A recent news story out of Zambia is bad news for families using the U.S. adoption agency Faithful Adoption. The Namibian ran a story on August 13 titled "Zambia Smashes Adoption Scam."

The article states that the Zambia government has uncovered and ended an adoption scam that involved flying children out of Zambia with adoptive parents, without proper adoption procedures being followed. As a result of these findings, the article claims, three children have been "withdrawn" from the American families that were planning on adopting them.

The... more

In Lusaka, the capital city, there are some places you can go:

The National Museum. Even though it's small, it's still interesting, especially the collection on witch doctoring. (I was hear during the national elections in the fall of 06 – one of the contenders said if you did not vote for him, you were the son of a witch doctor. The newspapers are FULL of ads for witch doctors who can (supposedly) do anything from find a lost love, cure infertility, see if your spouse is cheating – even cure AIDS. It's BIG STUFF here.) They also have an exhibit on the history of Zambia, mostly in writing, but a few photos and artifacts as well. Price of admission is about $2.

Kabwata... more

You survived the flights, you made it out of the airport – hooray! On your way to where ever you are staying, ask if you can stop and get some water – you'll want it that first night at least for brushing your teeth and taking your anti-malarial medication.

Hopefully you ended up on a flight that arrives in the evening in Lusaka, so it will be late enough on Zambian time that you can just go to bed. Anything after about 8 pm sounds good to me. If you think you'll have trouble making it all the way through the night, you may want to take a sleeping... more

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If you are headed to Lusaka through Heathrow (London) instead of Jo'berg (South Africa), you can get out and see some sites if you have at least 6 hours for your layover. Anything shorter than that, just stay put. If you have enough time, change $100 into pounds, take the tube (subway) into downtown and you can see the House of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, part of the Thames and the London Eye. Depending on how... more

You are coming to Zambia, but it's the first time you've ever left the States - you need to know what to do. Or you've traveled before, but could use a refresher. Here are some more specifics of getting into Lusaka, Zambia.

You've checked your luggage and have been given boarding passes. Sometimes you will receive boarding passes that get you to your first stop in Africa. Sometimes, though you'll only receive boarding passes to DC. If you fly South African air from DC to Johannesburg, you'll need to get from the terminal you land in to the international... more

Here are a few more details about the actual adoption hearing in Zambia. The process varies somewhat from individual to individual, of course, but generally speaking, you can expect it to go like this: *Identify child *Start “fostering” - court-ordered and the child is assigned to your care *Dept of Social Welfare prepares documentation about your fitness as parents (a guardian-ad-litem report, which states in part that no life insurance policy has yet been taken out on said infants) *Petition for adoption is also prepared... more

When I told you about Ivy's place, I didn't really describe it. Sunday afternoon, Ivy came and picked me up and took me to the location of the home she is building. Although no longer exclusively so, Zambia is mostly a cash-based society, so you build what you have money for, then you stop and wait until you have more. She has walls up, a roof (but no ceiling inside yet), wiring in the walls, but not connected to the overhead powerlines, a space for windows, with iron bars, but no glass yet. That kind of thing. She has people living there – no running water, either. They are the caretakers and keep people from stealing from it and/or destroying it. She wants to turn it into... more

Have you ever heard me talk about “Africa time”? (It applied in Eastern Europe, too, when I was there.) Anyway, it's the Hakuna Matata lifestyle compared to the Type A, caffeine patch screaming woman lifestyle. :) Here's a daily schedule for us (and ps – this has been typical of my independent adoptions, but not so much with the agency ones, although I still had way more “free” time than I do at home.)

7 AM: Wake up, eat bread with butter and/or Nutella and some granola bars. Think about getting dressed. 8 AM: ... more

Speaking of babies, we went to another orphanage yesterday that had babies, many of them abandoned and available for adoption – it's not a huge orphanage, but the baby room had what – 15 or so. We held babies, fed babies, rocked babies and played with some of the slightly older ones. There was a little one – Gloria – who was the oldest of the bunch at 9 months old. I actually remember her from September, isn't that amazing? She was 3 months old then and was a very alert, aware baby. Her mother had died – in childbirth, I think, but she still had family involved – the father.... more

Interrupting our regularly scheduled Ethiopian adoption story, I have news to share!! In fact, I have many things I want to write about and I am just running out of time. I am leaving next Tuesday for Zambia, via Tanzania. I am taking my 17 yo daughter, Alina, with me. We will be in Lusaka, Zambia about 5 pm on the 19th of March and are currently scheduled to return home Easter weekend, but that is subject to change either direction. We are going to try and adopt. Greg is pretty sure this is our last time (or maybe one more) and I am open... more