A love of Africa paves the way for twin boys to be adopted

by Sunshine Schmidt

Africa has always been in my heart and will continue to be forever. I think the idea to adopt started to take sprout when my husband and I lived in Johannesburg, South Africa. Seeing such an amazing country face such huge obstacles touched us in a way that cannot be forgotten.

Because of our connection to southern Africa, and love and appreciation of the people and culture, we looked to that region for our adoption. After our research we determined that we would need to look to other African nations with more stable and developed international adoption legislation. As an anthropologist and natural researcher, I enjoyed learning more about the different countries, and Ethiopia stood out as a proud and beautiful country. Our decision was made; our children would come from Ethiopia!

We received our referral in September of 2008 for 10-month-old twin boys. Abdurahamen (Abdur) and Nursun were going to be our sons!

21 weeks and what felt like a lifetime later, we met our boys for the first time in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Kissing the faces of our children and holding them in our arms for the first time is an indescribable feeling and one that I will never forget. Read the rest of this entry »

Holt Ambassadors participate in the Omaha Marathon

Holt runners and aid station volunteers came together to participate in the Omaha Marathon 2009 to raise money and awareness for the Holt Ethiopia program. Nearly 15 Holt runners participated in the 10K and the half marathon portions of the event, and another 10 volunteers helped out by directing runners along the route and handing out Holt items at the finish line.

Through the team’s hard work and passionate efforts, runners were able to raise $3,565, making the event a huge success! This money will go to provide the children in Ethiopia with much needed medical supplies.

The race began at 7:00 AM, and as the Holt team began the first mile, minds were focused not so much on the physical race that the team was running, but on the figurative race – the race to bring medical supplies to the children who are waiting in Holt’s care in Ethiopia.

Every child deserves a home, and while these children wait for their forever families, the team focused their minds on Holt’s dedication to providing a safe and healthy environment for them. Some runners wore pictures of their own children on their Holt t-shirts, those waiting to come home and those who have already come home, and this helped add a very personal touch to the race. The mood was festive, but everyone was keenly aware of the seriousness of the cause.

“Several runners commented on the picture I pinned to the back of my shirt of my son Jack wearing his most infectious grin! It helped open the door to conversations about Holt and our cause,” said Holt mom Cathy Morin. Read the rest of this entry »

Hope for children and families in Holt’s care in Ethiopia

Maria Nelson, Assistant to Holt President and CEO, recently traveled to Ethiopia with a group of American doctors.  The doctors, there on a 2-week long medical campaign, provided care to the children and families in the small, rural town of Shinshicho and Holt’s care centers in Durame and Addis Ababa.  The group also witnessed the loving care provided to the children at the centers.  The following is Maria’s account of their trip.

By Maria Nelson

As we walked into the Shinshicho Clinic courtyard, on the first day of a 7-day community medical care campaign, I was immediately struck by the big crowd of people gathered there for the free medical visit.

My eyes glanced over the crowd then stopped straight in front of me. A woman carrying a baby in a blanket on her back, reached for me and pulled me close to kiss each cheek. She had a look of desperation, and I could tell instantly that she was seeking immediate care for her sick baby. As she unwrapped her baby boy, my heart sank. Her child was as sick as I have ever seen in person. Pale, fragile, listless and so very thin. His wrist was no bigger around than my thumb. Her sad eyes locked on mine as she pleaded for help. Tears began streaming down her face.

Her story was heartbreaking. Widowed in the past months, she was alone now with two very small, sick children. Barefoot, she walked to the clinic and was only able to bring her youngest child, whom she carried all the way.

The Shinshicho Clinic in southern Ethiopia, with help from Holt International, is able to provide some hope even for cases like these. It is the only medical facility in this rural area of over 250,000 people.

The clinic is funded by Holt International to address child and maternal health care in this area. They provide a full range of services including vaccinations, labor and delivery, nutritional support, and general medicine. The Shinshicho clinic also offers HIV testing and Anti-retro viral support, as well as education and counseling.

I learned that the woman and her baby, after receiving care, both tested positive for HIV and will now begin receiving the care they need, as well as counseling and nutritional support for the mother.

Without the support of Holt International and Holt donors, there would be no clinic in this poverty stricken region, which is rife with infectious diseases such as malaria and typhoid. Funding of the clinic supports Holt’s goal of improving maternal and children’s health and strengthening families… It also saves lives.

