Tag Archives: Ethiopian Adoptees of the Diaspora

Hanna Wallensteen, Ethiopian-Swedish Adoptee, Speaks About Reclaiming Identity and the Importance of Adoptee Community

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Hanna Wallensteen is a psychologist, an adoptee, a mom, and an advocate for Ethiopian adoptees. Here is the link to her wonderful, insightful YouTube discussion.

While I have not yet had the joy of meeting Hanna in person, I know her through her beautiful essay in “Lions Roaring Far from Home: an Anthology by Ethiopian Adoptees.” We chose her essay intentionally to close out the book. If you’ve read “The Return” from our book, you know its gentle power.

The YouTube discussion was presented by the Ethiopian Adoptee Collective, as well as Adoptee Diaries, and Ethiopian Adoptees of the Diaspora. Please be sure to follow these groups!

Deep gratitude to Hanna and to the Ethiopian adoptees and groups who produced this great video.

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

Call For Submissions: Anthology By Ethiopian Adoptees

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Announcing a new and much-needed book for the adoption community.

Tentative Title:

LIONS ROARING, FAR FROM HOME: AN ANTHOLOGY BY ETHIOPIAN ADOPTEES

 Editors: Aselefech Evans, Annette-Kassaye Berhanu, and Maureen McCauley Evans

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© national parks-worldwide.info

 

We are delighted to invite Ethiopian adoptees from around the world to submit essays about what Ethiopia means to you, and how being adopted has affected you. Your voice deserves to be heard. The book’s tentative title–Lions Roaring, Far From Home–is related to Ethiopian history and culture.

Here are some ideas for an essay: Recollections of early childhood in Ethiopia, and what you remember of life in Ethiopia prior to adoption. What life has been like for you in your adoptive country, and might have been like for you had you been raised in Ethiopia. Reflections on family in the country where you were raised, and family in Ethiopia, known or unknown.

You can write about race and racism. What does it mean to you to be Ethiopian, and African, as well as a citizen of the country to which you were adopted? Perhaps you hope to return some day to Ethiopia: what are your dreams?

You can write about the image of Ethiopia provided by your family or the media or others when you were growing up. The churches, the architecture, the poverty, the history, and the economy might inspire you. Have you searched for your Ethiopian family, or reunited with them? You can write about that.

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Cattle in Ethiopia, August 2014. © Maureen McCauley Evans

 

You are not limited in what you can write about, as long as it is in some way about the connection to Ethiopia from the perspective of an Ethiopian adoptee.

Who are the intended readers of Lions Roaring, Far From Home? We envision that adoptees (Ethiopian and other), prospective adoptive parents, current adoptive parents, first parents, grandparents, adoption agency staff, social workers, policy makers, teachers and other child welfare professionals will want to read and learn from this book. We believe that Ethiopians in Ethiopia and around the world will want to read it, as well as the global family connected with adoption. Lions Roaring will be a book for anyone interested in the essential stories of love, loss, journeys, and family.

We will select up to 15-20 entries for publication in the anthology, due out in Spring 2016. Selected writers will receive at least one copy of the book, the knowledge that they have contributed to greater understanding of Ethiopian adoptees’ experiences, and the possibility of media coverage and other opportunities.

Your essay should be between 750 and 2,500 words (in any case, no more than 6 pages double-spaced). We will certainly look at essays that are fewer than 750 words. We are open to thoughtful overviews about your Ethiopian adoption experience, as well as focused narratives about a specific event or topic.

We can accept submissions in English and in French. The book will likely be published initially in English, though we are looking into Amharic and other translations.

Please include a brief bio statement of no more than 100 words.

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Sunset over Lake Langano. © Maureen McCauley Evans

 

Fine Print

Please be sure you have read through the information above.

This call is directed primarily toward adult adoptees, over 18 years of age. We are open to submissions from younger adoptees: please email for further information.

All submissions are due to maureen@lightofdaystories.com by July 15, 2015.

Let us know up front if and where your essay has been published in part or in full previously. We are willing to look at previously published pieces, though we’d prefer original work.

By submitting your essay to us, you acknowledge that you have read and accepted the terms of this Call for Submissions, that you are at least 18 years of age, and that you have the right to submit your essay for this project. We will notify you by July 15, 2015, if your submission has been accepted.

We are looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you.

From Aselefech and Annette: This book is rooted in our organization, Ethiopian Adoptees of the Diaspora. We are publishing the book in part to honor adoptees like Hana Williams and others whose lives ended too soon or whose voices have been silenced. The book is also part of a larger project to open a guest house in Ethiopia for visiting/returning adoptees, a way of building a global community of support for Ethiopian adoptees.