[ncal]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone ever adopted or requested an interracial and/or biracial child from Ethiopia, and how common this is. We are a biracial family and as I was watching adotpion stories ( in another country) I noticed there were quite a few biracial children in the orphanages.

Thanks

[teranga]

I have never heard of that in Ethiopia. In South Africa it is fairly common (but if you are American, you can't currently adopt from South Africa), but not Ethiopia. There are very few white people living in Ethiopia (relatively), and the chances of ever coming across even one known biracial child who is available for adoption would be extremely slim, I would think.


Teranga

[bluedaisy]

Hmm. You may have seen children of varying skin colors, but I don't think Ethiopians perceive race this way. Yes, some are lighter, the legacy most likely of generations of interaction with the Middle East and Europe. But (to me) biracial connotes two parents of two distinct races, which is not typically the case in Ethiopia. Yes, people there come in a range of shades. But that's just Ethiopia. Not all Africans are dark-skinned.

And, to answer your question more specifically, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find any agency that would let you request skin tone. Many agencies specifically say you may not. If you adopt from Ethiopia, your child may range from latte to dark chocolate brown.

[SAVeronika]

Hi Teranga,
I have to disagree with you on this one. As a South African living in South African, I must say that it is really not very common to see biracial children in orphanages. What might be perceived as biracial children are actually children born to the Coloured community. This is not "coloured" as interpreted by Americans, but Coloured as in the third largest race group in South Africa.

I have a quote that describe the origins of the Coloured community:

The coloured community has diverse origins. The Dutch colonials began importing slaves from as early as 1658. They came from elsewhere in Africa and from some of the islands of the Indian and Atlantic oceans. It was inevitable that admixtures were to follow. The Khoikhoi, Xhosa and white man added their own progeny over the decades. The Cape Malay has Indian, Arab, Malagasy, Chinese and Malay blood. These people are held together by their religion. They live mostly in Cape Town. The Griquas, who have a strong sense of identity, live in the Northern Cape. They are descended from Khoikhoi and white ancestors who met 200 years ago.

It is from an online magazine called Encounter South Africa. While this community might have started out as biracial in origin, it is now recognised as a distinct race all on its own. Hope this clears it up a bit.

To answer the original question, I don't think it is possible to request a biracial child from Ethiopia. Even if a child was born to one white parent and one Ethiopian parent, I doubt if they would classify that child as anything other than Ethiopian.

[teranga]

I am going only by what I have read on these forums, from people (mainly from countries other than the U.S. but also people who adopted to the U.S. before that was stopped). If you look back through, there are a number of posts from people who are talking specifically about children who are born of one black and one white parent, and who are (this is from this forum, not from personal experience) hard to place within S.Africa because of this. They are not the children white a-parents in S.Africa generally adopt, nor the children black a-parents generally adopt.

Having said that, as I've said, I do not have first-hand knowledge of orphanages in S.Africa, so I would encourage more research on the potential a-parents part. This is what has been discussed numerous times by those who have done adoptions from South Africa (including by those living in S. Africa). Even then though, it would be questionnable why someone would specifically request a bi-racial child. Perhaps, like with the original poster, if it is because the parents are of different races and they want to adopt a child to whom they feel they can explain this and relate, maybe it would be acceptable. It is never acceptable for parents who are looking for a lighter-skinned child. That raises all sorts of questions and of course, just b/c a child is bi-racial does not mean s/he would be lighter than a child who is not.

[adoptethiopiablog]

Ethiopian skin tones vary tremendously, and I suppose some children who have been adopted may have had an Ethiopian mom and a European dad.

But I don't think an agency would feel comfortable working with a parent who wanted a specific 'shade' of child, whether they were trying to 'match' a parent or for whatever other reason.

And another point...even in Black families, I've heard that full siblings can vary tremendously in color both from each other and from the parents... Variety is the spice of life!

[karuhi]

I had wondered why siblings often looked so different from one another when it came to the shade of their complexion!
Could it also be more common in African countries for the siblings to have had different fathers/mothers?

[StillaMomma]

Karuhi,

"Could it also be more common in African countries for the siblings to have had different fathers/mothers?"

Can you PLEASE clarify your statement?

[karuhi]

Just something I noticed on some of the waiting children videos - it was mentioned that some of the siblings had different mothers, and in other instances, different fathers. Perhaps some of it is the result of the Aids crisis, where one parent dies, and the remaining spouse remarries?
Another reason could be that a man had two wives?

[ocracoke]

I don't think polygamy is allowed in Ethiopia.

In terms of skin color though I have noticed that a lot of the kids that I know who were adopted from the south (in Ethiopia) seem to be lighter skinned then the ones adopted from the north. My daughter is from the north. However, that is just a personal observation -- not scientific.

Also, genetics is a funny thing. My hispanic friend can pass for white (until she opens her mouth and you hear her heavy spanish accent) and her full blooded sister can pass for black.

I also recently read an article about a young biracial couple who had twins. Both the mom and dad are biracial. The twins are fraternal. One little girl is white with blonde hair and the other is black with curly black hair. Other then coloring the girls looked identical. The explanation is that the white girl inherited only the white genes from both parents while the other one inherited either a combination or only black genes. How interesting would it be to have a biological twin that was a different race then you??

