In the same vein of the article I mentioned the other day, this article by Reuters from South Africa talks about a government policy to limit family size. The article referenced the other day talked about family planning, or use of birth control, but this article mentions "rewarding" couples for having no more than three children. So far, there are no punitive damages mentioned but I'm sorry - is this a precursor to another China? This is downright scary... more

From yahoo news

Malawi, where a pregnant mother dies every hour during childbirth, has launched a two million dollar programme to lower the level of maternal deaths by 75 percent.

"Malawi's mortality rate is currently at 984 per 100,000 live births. This high rate is a national emergency that requires concerted effort by everybody," said Chris Kang'ombe, principal secretary in the country's ministry of health, on Wednesday.

He was speaking in the administrative capital Lilongwe where the government launched a partnership with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the European Union (EU) aimed at slashing back the maternal death rate.

The four-year partnership,... more

In a New York Times article today, the headline screams After So Many Deaths, Too Many Births. The country’s population has quadrupled over the last half-century. Today Rwanda has 8.8 million people; most are subsistence farmers. According to the article, if current fertility rates are not curbed — Rwandan women bear an average of 6.1 children — the population will double by 2030. That would almost certainly doom Mr. Kagame’s ambitious plan to raise Rwanda from poverty... more

In 1999, an American photographer visting Rwanda and Rosamond's orphanage was so taken by the Imbabazi children that he conceived of a photo workshop to teach them how to use a camera. When he returned in 2000, he gave them disposable cameras to put those skills to the test, and what they revealed was Rwanda as seen through their eyes.

Their project became known as "Through the Eyes of Children: The Rwanda Project," and they came to be known as the Camera Kids.

From their website, we read:

Through... more

One of Rosamond Carr’s “kids” was Frederic Ndabaramiye, whose hands had been chopped off by Hutu insurgents.

In 1998, Frederic was 15 and had gone to Gisenyi for the day when the Interahamwe, or Hutu militias, attacked his bus. They separated the Hutus -- among them, Frederic -- from the Tutsis with the aim of forcing the Hutus to kill the Tutsis.

All the Hutus knew that they were going to be asked perhaps to kill the Tutsis, and they all started running. And Frederic was a kid, and he was caught. He refused to kill other passengers, so his... more

Rosamond Carr was known and loved in Rwanda. She passed away in September, at the age of 94. With her niece, Ann Halsey, she co-wrote “Land of a Thousand Hills: My Life in Rwanda”. (This book is being re-released on February 23rd - watch for it!)

She was already 81 years old when she decided to open the Imbabazi orphanage. This American-born woman had called Rwanda home for most of her... more

Some of you may remember the NY Times article on malnutrition in Africa - Erin blogged about it back in December. There is some good news on that front coming out of Zambia. They have decided to move forward with a fortification program that will add micronutrients - especially Vitamin A and iron, but also folic acid and zinc - to prevent damage from malnutrition.... more

From the MSN website today is an article about pop star Madonna's recent visit to David Letterman's show.

When Madonna initiated the adoption of a Malawian boy, she was “saving a life,” the singer told David Letterman on Thursday, as she called for increased adoption from the African nation.

“There’s over a million orphans in Malawi, and in my opinion the laws need to change because these children need to be rescued,” the Material Mom said on CBS’s “Late Show.”

Madonna,... more

*Go to an adoption-related conference - there are local conferences, regional conferences and national conferences. Pick a JCICS conference, or a NACAC conference, or even a social worker conference that deals with adoption issues. Holly van Gulden does some fascinating conferences, Nancy Thomas does conferences dealing with tough attachment issues. Adoptive Families of America has state-by-state listings of pre-adoption events, cultural... more

As I said before, I'm not much of a celebrity watcher - with one notable exception - the Pitt-Jolie family. I love what they are doing for the children of the world, from donating to an orphanage in India while filming there, to the creation of the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, dedicated to helping both Doctors Without Borders and Global Action for Children. I love the way they are willing to go and live and work in the countries where their children are from,... more