Category - Congo

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24

Oct

Elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo

in Congo, MLJ Adoptions

While the world is watching, in November, voters in Democratic Republic of Congo will head to the polls for the second democratic vote in decades. The National Electoral Committee has reported over 31 million have registered for this year’s vote, 6 million more than in the 2006 election. Joseph Kabila, the current residing president, has ...

7

Sep

Just a Boy Waiting for a Home: Part 2

in Congo, MLJ Adoptions

This is part 2 of Just a Boy Waiting for a Home. Check out part 1 if you haven’t read it. Inspired by his memory, when I returned home, I told the staff to move him into foster care while I looked for a home and his new family. This little boy, so helpless, was ...

6

Sep

Just a Boy Waiting for a Home: Part 1

in Congo, MLJ Adoptions

Congo’s war has produced more casualties since the end of WWII. It has been the UN’s largest peace keeping mission to date. The most tragic result of any war is the toll it takes on the most innocent – the children. The orphaned children in Congo number in the millions and some reside in the ...

18

Aug

How We Will Celebrate Our Child’s Cultural Heritage

by MLJ Adoptions

in Congo, MLJ Adoptions

In the two months since we received our application approval, my husband Barry and I have explored the culture of our future baby’s homeland. Before we committed to the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa, we learned many devastating and heartbreaking things. So we changed our focus to the things that we are passionate about. ...

16

Aug

Orphanage Care vs. Foster Care

by MLJ Adoptions

in Congo, MLJ Adoptions

MLJ Adoptions has international adoption programs in Bulgaria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Honduras, Nicaragua, Samoa and Ukraine. In each of these programs we observe children living in orphanages and in foster care. I have seen wonderful orphanages and terrible orphanages. I have observed many wonderful foster care families during my work in international adoptions. It ...

4

Aug

Goooooo Wiggins Team!

by MLJ Adoptions

One facet of our decision to adopt a daughter from the Congo involved integration of the newest member of our family into our existing family structure. We already had 2 daughters (ages 6 & 4), both adopted from China, and they have a very close relationship. Having already been sisters for 2 ½ years, they ...

12

Jul

Why We Chose to Adopt

by MLJ Adoptions

Here’s the first of our client blogs from our blog contest! Children are dying from malnutrition, taken into slave labor, used for wars, and worse all over our world. To be more accurate there are 147 million children that are in these situations or in orphanages with adequate or less than adequate care. These children ...

27

May

DRCongo: Zongo Falls Part 2

Read Part 1 of this story The attraction of the Falls is not necessarily the height but the sheer force of the water plunging over the cliff. The force of the water is quite impressive and when standing on the brink, either extraordinarily exciting or, as in my case, the source of extreme anxiety. This ...

26

May

DRCongo: Zongo Falls Part 1

One important aspect of adopting a child from another country is to be well educated on the land and culture of their heritage. This will help you better answer questions your child will ask as they grow up. To help our clients better understand the country from which they are adopting, staff members visit important ...

17

May

Jillian Michaels Actively Waiting After Sending Dossier To Congo

On May 11, 2011, People.com posted this article regarding Jillian Michaels’s adoption in process from Democratic Republic of Congo. I love reading other people’s adoption stories and there’s always a little added interest when a celebrity adopts. While reading this article, I was struck by one of the comments Michaels made, “I’m terrified that [the ...

15

Apr

My Congo Experience As An Escort

by Camie Schuiteman

I recently returned from a fabulous trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The country is different than any place I have ever experienced. Having been to Vietnam twice to complete my adoption, I assumed I would experience similar sites. Of course, being two different continents and two very different cultures, I was wrong. I ...

23

Feb

Jillian Michaels Announces Adopting From DRCongo

by MLJ Adoptions

Once again, a celebrity is calling attention to international and transracial adoption. Have you heard? TV’s toughest trainer is taking on another role, that of motherhood. One of The Biggest Loser trainers, Jillian Michaels, is adopting from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Michaels, featured as one of the reality show’s key trainers, announced that she ...

11

Feb

It’s Okay To Be A Token. Really.

by MLJ Adoptions

in Congo, Haiti

Deesha Philyaw is a freelance writer and adjunct professor in the Master of Professional Writing Program at Chatham University. She is a black co-parenting mom of two girls, ages 7 and 12, one of whom is adopted, and stepmom of two girls, age 12 and 14. Deesha has written a series of blogs for us ...

10

Feb

Meeting John McCain

in Congo, Photo Of The Week

8

Feb

Black History Month As An Adoptive Parent

by MLJ Adoptions

Throughout my childhood I can vividly remember February being “Black History Month”. I recall the hallways at school being decorated with posters of Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King, Jr. I remember the lessons we would get for that month – the discussions of slavery and the Civil Rights Movement of the sixties. ...

22

Dec

Clean Drinking Water for Rural Congolese Communities

by MLJ Adoptions

in Congo, MLJ Adoptions

Our team had the absolute pleasure of meeting with Woody Collins, President of Congo Helping Hands, this past week. Mr. Collins informed us about his organization, with a special emphasis on their newest endeavor, The Congo Water Project. Outside of Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, clean drinking water is scarce. Nearly ...

25

Oct

World of Hair Care

in Congo, Haiti, Resources

When I brought my daughter home in February of 2009, I entered a whole new world. I pretty much had to learn a new language with words like co-wash, no-poo, and twist-out. There were even code words like 4b, 3c, Ph, and TW and words to avoid like sulfates and parabens. I had entered the ...

18

Oct

We Will Run for Congolese Women Again

by MLJ Adoptions

It’s not easy running a marathon. It’s doubly not easy when you are not a runner. It’s even harder when you’re pushing a stroller in the cold at 10am. But we did it. My husband and I jogged (and walked slowly at times) the entire 5K course in Chicago on October 2nd in Lincoln Park. ...

15

Sep

Life on the Congo River: NPR feature

by MLJ Adoptions

Last week, NPR Morning Edition featured a 5-part series on the Congo River. The series starts at Kisangani (Stanleyville), the beginning of the navigable portion of the river, and continues to Kinshasa, the Capital of The Democratic Republic of Congo. According to Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, the main narrator for the story, the 3,000 mile long river ...

12

Sep

Escorting is Fun!

by MLJ Adoptions

in Congo, Photo Of The Week

8

Sep

Pre-approved Elective Parenting Your Adopted Child: Tweens, Teens & Beyond

by MLJ Adoptions

in Congo, Resources

Issues inherent in adoption typically begin to surface when the child realizes they are becoming independent from their parents. Questions many parents assumed had been addressed when their child was younger often resurface. Most adoptive parents aren’t aware of this or prepared for it. Parenting Your Adopted Child: Tweens, Teens & Beyond is a class ...

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