I was in Ethiopia for my quarterly quality check visit when our local EthioStork employee called me. She was in Oromiya region, conducting Orphan Status Verifications on a number of children who were being adopted through an agency that has made it a requirement for a verification by EthioStork to be done before an adoption is finalized.
"That two babies, A and M are actually twins" my employee said. I could hear the emotions in her voice...one being excitement. And I was feeling the same thing. That what we do really matters, that this was a matter of life and death. A matter of siblings, minutes apart in birth order, being saved from being miles and hours apart, placed in different homes with different families. A and M were referred to families in separate states. The agency had no idea they were twins as they had separate paperwork and the orphanage representative had told them they were brought by the police separately. While there was relief this was discovered, much was left for the agency to resolve. They had to rush to get both cases out of court so they don't get approved separately and also make the hard decision of which family gets to take the twins. It was heart breaking for one family, and double the joy for another. But most importantly, twins were reunited. I have come across such situations before, just not with good endings. In the other situations (unfortunately I knew about them long after the adoptions were finalized and there wasn't much I could do).
To be continued Monday May 11. Come back then and read the rest.
