There are 195 countries in the world. So how in the world did we end up with Zambia? As Kim and I became increasingly clear that the time was now to pursue an adoption, the big question became, “Where do we want to adopt from?” We literally went through the requirements and opportunities of just about every country on the US State Department’s intercountry adoption page. Some countries we don’t even qualify for (such as those countries with a minimum age of 35) and some don’t have young kids (infants/toddlers) available.
As such, we had a list of requirements / priorities. Here they are:
- Birth order matters – we definitely wanted a child younger than Big J, who turns 2 in a couple of weeks.
- Off the radar - We wanted a country that was off the traditional adoption radar. We just felt like we wanted to look somewhere other than some of the standard countries. No deep, theological reasons here, just personal preference.
- Depth of need – There are 143 million orphans around the world. Rescuing any of them would be worth the while. That said, we wanted a country whose particular need tugged our hearts.
- Future passions - Wherever we adopt from, that country will instantly become one of the most important countries in the world to us. We wanted a country that we could invest in long into the future through missions trips, potentially doing some teaching at a seminary there and more.
We went back and forth. How about this country? How about that country? Until we came across Zambia. It was the first time that we both experienced cognitive rest and excitement over the same country. God’s leading seemed clear. Let me paint a picture of the need in Zambia that captured our heart. In the next post, Kim will share a little about Zambia itself.
The orphan need in Zambia:
- There are over 1,000,000 orphans in Zambia – that is just about 10% of the total population of the country!
- Somewhere between 20 and 30% of all kids in the country are orphans.
- About 80% of these kids are orphaned because of AIDS.
- Zambia has the highest number of orphans per capita in the entire world.
- The Under-5 mortality rate is 148 of 1000 live births. That is, 14.8% of kids will die before their 5th birthday.
- Total life expectancy in Zambia is about 38 years.
- About 70% of the population earns less than $1/day.
- Only 37% of the rural population has access to clean water.
- Only 13% of the rural population has access to sanitation services.
All of those factors, combined, broke our heart. I hope it breaks yours as well. According to the 2008 UN Human Development Report, Zambia ranked 165th out of 177 countries in the Human Development Index. The need is great. And we are going.
Sources for the above data:
