Ethiopian Census

No news on our referral yet! Right now we are #6 on the "unofficial list," with 16 days to go before the cut-off. YIKES!!!! I ran across this article at work and since census data is my life I thought I would share this with everyone. Enjoy and keep sending positive thoughts.


Ethiopia Starts to Take a Census
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 2:49 p.m. ET
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) -- Ethiopia began counting its population Tuesday, a daunting task in a country where asking personal questions is considered socially taboo but where the government and international donors sorely need more information to plan economic and social programs.
More than 100,000 census takers, most of them schoolteachers, fanned out across Africa's second most populous country as part of a 10-day program to find out from every household details such as how many of them there are, their ethnicity, religion, and the languages they speak.
One out of five homes will also be asked questions about their education and even the condition of their homes.
''In some cases, some people do not like to be asked such questions,'' said English teacher Tsedale Endale, 32, a census worker who allowed a reporter from The Associated Press to accompany her. The problem is most prevalent in rural areas, where most Ethiopians live, she said.
''They think that if they count their children, one of them will die soon,'' Tsedale said, referring to a popular African superstition.
The last census was in 1994 when officials found out there were 54 million Ethiopians in the country. Preliminary results of the 2007 population count will be released in five months, and final results in 1 1/2 years.
''It is a huge activity especially in this country, where the majority of the population is not literate, where transportation is not adequate, and so many people live in rural areas,'' said Mekonnen Tesfaye, a census official and statistician.
The difficulty of conducting a census in Ethiopia is compounded by the nation's nearly 90 different ethnic groups and as many languages.
The terrain and weather also make it difficult, delaying the count in some areas such as the remote Afar and Somali regions. The largely nomadic population in those regions disperse over a wide area during the rainy season, which has begun. They will be counted in November when they return to more accessible areas.
That count will be in addition to the 10-day one that began Tuesday.
Taking population counts in African countries has long been difficult. In Nigeria, for example, four censuses have been aborted since independence from Britain in 1960 because of logistical problems and allegations that ethnic and religious groups had sought to inflate their numbers.
The U.N. Population Fund's 2006 report estimates Ethiopia has 79.3 million people, ahead of Egypt with 75.4 million people. The most populous country in Africa is Nigeria, with 134.4 million people.
Because most of the officials doing the population count in Ethiopia are teachers, schools closed three weeks early this year to allow them to prepare for the census.
On Tuesday, Tsedale and geography teacher Zemeny Ali, 32, wound their way through the Ethiopian capital's serpentine neighborhoods to reach a large apartment project where they worked through 40 apartments in four hours.
Residents were for the most part cooperative, many offering tea and food to the census takers. But many also complained that the numbers they cared about were not addressed by the census.
''Life is becoming very expensive,'' said 33-year-old Merkineh Mohammed, who fixes fire hydrants for the fire department. But he added, ''I don't expect anything from the government, because the government is also living on aid.''
As much as a third of Ethiopia's budget is funded by Western aid.
Others complained about the census itself.
''The process is too long,'' said Mekonnen Alemu, 29, of the 47-question form, which took him half an hour to complete. ''We're asked too many questions.''
The census takers, who are being paid $6 a day, also found the process tedious, but persevered because they believe the exercise is important.
''I think it's actually a little boring,'' Zemeny said after asking two dozen people the same set of questions.
But, Tsedale added, ''We do it because we love our country.''

And the wait continues...

I am not sure who coined the phrase "No news is good news," but I seriously doubt they were talking about adoption. Things have been REALLY quiet on the referral front and the June 15th deadline which a few weeks ago seemed no big deal, is starting to get a little scary. We sent an e-mail to our agency about 2 weeks ago just to get an idea of how things were looking. Jan was, as expected, not able to give us much information. She just confirmed where we were in the process and that she couldn't guarantee a referral before the June 15th cutoff, but to remain optimistic. We are trying to, that's for sure, but it is hard. Running around taking the kids to practice and ball games every night of the week helps.

There was a great article about adoption from Liberia in the Sunday paper. I am including a link and really recommend reading it. Also in honor of Mother's Day I am including the Amharic word for "mother" - Enat or Emaye


http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007705130328

June 14th & 15th

Two important dates coming up. June 14th is my birthday (Gary) and while not important to most, it is something I look forward to. The second date, June 15th is a biggie. We just heard from our agency and as some of you know, the Ethiopian courts close every year. The closure typically lasts from the end of July or early August, until mid September. During this time the judges have vacation and a new schedule is made for the upcoming year. Due to the closure referrals will not be given after June 15th. Anyone who receives a referral before June 15th is expected to get through the court system before closure. The referral process will begin again approximately September 15th.

As of right now we are sitting around the 12 spot on the "unofficial list" so we are still very hopeful that we will get word before the 15th of June. However now there is a known cut-off date and the panicking has started.