Holt’s childcare center

Our team also traveled to the Holt childcare centers in Durame and Addis Ababa, where we were able to witness a farewell ceremony for all of the children traveling home with their permanent families. Read the rest of this entry »

A team of doctors from the United States is currently in Ethiopia helping to provide for families and children in Holt’s care.

The team, including Holt Board Member and physician, Dr. Becca Brandt, will be there for two weeks providing training to a group of Ethiopian doctors. They will also be providing necessary medical supplies that will benefit the children and families served by the clinics in southern Ethiopia.

Since their arrival on October 5th, the group has traveled to Holt’s  child center in Addis Ababa, where they were able to witness a farewell ceremony for all of the children traveling home with their permanent families. Each family spoke to the caretakers at the center, thanking them for their love and devotion that they provided to their children while they waited to go home. During the farewell ceremony, the medical team was able to interact with the children and listen while the children sang for the group. Read the rest of this entry »

Children and families benefit from a renovated healthcare clinic in Shinshicho, Ethiopia

By: Ashli Courtright, Managing Editor

A year ago the waiting room of a government-run healthcare clinic in Shinshicho, Ethiopia, and the only healthcare facility in the community, sat run down and almost completely empty. Many residents opted to travel long distances to other clinics, or remain in their homes as their treatable medical conditions worsened. Now, with the help of Holt International, the clinic has been completely renovated, and the residents of this community are finally receiving the medical treatment and care they desperately need, in a clean and safe environment.

In January Will Dantzler, Chairman of Holt’s Board of Directors, joined with Holt’s Ethiopia Country Director, Dr. Fikru Geleso, and members of local and central Ethiopian government, to cut the ribbon at an inauguration ceremony, signifying the opening of the beautiful, newly renovated clinic, and welcoming a new beginning for the estimated 250,000 area residents who will benefit from it.

“The clinic is 25 years old, and had never been renovated, no construction had been done to it until now,” says Dr. Fikru. “It was very unclean, and the nurses were inexperienced. We renovated the entire clinic, and did additional constructions including: sewer system, electrical system and telephone system.”

Holt, along with generous donors, provided funding for the renovation work and partial funding for a full-time doctor and several nurses who are now running the clinic and providing medical assistance to over 3,000 people a month, most of whom are women and children. “It benefits a lot of women specifically,” said Dr. Fikru.

Read the rest of this entry »

Holt Chairman, Will Dantzler remembers his childhood as he connects with the children in Ethiopia

Something happened to me as I hugged and kissed the children at Holt’s Durame intake center in Ethiopia. Walls that had shielded me from dwelling on my beginnings began to crumble, and windows to my past began to open as I saw a reflection of myself in this generation of orphans. As most of the group began leaving the center, I found myself openly crying as I felt the loneliness of these children without a family—buried feelings that I knew once all too well were now surfacing again.

I loved seeing the children that came out to greet us at the Durame Center and I just had to hug every one of them because of the connection I felt with my little brethren. The conditions and environment were the same as I vaguely remembered from fifty years ago…the only difference was the country. Read the rest of this entry »

Staff at Holt’s Durame intake center open their hearts, as another abandoned infant enters its doors

By: Phil Littleton, Senior Vice President

Durame, Ethiopia–We’ve spent the last few days in Southern Ethiopia at Holt’s intake care center located in Durame, where we were once again, greeted with smiles and a flower. 50 infants and toddlers now occupy the Durame Center, where the loving staff individually cares for each child who enters its doors.

We were there when a local official brought in another abandoned infant, which seems to be a daily occurrence.  Although the children are well cared for by the staff, there are tremendous needs for the center that you can see all around. The children are bathed daily outside with cool water, where there is no working bathroom facility.

In a center where the electricity struggles to stay on, the staff continues to give quality care to children and work by candlelight to feed them.

Please pray for the children and our work in Ethiopia

by Phil Littleton, Senior Vice President

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia—What an amazing day today!  Just back from our first day in Addis where a group of Holt board members and donors are visiting our newest adoption and child welfare program.  A day filled with many highs and a few lows.

