further investigations into illegalities of intercountry adoptions, primarily from South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines, and Colombia. In November, Norway ended adoptions from Madagascar. The reasons for banning these adoptions are concerns about children being trafficked stolen and being given false birth certificates.

Denmark also announced this week that its only international adoption agency would be closing, according to Euronews, after “after a government agency raised concerns over fabricated documents and procedures which obscured children’s biological origins abroad.”

Read more about both countries here: “Is Norway about to end all overseas adoptions?”

Sweden ended adoptions from South Korea in November, citing falsified documents. According to the AP News, “South Korea’s government licensed four private-run adoption agencies that actively sought out foreign couples who wanted to adopt and sent around 200,000 children to the West for adoptions. More than half of them were placed in the United States. 

Now, hundreds of Korean adoptees from Europe, the U.S. and Australia are demanding South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigate the circumstances surrounding their adoptions.”

South Korea has a Truth and Reconciliation Commission that is examining irregularities in adoption; close to 400 Korean adoptees have sent requests asking for further investigation. “The commission’s potential findings could allow adoptees to take legal actions against agencies or the government, which would otherwise be difficult because South Korean civil courts put the burden of proof entirely on plaintiffs, who often lack information and resources” according to NPR.

Additionally, the Belgium Parliament approved a resolution on illegal adoptions, which “recognises the occurrence of illegal adoptions in Belgium, confers victim status on those concerned and launches an administrative enquiry into the issue.”

Flanders, the northern region of Belgium, announced an end to intercountry adoptions in December, according to the Brussels Times.

In 2021, the Netherlands suspended international adoptions, “after exposing past abuses, according to the New York Times. A government report in 2018 “found systematic wrongdoing, including pressuring poor women to give up their babies, falsifying documents, engaging in fraud and corruption, and, in effect, buying and selling children. In some cases, the Dutch government was aware of misdeeds in adoptions from Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, but did nothing about them and allowed them to continue, the report said.”

France, in 2023, released a report pointing “to 30 years of international adoption mishandling.” “These last few years, the growing number of testimonies of French people claiming to have been illegally adopted abroad already suggested that such abuses were numerous in France. But the “Historical Study on the Illicit Practices of International Adoption in France” published on Monday, February 6, 2023, by historians Fabio Macedo and Yves Denéchère presents an even more shocking picture of the scale of the issue,” according to Le Monde.

The United States has yet to announce any similar investigations.

The U.S. State Department shows overall international adoptions totaling about 280,000 adoptees between 1999 and 2021. There were certainly tens of thousands intercountry adoptions before then. “Despite the recent decline in adoptions from abroad, the U.S. remains the country that adopts the most children internationally,” according to the Pew Research Center, among other sources.

I can’t help but wonder when the United States will read the writing on the European wall about fraud in adoptions, and investigate fraud on behalf of thousands of international adoptees.

Ethiopian Adoptee/World Renowned Chef Marcus Samuelsson Opens New Restaurant in Addis Ababa

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Marcus Samuelsson, adopted from Ethiopia, raised in Sweden, has opened yet another restaurant: Marcus Addis, located on the 47th floor of the tallest building in east Africa.

His other restaurants are in the U.S., Canada, the Bahamas, Sweden, and Norway. And now, Ethiopia.

Congratulations, Chef Samuelsson! The restaurant business is an unbelievably competitive one, and you have clearly risen to the top.

Marcus Addis, promoted as “Marcus’s first restaurant in Africa,” had its grand opening less than a month ago. The menu reflects “a fusion of Marcus’ world renowned international cuisine with an unforgettable Ethiopian twist.” There’s a Mercato Bread Basket, Fish and Teff, Addis York (fried chicken, doro wat, cured egg, stuffed injera), Mac and Cheese (with injera-cheddar crumble), Berbere Fries, and many other options.

This is an exciting, if complicated, new venture. Ethiopia continues to struggle with war, poverty, and famine; Tigray is especially riddled with all of that, and the rest of the country is certainly affected as well. The U.S. State Department warns about civil unrest, violence, armed conflict, and crime.

Ethiopia is also a beautiful, historic country with farmers, scholars, artists, business people, builders, entrepreneurs, manufacturers, and tourism experts. Ethiopia’s top exports are gold and coffee. It has so much potential, and is burdened by its erratic weather, bureaucracy, politics, inflation, and ethnic/tribal conflicts. Tuberculosis—a preventable and curable disease—kills 19,000 people every year in Ethiopia.

Marcus Addis will not solve those problems, of course. That said, according to this Semafor article, few investors have been interested in opening restaurants in Ethiopia recently, so Samuelsson’s new place may bring renewed economic investment. Samuelsson says, “I am proud of my Ethiopian roots..I want my new restaurant in Addis Ababa to be a vehicle for job creation, capacity building, a training hub that works for — not against — traditional local Ethiopian restaurants.”

Further, according to Semafor, “Marcus Addis will be used as a ‘vehicle to teach’ and improve local hospitality standards, Ethiopia’s National Bank Governor Mamo Mihertu told Semafor Africa. He said he hopes it will ‘secure world class training and create employment opportunities here at home and abroad while complementing the local hospitality sector.’ “

I hope so too.

An upscale restaurant in a fancy Addis skyscraper will no doubt create some raised eyebrows, political concerns, and negative remarks. Ethiopia has many real and heartbreaking challenges, and a new restaurant is not a solution in itself.

I’d like to think, though, that Samuelsson’s persona, accomplishments, and confidence about opening a new restaurant in Ethiopia will perhaps create some hope for Ethiopia’s future. Marcus Samuelsson was born In Ethiopia, one of 9 children, in 1971. Due to his mother’s death and the turmoil of the civil war at that time, he and an older sister were adopted to Sweden when Marcus was about three years old. His Swedish grandmother influenced his decision to go into cooking and culinary arts.

Like many Ethiopians in the diaspora, Samuelsson is among the adoptees traveling to and investing in the homeland. How his adoptee status will impact his work there, if at all, remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, here’s hoping for peace and healing in Ethiopia, for stability, clean water, and health care for everyone, and for literacy, economic equity, and safety. Ethiopian food is delicious: may this synthesis with Swedish cuisine be successful.

And if anyone can help us get “Lions Roaring Far From Home: An Anthology by Ethiopian Adoptees” to Marcus Samuelsson, please let me know. Five of his compatriots (Swedish Ethiopian adoptees) wrote essays in our book. We will happily send him a copy!

To the New Year

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It is 2024 in some parts of the world now, and it is early in the day in others. Wherever you are, on the earth and in your life, I wish you all the best.

I recognize that the world has many dates for the new year. In Ethiopia, it will be September 24, 2024. The lunar, solar, and other calendars determine new years’ beginnings in some cultures. Many opportunities for renewal.

Thank you for reading my posts. I am grateful for adoption connections in all their complexity. May we keep moving ahead toward understanding, and especially toward community and healing.

I don’t know quite what that will look like. And that’s okay.

Take good care of yourself. Take deep breaths! Drink water! Know that you are loved.

Edited in Prisma app with Lemur