This is a prayer for Hana Alemu, born in 1997 in Ethiopia, brought to Washington state in the US for adoption in 2008, died naked at night alone in the cold, locked outside her adoptive family home, on May 12, 2011: two years ago today, Mother’s Day. She weighed less at her death than she had at arrival 3 years earlier from Ethiopia.
Hana Alemu (Williams)
Hana, may we learn from the loss of your life, that no child should ever suffer as you did.
May we remember and pray for your Ethiopian mother, keeping her in our hearts always.
May your Ethiopian family, those who knew you and those who grieve for you (whether angry, heartbroken, confused, prayerful) find healing and comfort.
May we adoptive parents deeply understand the responsibility we have, to care for and treasure our children.
May all parents who need help in caring for their children reach out and receive that help.
May adoption agency workers, child protective services staff, lawyers, police officers, and government officials receive encouragement and insistence that they do their difficult work conscientiously, aware that lives hang in the balance.
May justice be done.
May we never forget Hana.
A note:
I visited Hana’s grave this past Thursday (May 9), in anticipation of both Mother’s Day and the second anniversary of her death, May 12.
Hana’s grave at Union Cemetery, Sedro-Woolley, WA
As an adoptive mother of four children, including two daughters from Ethiopia, I have been both outraged and aching over Hana.
I wrote previously about Hana here.
Her adoptive parents Larry and Carri Williams have yet to go to trial. Hana’s body was exhumed and reburied in January, because there was a question about her actual age. If she is proven to be older (say, 16, at time of death), the charges against her adoptive parents could be reduced. Their next court date is in July.
A Facebook group honors and remembers Hana. There is much interest in getting Hana a decent grave marker, and we hope that can happen after the trial concludes and justice is done.