Dispatches from the Congo – A Journey of Love (Part 9)
By Erin Pohland Hello from Kinshasa, or should I say Hell’s Waiting Room…. Seriously, it seems like all I do here is wait. Wait at the hospital, wait for the power, wait for my laundry (it took 4 days for 2 baby blankets and a sleeper), and wait at the Embassy. Poor Andrew is going to think that his new life is a waiting room. He’s had a lot of firsts in waiting rooms!! Today should have been easy. I got a call around 8 am that the Embassy needed a copy of my passport. Why they needed it is…
Dispatches from the Congo – A Journey of Love (Part 4)
~Kinshasa Forget whatever I told you last night….I love the Congo! Well, more importantly, I love my son — he is just the sweetest little thing. But I really am finding myself loving Kinshasa despite the overwhelming poverty and dispair. The people are just amazingly friendly — it’s been fantastic. I woke up bright and early this morning so I could be ready to meet Andrew. Reverend Bashaka brought him to the hotel along with Timothee, a local woman whose name I didn’t catch, and his foster mother Sarah. He was dressed for Alaska — those red shorts from…
Dispatches from the Congo – a Journey of Love (Part 1)
By Erin Pohland “We’re opening a pilot program in the Congo. Would you consider being one of our first families?” With those words, my life changed. The Congo — the so-called “heart of darkness,” the rape capital of the world, and one of the most dangerous and impoverished countries in the world. I said yes. Less than a year after that conversation, I was on a plane to get my son. I had made the decision to adopt in February of that year, after consulting with various doctors and doing a lot of soul-searching. While I may very well be…