By PAMELA ROBEL – The Olympian

IDAHO, USA — Nesradine Schumaker wears a bright orange helmet while he rides his training-wheeled bike up and down the street. He is sturdy and curious about the world around him, which has changed dramatically over the past few weeks.

One month ago, Nesradine was living in an Ethiopian orphanage, a casualty in the HIV/AIDS epidemic that is sweeping through parts of eastern and sub-Saharan Africa and leave many children as orphans

A 2005 AIDS in Ethiopia report estimated there were 368 AIDS-related deaths a day in Ethiopia, as well as 744,100 orphaned by the AIDS epidemic.

“We knew there were orphans, and we knew there were children who needed homes,” said Nesradine’s adoptive mother, Signe Schumaker.

The Schumakers have seven biological children of their own and decided they wanted to open their home to adopted children as well.

“We had been thinking about how to help other people and this seemed like a natural thing for us to do,” Rick Schumaker said. “Some of the attraction to adoption was watching other families who had adopted. The reason we decided to have kids when we got married was watching other people we knew with their children.”

Nesradine is 4 and still figuring out how to get along with his older brother, Soren, 5, and his younger sister, Helen, 3.

“The dynamic has just started to change with Nesradine and his sister, Helen. She’s used to having her own space in the afternoon, and there are things he doesn’t understand yet, like hide and seek,” Signe said. “Helen tries to play with him and he’s like, ‘Why would I want to hide?'”

Rick and Signe began the process to adopt Nesradine about a year ago, contacting an agency that facilitates adoptions in Ethiopia and other countries around the world.

Nesradine, unlike some other children, was given up by his living mother, who was abandoned by her husband when he found out she was HIV-positive.

“We didn’t know he had a mother going into this,” Rick said. “The paperwork didn’t make that clear.”

The Schumakers are among a growing number of area families adopting orphans from Ethiopia. Matt and Renae Meyer adopted two little girls almost three years ago. The girls’ mother died in childbirth.

Kilkidan Meyer, 5, and her sister, Melat Meyer, 3, bicker and play chess with rules only they understand while their parents describe the process that expanded their seven-child brood to nine.

“We were pretty happy with six kids, then our oldest daughter tore something out of the newspaper about adoption, and we started to pursue it,” Renae said. “The process took about one year. The Ethiopian adoption was straightforward and easy. We moved to Moscow, and I found out I was pregnant again, so our family jumped from eight to 12.”

The Meyers, who initially decided to have four children while living abroad in Brazil and Indonesia, changed their minds and added two more biological children to their family before adopting.

They saw the need for homes for orphaned children during their travels.

The “something” the Meyers’ oldest daughter tore out of the newspaper happened to be a news story about orphaned girls in China. It inspired the Meyers to begin trying to adopt a girl from an Asian country.

“We met the age and financial requirements, but we never thought we’d have too many kids to adopt (from Asia),” Matt said. “Then I thought maybe it was an indication that we shouldn’t adopt, but Renae said, ‘No, we’re doing this.'”

The Meyers began the adoption process in 2005 and were e-mailed an adoption proposal in January 2006 asking if they wanted sibling girls.

“Girls are more sought-after so we didn’t think any would be available,” Renae said. “Our family is boy-heavy and we thought girls would even it out.”

Lisa and Russell Qualls are among other families in the area with children adopted from Ethiopia. They have adopted four children from the African country.

“For us, we had some very good friends from upstate New York who called us on Valentine’s Day three years ago to say they were adopting two little boys from Ethiopia, and we knew there was a crisis, but we didn’t know the magnitude,” Lisa said. “We started investigating it and thought it was something we could do.”

The Qualls’ oldest child is Beza, 10, who was adopted in August 2008. There is also Kalkidan, 7, Ebenezer, 3, and Wogyau, 2.

“We didn’t plan to adopt more, but when we were at the orphanage, we met an 8-year-old little girl, and while we were at the orphanage she stayed beside us and helped us take care of the baby,” Lisa said.

Lisa said she and her husband tried to get other families they know to adopt Beza but could not find a family for her.

“Finally, last January, I was just talking to Russ and said I thought the reason we couldn’t find her a family was because she is part of our family,” Lisa said. “It’s been delightful to watch her become part of the family.

“To watch her learn what it’s like to have a mother, a family. It’s just incredible to watch this happen in her life. Adopting an older child has been a remarkable experience.”

The Quallses have gotten so much from their experiences that they’ve helped inspire other families to do the same.

That was the case with the Schumakers.

“I was thinking maybe this is something we’ll do in a couple of years, but Lisa (Qualls) gets so excited about it and she showed us some pictures,” Signe said. “Once you see a photo of a child, it’s done.”