Courtney & I with students at a high school in South Africa.
Hi, we are Courtney and Ryan Thomas from Stanfield, NC. God has recently led us to care for the orphan. We have decided to adopt a little girl from Ethiopia. We are using a Christian adoption agency called America World Adoption. We not only decided to create this website to raise awareness of the orphan situation in Ethiopia and around the world, but also to help raise funds for our adoption. Ethiopian adoptions cost between $25,000 and $35,000. When we started this journey we knew we couldn't do this on our own. We feel confident that God will provide, and will nudge the hearts of many so that we can bring our daughter home. At this very moment, our future daughter could be lying in the streets of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She could be lying in a dirty crib in an understaffed orphanage. One thing is for sure.....she's waiting!
Ethiopia is a beautiful country, but behind the beauty is overwhelming poverty, disease, and hunger. Here are a few statistics for Ethiopia.
* Population: 74.2 million.
* Ethiopia is ranked by the UN’s Human Development Index as one of the four poorest countries in the world.
* Average annual household income is less than $160.
* 1 in 10 children die before their first birthday.
* Malnutrition is the underlying cause of more than half of all child deaths.
* Only 50% of children attend primary school.
* 44% of Ethiopia's population is under age 15.
* There are currently 4.6 million orphans in Ethiopia.
Here is an inspiring video showing just a glimpse of the Ethiopian orphan crisis.
