By ANNA M. TINSLEY | Forth Worth Star-Telegram
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — Scott Brown traveled to Ethiopia in 2006 to watch over the adoption of Enoch, a 3-month-old, 5-pound boy with big brown eyes.
It was the first adoption the Gladney Center for Adoption would oversee in Ethiopia, and Brown, its executive vice president, wanted to make sure it went smoothly
And it did — until the couple preparing to adopt Enoch realized that something was wrong with his head. Tests showed a condition that is fatal about half of the time in Ethiopia: craniosynostosis, when a soft spot in the skull closes too quickly and prevents the brain from growing.
The couple, not sure they could handle a baby with such medical needs, backed out of the adoption. When Brown learned Enoch could die without treatment, he persuaded doctors and medical personnel at Cook Children’s Medical Center to operate to save Enoch.
Three years later, Enoch is healthy and happy. He is now Brown’s grandson, having been adopted by Brown’s son and daughter-in-law, Ryan and Abby Brown.
“We feel so blessed and fortunate that God chose to place him in our lives,” Abby Brown said on a Gladney video. “We call him our little miracle.”
But there are more babies and children in Ethiopia whom Scott Brown and doctors at Cook Children’s — some who belong to Christ Chapel Bible Church in Fort Worth — want to help.
That’s why they are in Enoch’s homeland now on a medical mission.
There, more than half a dozen local medical personnel are visiting hospitals and clinics in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, and in the remote village of Gunchire.
They are giving lectures, making rounds, performing surgeries and sharing thousands of dollars of donated medicine and supplies, hoping to help save and improve the lives of Ethiopians.
“These are genuine people who are doing the very best with what they have,” Brown wrote in an e-mail from Ethiopia. “My vision for this trip is that it is the first of many.”
Living out their faith
For many, this trip is a way to serve their church, help others and share their faith.
For several years, Christ Chapel and its members, which include Brown, have worked to help orphans in Ethiopia, even building an orphanage in Gunchire.
Now they are evaluating the medical situation there, to see how they can be the most effective.
“A key vision of our church is to be ‘a church without walls,’ ” said Dr. Michael Stevener, this mission team’s leader and a neonatologist at Cook Children’s. “Members are encouraged to be the ‘hands and feet of Christ’ in service to the needy both locally and around the world.
“For me personally, the trip is part of a spiritual calling to live out my faith using my abilities and resources to help others.”
He and others say there are more Ethiopian doctors in Washington, D.C., than in all of Ethiopia. Many move to the United States after getting their training. Those who stay, Stevener said, truly love their country and want to make a difference.
Christ Chapel Executive Pastor Bill Egner said the impact that local doctors have on their Ethiopian counterparts could create a ripple effect for years to come.
“It’s about empowering those good doctors to become more of what they would like to become,” said Egner, who led a pastoral trip to Ethiopia in January.
“There are techniques or tools our doctors can teach that will make substantial impacts — and make a difference in people’s lives from Day One.”
Tour of duty
Brown and local medical personnel — including two neonatologists and the pediatric neurosurgeon who operated on Enoch — arrived in Ethiopia last week and plan to return home next Sunday.
During the trip, they will talk about topics ranging from newborn resuscitation to allergic reactions to drugs. They’ll visit medical facilities, including Kidmia Transitional Care Home, Guchire Regional Health Clinic, the Black Lion Hospital, Korean Medical Center and the Mother Teresa HIV orphanage/clinic.
And they’ll be sharing suitcases full of medicine and medical supplies donated by Cook Children’s, Texas Health Fort Worth hospital, Christ Chapel and others. Some of the doctors are also donating medicine and medical supplies from their offices.
Ethiopian pediatric physician Dr. Etsegenet Gedlu said she believes the doctors from Fort Worth can help her and her colleagues.
“The lectures and workshops will definitely give . . . our students, interns [and] residents a new insight and sharing experience from other perspectives,” she wrote in an e-mail. “We all are hoping . . . we may find a common ground for future collaboration.
“I hope our colleagues will find this visit beneficial in terms of … experiencing medical practice in a different setup and quite different disease epidemiology.”
Humanitarian adoptions
Adoptions of Ethiopian children have sharply risen in recent years. In the U.S. last year, 1,725 Ethiopian children were adopted, 470 more than in 2005, U.S. State Department records show.
Local adoptions have risen as well.
Gladney facilitated four adoptions from Ethiopia in 2006, its first year doing so. In 2007, there were 47, and last year, there were 99. This year, there have been 67, but officials believe they may place 125 Ethiopia children in U.S. homes by Aug. 31, said Jennifer Lanter, public information officer for Gladney.
“In Ethiopia — with extreme poverty, the AIDS virus — there are so many horrific things happening, and the people there don’t want their children suffering,” Lanter said. “They want their children to have a home.”
More than that, adoption officials say they see a new trend emerging.
“Before, families adopted to grow their families,” Lanter said. “With Ethiopia, a lot of churches have gotten involved, and many feel called to adopt through this country to help these people.
“People are now adopting for a new reason — for a humanitarian reason.”
Working in Ethiopia The team includes medical personnel from Cook Children’s Medical Center:
Dr. Michael Stevener, a neonatologist, and his wife, Beth Stevener
Dr. Michael Stanley, a neonatologist
Dr. David Donahue, a pediatric neurosurgeon
Ben Donahue, an anesthesia technician and pre-med student
Dr. Robin Roberts, an adult dermatologist
Amy Schubert, a pediatric ward nurse
Dr. Jeff McGlothlin, a pediatric neurologist
Dr. Benjamin Sui, a pediatric cardiologist
Scott Brown, executive vice president and director of the Ethiopia program for the Gladney Center for Adoption (and father of a girl adopted from Ethiopia)
Source: Gladney Center for Adoption