Samantha

[teranga]

There are many ethnic groups in Africa. Each ehtnic group has a different "look". Some are lighter skinned, some darker..some have finer features than others; some are tall and others are short. Clearly there are times when the ethnic groups mix and there can be variation. But generally speaking, a Masaii is clearly a Masaii. A Pulaar does not look like a Wolof...that sort of thing. There are areas where one ethnic group is prevelant and so there is little mixing and other areas where there may be more (particularly cities and larger towns). Where I lived in Senegal, it was almot exclusively a Pulaar area and there were rarely marriages outside of Pulaar ethnic group. They speak a different language (men especially often speak 2 or 3 or more local languages (often totally unrelated languages. Amazing), but often the women would speak only Pulaar. The culture is different. They both live inSenegal, but there are MANY MAJOR cultural differences (one is historically nomadic; one has a big focus on cattle the other does not generally keep cattel at all; one is stricter Muslim than the other (again, generally); they eat totally different foods, one practices female circumcision, the other doesn't...the list goes on. So inter-marriage doesn't happen there like here. They are very steeped in their cultural heritage, many very important customs come from their ethnic group (not their country, as national lines in Africa were externally imposed on them), the rituals surrounding becoming a man; schools, when kids go to them, are often in the village itself and so again--same ethnic group. The skin color in the entire region where I lived was pretty uniform. Very littel variation. Features were what is considered "fine." Build was very slim. They were quite short. There would not be a really tall, dark baby born there...the variation just isn't there.

Obviously the ethnic groups in Ethiopia are different, but the skin tone of the Amhara is not lighter b/c they were all really dark black Africans in the recent past, and then they mixed with Europeans. I was in a supermarket not long ago, and a woman came up to me and said "Oh, he's Omoro isn't he?? He looks just like the Omoro children in KEnya where I grew up." He is from the Omoro part of Ethiopia, and our driver in Ethiopia thought he looked Omoro too. There is a "look", a skin tone, height etc. that goes with each ethnic group. Again, I'm nopt saying there is no inter-marriage at all (my initial homestay in Senegal was with a Pulaar mom and a Serrer dad. A little girl I sponsor there has a Pulaar mom and a Wolof dad, but often skin tone, along with other physical features can often tell you a lot.

I wanted so badly to know for sure the ethnic group of my son b/c "Ethiopian" is one thing, but so many of the traditions, of the child's identity would have been tied into his ethnic group, not just Ethiopia. Omoro and Amhara...many differences.

In the U.S., there is more variation b/c the African ethnic groups are not "preserved" liek they are in many parts of Africa where the same ethnic group is largely with the same ethnic group. People of many shades of brown, from many different ethnic groups, were brought over as slaves, chose to come over in later years, etc. So it's different. There are many generations here of varied skin tones and features coming from different ethnic groups (even assuming no white has come into play, which of course it has in many cases). It's not hugely surprising to get differnt skin tones (and features) in AA families b/c of all the different ehtnic groups which have come together over time.

Of course civilizations have mixed forever, and that's how the ethnic looks we know today came to be...but just as there is a general look for soemone from N.Sweden, same is true (though by ethnic boundries, not Western-imposed national boundries) in Africa.

Sorry I've gone on so long. I just wanted to address a little bit the topic on skin color b/c it was sounding to me like people seem to think it's totally random what color a black child turns out to be...or that those in Africa who are lighter skinned has nothing to do with ethnic group...or that someone who is Amhara, and who lives in an Amhara area, and who has married within the Amhara group for many many generations, would suddently turn out to be 6'4" and very dark skinned...which they wouldn't.

[JenC]

Teranga, your post is so interesting! I've heard lots of comments both here and on yahoo groups about different ethnic groups. But I haven't been able to figure out where to find out some of this stuff for myself. I'd like to learn what ethnic groups are in Ethiopia and their cultures...can you point me in the right direction?

Ok, I've really got to now. Gack.

[teranga]

Jen, I'll PM you later (don't have time right now!). Also, just want to acknowledge that I looked back through my post and realize I wrote "Omoro" all the way through...it's "Oromo". Sorry!

[JenC]

No problem, thanks!

[teranga]

Hi Jen,
A quick overview of some of the ethnic groups in Ethiopia. You can google any of them to find out more (the Oromo for example, live in what they call Oromia and there is a long (sometimes very stressful) relationship with them and the rest of the nation). They trace their family back at least 8 generations (often many more) as they make sure they do not marry anyone who is related within 7 generations (or was it 8? I'd have to double check). Anyway...

"Ethiopia is a composite of more than 70 ethnic groups. The Oromo (Galla) group represents approximately 40% of the population and is concentrated primarily in the southern half of the nation. The Amhara and Tigrean groups constitute approximately 32% of the population and have traditionally been dominant politically. The Sidamo of the southern foothills and savanna regions account for 9%, while the Shankella make up about 6% of the population and reside on the western frontier. The Somali (6%) and Afar (4%) inhabit the arid regions of the east and southeast. Nilotic peoples live in the west and southwest along the Sudan border. The Gurage account for 2% of the population; the remaining 1% is made up of other groups. The Falasha (who call themselves Beta Israel, and are popularly known as "black Jews") live in the mountains of Simen; they were reportedly the victims of economic discrimination before the 1974 revolution and of religious and cultural persecution after that time. Some 14,000 were secretly flown to Israel via the Sudan in 1984–85. About 14,000 more were flown out of Addis Ababa in 1991. Another 4,500 are believed to remain. The Beja of the northernmost region, the Agau of the central plateaus, and the Sidamo of the southern foothills and savanna regions are the remnants of the earliest known groups to have occupied Ethiopia."