tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post2653048852571245297..comments2023-12-14T06:06:39.934-05:00Comments on Agnostic Adoption: Whose culture is it anyway?Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-35118992150550510362013-02-26T22:53:11.513-05:002013-02-26T22:53:11.513-05:00That's a really good idea - I'll look into...That's a really good idea - I'll look into it. Thanks!Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-82327727764585170332013-02-26T22:52:47.387-05:002013-02-26T22:52:47.387-05:00It probably depends on the age. Our boys, especial...It probably depends on the age. Our boys, especially A, have some memories of Burjii, though they don't share much. I mostly want to give them some history so they have that pride in their roots.Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-1308471833216257792013-02-26T18:32:43.772-05:002013-02-26T18:32:43.772-05:00I did not know anything about Burjii and Burjinya,...I did not know anything about Burjii and Burjinya, so you have opened my eyes. Yes, your chances of finding a native speaker near by are small. :-( The friend requests are another resource. If nothing else, it will be an adventure. Would tracking down former Peace Corps volunteers be of any use? From what I know from former volunteers, they love to connect with new people and pass on what they have learned.But better, they may have connections!<br /> The whole college experience is looming in front of us. And yes, it WILL be interesting, to say the very least.AnnaJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03383199662193653915noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-10083902722264409892013-02-26T13:14:19.056-05:002013-02-26T13:14:19.056-05:00Kristin, have you seen this?
http://www.youtube.co...Kristin, have you seen this?<br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23-Dk9SA9V4<br />OK, yes, it's a reality TV show, but you get a nice glimpse of Afar.<br />Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-2769960120792942152013-02-26T12:08:05.178-05:002013-02-26T12:08:05.178-05:00Can't help you out at all. We are suffering f...Can't help you out at all. We are suffering from the same problems. Afar is so different than many parts of Ethiopia, and we've yet to find anyone who can tell us much. Also, like one of the previous commenters, we struggle with the Muslim/Christian thing. Afar and our kids' family is almost all Muslim, yet the only Ethiopian connections we have here are through the Christian church. But that's better than nothing, right?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-58939616053039095722013-02-26T10:34:55.312-05:002013-02-26T10:34:55.312-05:00This is really tough. We are lucky that our daught...This is really tough. We are lucky that our daughter's birth family speaks both Oromo and Amharic, and that she is from a town relatively close to Addis. I wonder if you tried looking into resources in the DC area if you might have a bit more luck? I'm just thinking that since it's the largest population of Ethiopians in the country, and it's not all that far away from you (close enough for weekend car trips, or even long day trips), that there might be more possible Burjii immigrants and resources. (Or not.) There is an Ethiopian Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Maryland that might be a place to start if you want to look into that. Just a thought! I wish you the best of luck - I know this is very important to you and your boys.Kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13533605951512372935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-42225568293778682292013-02-26T09:09:54.580-05:002013-02-26T09:09:54.580-05:00One of our adoption classes was on "keeping t...One of our adoption classes was on "keeping the culture alive", and the speaker started off by saying that, basically, once a child hits an orphanage the culture of the birth family is pretty much gone by the wayside--food, language in many cases, celebrations. I thought it was an interesting take--and the message was not to give up, but that it's harder than it seems like it would be. And it is hard--we are working on a strategy as well, and I'm not sure how it will play out over the long haul.Cory and Mollyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11630337123915433469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-65301891193993897442013-02-25T18:04:25.532-05:002013-02-25T18:04:25.532-05:00Burma has a population of 50 million and a huge re...Burma has a population of 50 million and a huge refugee population in the United States. Kazakhstan has a population of 17 million. (That said, I don't know how many different languages these populations represent). In contrast there are fewer than 60,000 speakers of Burjinya. So the chances of finding a speaker locally are pretty low. We've asked at the church with no luck. I have found some Burjii people on facebook and I'm considering sending friend requests to a bunch and seeing if anyone responds. Couldn't hurt to try, right?<br />It will be interesting to see what your daughter decides. College is such a time for personal reflection and development. Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-79122070267328672542013-02-25T17:57:51.433-05:002013-02-25T17:57:51.433-05:00I completely agree that knowing Amharic is better ...I completely agree that knowing Amharic is better than not knowing an Ethiopian language. I know at least one person speaks Amharic in our boys' village (the man we have phoned a few times with updates). And I've had the same thought about equipping them with Amharic for a future return to Ethiopia. Still, I wish I could find out more about Burjii culture.Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-74929772889747452412013-02-25T17:47:10.881-05:002013-02-25T17:47:10.881-05:00You could do both, Genna and Muslim holidays. You ...You could do both, Genna and Muslim holidays. You can never celebrate too much, right?Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01649845469609235886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-43347030172226340202013-02-25T16:59:42.868-05:002013-02-25T16:59:42.868-05:00Do you live within 100 miles or so of a college or...Do you live within 100 miles or so of a college or university? Often there are exchange students and perhaps one or more of them may have a connection to Burjii. Inour little community we have a college with students from Myanmar/Burma and Kahzakstan. Or even if you could find a student from Burjii (or the area) who could be an email connection?<br /> I tried to keep my daughter involved in Chinese language and cultural activities when she was younger. It was hard. We lived in a college town that had Sunday Chinese classes, but al of the other kids had Chinese/Taiwanese parents and spoke Mandarin and /or Cantonese at home. SHe loved celebrating New Year and other holidays but as she has gotten older summer camp and team sports/school activities have replaced culture camp etc. At his point, as she prepares to leave for college, it is going to be up to her if she wants to have more of culture or go on as she has been with an awareness but not a huge attraction to her birth culture. It is tough and probably even harder for you because of the far smaller population (in the States) that you have to draw from for information and support. Good luck - to all of you.AnnaJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03383199662193653915noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-77391289114872156612013-02-25T13:08:16.399-05:002013-02-25T13:08:16.399-05:00I've been thinking about these things, too! To...I've been thinking about these things, too! To further complicate matters for our family, we now have one daughter from the north and one from the south. Z's family specifically mentioned celebrating the Sidamo New Year (Fiche), so our goal is to find out more about that and try to celebrate it here and also be in Ethiopia for it at some point. <br /><br />For language, we've decided to pursue Amharic even though it is neither of our daughters' family language. When we brought Z home with us, we tried really hard to find someone who could speak Sidama, but though everyone said they knew someone from Sidamo, no one was ever able to connect us with any of those people. What we realized in the end was that at least we could get one step closer to birth language by knowing Amharic, and cutting out one interpreter. When we reconnected with Z's family last summer, we discovered that one of the cousins spoke Amharic, so we had an interpreter readily available from Amharic to Sidama. I'm fairly certain we'll find the same to be true of E's family, as children learn Amharic in school throughout Ethiopia. We're also mindful that both of our children may choose to return to Ethiopia to live at some point, so to give them a foundation of Amharic will be helpful in that regard as well.<br /><br />Good luck finding more Burjii culture! I wish I knew more or knew someone who could give you good info! I will ask around and see what crops up.Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09098391747911095350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-9206759066093803542013-02-25T07:35:52.544-05:002013-02-25T07:35:52.544-05:00I have been working on the same thing. The Hadiyan...I have been working on the same thing. The Hadiyan tribe is disappearing rapidly and information is hard to find. I hope our visit this spring will help ME to understand more.<br />I never thought about the fact that Amharic is the language (for many of our children) of the orphanage only. M loves language but has always resisted that one. It would make sense that that is why. It is not her family language. It is the orphanage language. Cindyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16842778531500045113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-25018740056128746892013-02-25T04:16:12.177-05:002013-02-25T04:16:12.177-05:00Great point. My son is Oromo, and while I've ...Great point. My son is Oromo, and while I've been trying to use a few words of Amharic, the Oromo people I've met locally don't/ won't speak Amharic. Lots to ponder. barb_aloothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07990706676816248438noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-603400846504081911.post-44724281078604647432013-02-25T00:10:37.585-05:002013-02-25T00:10:37.585-05:00Kyra, I have been struggling with some similar que...Kyra, I have been struggling with some similar questions. I'll go ahead and pose one of them here. While waiting for E, we celebrated Gena. I now know that E's birth family is Muslim. So, when Gena rolled around this year I wondered: do we still celebrate Gena? Do we celebrate Muslim holidays instead?<br />I hadn't given as much thought to language but E's experience is similar to your boys, Amharic was only the language of the orphanage not of his birth family or birth place, hmmm ...three little birdshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11057391646769616580noreply@blogger.com