My Heart

"I ask for nothing
I can get by
But I know so many
Less lucky than I
Please help my people
The poor and downtrod
I thought we all were
The children of God"

The above quote is from  a song in Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. To me, it is the most appropriate quote for my heart to try to raise money for Adoption Advocates.

When I started signing up for races, there are countless charities that you can run for, and they will give you the race entry for free if you agree to raise money for their cause. Some of them will even train you. But I didn't sign up for them. Not because they are not worthy causes, because there are many great causes out there, but none of them even come close to my heart for Adoption Advocates.

This, as many of you know, is the adoption organization that we are working with for our adoption. As an organization, they have been more than kind and helpful in answering our questions and guiding us through our process. In the world of adoption, I think they are something special as they take a firm stance against bribes and corruption in the process. I have read books that tried to tell me that bribes are just how it works in other countries, and that never sat right with me, and I appreciate this organization's commitment to not work with corrupt officials as it helps me sleep at night, knowing that nothing inappropriate will be happening in our child's journey home.

Social Welfare Officer has a valid case to investigate, and is willing to do it--but not for the usual cost of transportation and time. Instead, he wants to make a flat out profit. Let's have $500 instead of the $100 that would have paid for transportation and time. No $500? No investigation report--at least not until he is to the bottom of the pile that will pay the $500. That scenario is VERY common in Ghana. What is an agency to do? Well, our answer has been to go elsewhere or to wait until we work our way to the top of the pile. Some entire regions are full of officials like that. Go elsewhere. Thankfully, there are regions (and officials within regions) that are doing their work for a decent living wage and in order to benefit children. Believe it or not, there are some very ethical individuals working within the courts and social welfare offices of Ghana. Corruption is there, but you can work around it if you are only patient.

                                                               - Quote from our coordinator's blog

But a donation towards them goes farther than just showing our support of their ethical commitment. There are many adoption organizations out there that work on getting kids out of that country and into homes in the United States, but AAI's first priority is keeping the kids with their families!

In poorer countries like Ghana, there are parents who love their kids so much, they know they can't afford food and schooling for them, so they approach adoption organizations, and offer their kids for adoption just for the hope of giving them a better life. Some organizations just accept that and place the kids up for adoption, but not AAI. Instead they look at the parent's background, and see if they are really showing effort (like keeping a job, actively trying to earn income) and then give the family an option to put the kids into a sponsorship program instead of putting them up for adoption. Money from donations to AAI helps these kids in the program by giving them the food and schooling they need, and then they can stay with their family, which I think everyone can agree is better for the kids. This is just one of many reasons that our referral takes longer than if we had gone through another agency, because AAI tries to keep the families together even if the family had initially tried to give the child up!

AAI also helps orphans that for whatever reason can't be adopted, and also tries to help families who are willing to adopt special needs kids, but need some financial assistance to do so because the need to place special needs kids is so great.

Breast cancer, children's health and the myriad of other good organizations already have huge fundraising campaigns, and millions of dollars are donated to them every year. AAI doesn't spend any money on advertising, and frequently the only people who hear about this great organization are those connected with someone who is working with the agency.

I have currently run 60 of my 300 miles that I will run up to and through the marathon, and my half marathon is less than a month away. Please prayerfully consider donating towards my cause as a way to support me, and my huge running goals for the year, but also as a sign of support to this organization that is such a huge part of us becoming a family someday, and also does so much for families in the country, and does it in such a good way. Next to my ticker at the top is the button to donate, and it will take you to the page that I set up for donations to this non-profit organization. It would mean a lot to me, and also a lot to every family that it benefits whether in Ghana or here in the United States.

I'll leave you with another quote from my coordinator on her blog in an answer to someone's question about where our adoption fees go:

I think there is a *HUGE* myth out there that all adoption agencies are somehow making money off of adoption programs. Seriously, that is simply not the case with reputable agencies. Instead, those agencies are trying to figure out how to make ends meet to both cover the actual expenses involved in the adoption process and all of the humanitarian projects they sponsor within the country. I promise! I'm telling you this as someone who 4 years ago would have never guessed the TRUTH! I thought they brought in the bucks too! I hate it that some agencies out there have inflated fees in order to have cushy offices or higher paychecks, and caused ALL agencies to suffer because of the myth. The program I run didn't come close to being balanced last year. Much more was sent to the country than was collected in fees or donations. Donations we receive don't have a penny taken out for administrative costs. It ALL goes to the designated project. Please, help me in educating others that there are many agencies who are NOT financially benefiting from the work being done.

Feel free to pass this on to anyone else who you think might be interested in donating towards this great cause that is near and dear to my heart.