Highs began in the morning with our visit to the Holt child care center in Addis Ababa.  Some of the children greeted us, walking down the front stairs and handing each of us a fresh cut rose.  They were all dressed up in their best outfits and all appeared remarkably healthy.

So many great things are happening here at Holt’s programs in Ethiopia. The Holt care center is just over a year in operation and now is the temporary home to some thirty or so children. Most of the children have been matched with adoptive families who will soon travel here to receive their new family members.

The low was listening to Dr. Fikru, Holt’s country director, explain and describe the dire situation of so many other children at our transition center in the south.  This is the center where abandoned and orphaned children are brought for care… sounds like there are tremendous needs and very little resource to meet those needs currently.  We’ll visit that area in a few days, and I’ll send an update.

A pastor’s offer of prayer encouraged a couple to proceed with their first of several adoptions through Holt International

by Todd Wisotzkey

Dianne and I got married in July 1993 and five years later began our family with the birth of a beautiful baby girl named Kayla.

Our journey to extend our family through adoption began when Kayla was about 2.  The idea of adopting a child had come up in our discussions before, even prior to our marriage.  The process seemed intimidating, and we were anxious about unknowns and all the factors that were out of our control.  We initially decided against pursuing adoption.  But the Holy Spirit worked on both of us, and we both independently came to the conclusion that we wanted to adopt.  This would be our way to serve God by sharing our blessings, which included our marriage and family life, access to good medical care, loving extended families, a safe family-oriented neighborhood and caring Christian friends.

We began researching adoption agencies and procedures, which took many hours on the Internet and phone conversations with agencies.  We ended up choosing a Christian agency—Holt International.

Shortly thereafter, I became overwhelmed with fear and worry about whether we were making the right decision to proceed with adoption.  We were just getting into the mountain of paperwork, and had not yet been matched with any child.  Dianne and I had prayed a lot about our decision and received many indications that this was God’s will for us, but the details and the unknowns of how we were going to handle it were causing me to question our plan.  I finally said out loud in a tense discussion with Dianne, “I think we should back out.”  In that very instant the phone rang.  I answered, and was greeted by the pastor of the church we were attending at the time, asking what he could pray for on behalf of our family.  Every week, he prayed for five families, and it took him more than a year to get through the congregation’s rolls—this week, he happened to have reached us.  I stood speechless, in awe of God’s timing of this phone call.  My doubts about the process vanished immediately. Read the rest of this entry »

Simple, nutritious food given with love continues to be one of Holt International’s most important ingredients for helping vulnerable children.  But recent cost increases and disasters are threatening Holt’s ability to meet the need. This blog entry includes excerpts from Holt International magazine, Fall 2008.

by Alice Evans, Holt Managing Editor

Since Holt’s earliest beginnings, food and nutrition have been vital components in its efforts to save weak and malnourished children and to help them toward healthy development.  Through the years Holt and its partner agencies have brought countless children back from the brink of death simply by feeding them basic, healthy food while coaxing them with affectionate holding and words of encouragement.  Recent events, however, are making it more and more difficult to provide this simple but vital component of Holt’s care for vulnerable children.

A Worldwide Food Crisis
Beginning early in 2008, food issues rose to the forefront in many countries served by Holt.  In China, the costs of food were already on the rise when severe winter storms spiked prices even more, and lowered supplies.  A few months later, a major earthquake hit southwestern China, bringing more stress to those least able to manage it—the poor, and children of the poor.  And then came the tainted milk crisis.

In Haiti, four hurricanes struck in less than a month, bringing floods and landslides that destroyed houses and wiped out crops.  While children at Holt Fontana Village were safe, Holt stepped up efforts to double the number of cottages, doubling its capacity to care for children.  Holt also stepped up efforts to increase its family preservation program, and quickly began delivering food vouchers to help ward off starvation.

Holt International is an adoption and child welfare agency—not a disaster relief organization.  But when disaster strikes a Holt project or program area, Holt must find a way to continue meeting the needs.

China: Nutrition and a Hand to Feed Them
“Children’s faces won’t lie,” said Holt China Director Jian Chen.  She knows by sight a baby who has been receiving adequate protein and one who has not.  “Children in Holt projects don’t get sick as much, they’re more alert.  You look at skin color.  A baby who is being fed congee and rice milk may be getting fat, but that child is not as healthy as a baby who is getting proper formula.” Read the rest of this entry »