Ghana!!

It occurred to me that I didn’t mention WHERE we are adopting from… Well, after a ton of research, a bunch of asked questions, and a lot of prayer we landed on the beautiful west African country of Ghana!  This country is known for its friendliness and foreigners are greeted with “Akwaaba! You are Welcome!” 

Despite its overall stability, Ghana’s economy is suffering.  45% of the population lives on less than $1 a day.  In a country about the size of Oregon, it’s hard to imagine that there are 1,000,000 orphans!  In addition, it is estimated that 60% of Ghana’s children are involved in child labor or child slavery.  Typically, the extended family would take care of Ghana’s orphans, but in today’s conditions this is not always possible.  Therefore, when the social welfare finds that there are no other alternatives, Ghana welcomes international adoption (AdoptionAdvocates.org, 2011).

This country is absolutely beautiful and is located directly on the coast.  

As we continue in this process we are learning more and more about Ghana.  At http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/ you can compare the United States to any other country in the world. Here are the results for Ghana:

If you were living in Ghana instead of the United States you would…

-         Have 8.1 times higher chance of dying in infancy

-         Be 3.2 times more likely to have HIV/AIDS

-         Have 2 times more babies

-         Use 98.12% less electricity

So there you have it.  We're moving towards Ghana and we'll see where God leads.  We are very aware that the adoption world can be very unpredictable and countries can close or change their requirements at any time.  But for now, we're "Ghana" go get a baby from 2008's friendliest country in Africa :)

Cheers to Ghana!