Pagan Child adoption

Caribbean

2010-07-16T17:40:00.000-07:00

The Caribbean is named after the native island Amerindians, the Caribs, which sadly are almost gone thanks to years of slavery, exposure to European diseases and outright genocide by the European powers that conquered their lands. The islands where they once lived were turned into plantations, where huge numbers of African slaves were brought in. When slavery became illegal, they brought in cheap labor from India and indentured servants, mostly from Ireland. The people who now live on those islands are their descendents.

Carib Amerindians in traditional attire

Carib Amerindians

Cuba-because of America's and Cuba's past, child adoption is rare. Either America is very scrutinizing of a Cuban adoption or Cuba is very hindering of it, or both. But, they are a Hague country, so if you really want to try, follow the Hague rules. I suggest that if you are looking to adopt a Cuban kid, adopt from Miami, Florida, USA. That is where many Cubans settled in America when they fled Castro's takeover of Cuba.

Santeria is the paganesque religion there that you could expose your adopted child to. I am not really for animal sacrifice, but chicken sacrifices are a part of that religion. There is no real count of how many people of different races there are in Cuba, but the people there are white, black, and mixed.

Bahamas-it is easy to adopt from the Bahamas, unless you are a single man trying to adopt a girl, then it is difficult. The problem is that there are actually few children available for adoption. Most children end up with extended family, which is great. You need to be at least 25 years old and 21 years older than the child you wish to adopt.

I love the Bahamas. Growing up in Florida, my parents took me there in their cabin cruiser several times and the people were so nice and the place was gorgeous.

Most Bahamians are black. Around 10% of the people are white. They are mostly some form of Christian or another.

Jamaica-there are 2 kinds of adoption in Jamaica. You need to be at least 25 years old for both kinds. Adoption License is where you can take the child out of the country to be adopted in your home country. For this one you can be expected to visit Jamaica at least twice, once to meet the adoption agent and then a second time to apply for the visa. Adoption Order is a full Jamaican adoption, which also gives the child a new birth certificate with the new family name on it and will be used to get a passport with that name on it. You will be required to stay in Jamaica while the adoption takes place, at least 4 months. Which is not so bad, think of it as an extended vacation in a tropical paradise.

Most of the people are black, I can't remember actually seeing anyone else living there who was black, but there are also some whites and mixed peoples. Almost all people there are one of the various kinds of Christians, though this is also the birthplace of Rostafarianism

Haiti-we all know the devestation that Haiti has been suffering, not only recently, but over the years. Because of the Earthquake and the Christian missionaries that tried to kidnap the children, the adoption rules are changing. I will put what the rules are at this time.

To adopt from Haiti, you need to be at least 35 years old! That is the oldest I have seen. And you need to be 19 years older than the child you wish to adopt. This can be waived, but only with presidential permission, which is a long, drawn out, difficult process. You can be married or single. With married couples, only one spouse needs to be 35 or older. There are no residency requirements, though they sometimes ask you to come for the finalization (which you should do anyways, that way you can see your childs homeland.)

Haiti is Vodou country. Fundamental Christians have labeled it as the devils land. How kind of them. Vodou is the Haitian version of an old African religion, Vodun, fused with some Catholicism and some Native Arawak (Amerindian) beliefs. The American version of it is called Voodoo (Hoodoo is the folk magic form of Voodoo) and is mostly in New Orleans, but also New York and Savannah. It is very easy to find information about Vodun and Voodoo.

Dominican Republic-the country right next door to Haiti. The Dominican Republic was once part of Haiti, but became independent. It has been aided by America for a while and has done a much better job of taking care of itself than Haiti, in regards to economy. It has had its shares of political troubles, but has been rather stable for almost 15 years.

Only married couples are allowed to adopt, and you have to have been married for at least 5 years. You need to be between 30 and 60 years old and 15 years older than the child. They have a residency requirement, which only one of the parents needs to fulfill. If you adopt a child 11 years old and under, then you need to stay for 60 days. If the child is 12 or older, then you need to stay for 30 days.

They are mostly Catholic, though there are an unknown number of Vodouists there, who don't want to be known. Racism is really bad there. If you are full black, they are not nice to you. This comes from the old slave days, as well as having been taken over by Haiti (who are very black.) The majority of the people there are multiracial, with black African, White European and Native Islander Indians (the Taino.) To make sure they are not identified as black, they came up with multiple terms for skin color, moreno/a (brown), canelo/a (red/brown) ["cinnamon"], indio/a (Indian), blanco/a oscuro/a (dark white), and trigueño/a (literally "wheat colored", or olive skin). I think that their mix of races makes them very attractive. I went to school with a Dominican guy and he was a little goofy looking when I knew him, but I saw him when he was older and I was jealous for sure.

St. Kitts and Nevis-adoption here is not easy. First you need to be a resident and domiciled (that means you have to be living there.) You need to be at least 25 years old and 21 years older than the child you wish to adopt. You cannot adopt a girl if you are a single man, unless you are a relative. Also, their version of an orphan may not fit in with the U.S. idea of an orphan, so if you want to come back to America right away, make sure it works, otherwise you have to stay overseas for 2 years to get a family visa for your child.

Dominica-it seems fairly easy to adopt from Dominica. The only requirement I see is that you need to be 25 or older. Few kids are adopted though, so I am guessing that few are available for foriegn adoption.

The people are mostly Catholic, with some protestants and muslims. They are mostly black, descendents of slaves, with some mulattos, some whites who stayed after the Europeans left and they have the only Carib indians left (the native Amerindians whom the Caribbean was named after.)

Barbados-only countries that have diplomatic missions in Barbados are allowed to adopt. The U.S. does have a mission there. You need to be 25 years old and 18 years older than the child you wish to adopt. There are 2 ways to adopt a child in Barbados. First you can be in Barbados for the adoption, but are required to stay for 18 months. This is mainly meant for people who are already living there. Or, you can start the adoption in your home country and come to Barbados for a couple of weeks to finalize it and take the child back home. Few people actually adopt from Barbados, both because few children are available, and few people even know about it.

Most people in Barbados are black. There are some whites of European descent and some Muslim Indians and Guyanese.

St. Lucia-to adopt in St. Lucia, you must have lived there for 6 consecutive months before you start the adoption. You must be at least 25 years old and 21 years older than the child to be adopted. Other than that it doesn't seem to be that hard to adopt from here.

Most people are Catholic, with the rest being some other kind of Christian and a few Rostafarians. Over 3/4 of the population is black. The second largest group is multiracial. There are few Indians (from India) and some whites of European descent.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines-other than being 21 years or older to adopt from here, I can't find any other requirements. The place is high in unemployment and rampant population growth, which unfortunately means there should be plenty of kids available for adopt. But, last year (2009) only 12 kids were adopted (by Americans, whom adopt the most children internationally, so the statistics are easier to find, I don't know how many were adopted by other nationals, if any.)

The people there are mostly Anglican, with Methodists being the second largest religious group and Hindus being the third. The rest are the other Christian groups and some muslims. The people are 2/3 black, with mixed race people being the next largest group. There are some whites, Caribs and Indians (from India.)

Grenada-you must be a resident of Grenada and domiciled there to adopt. Also, the child needs to be in your care for 3 continuous months before you finalize the adoption. This is the hard part. You need to be 25 years old and 21 years older than the child you wish to adopt.

Most the the people are Christians of one brand or another. There are a few buddhists, hindus and Rastafarians there. Most of the people are black, with mulattos making up the second largest group. Then there are some Indians (from India) and whites with just a touch of the original Amerindians left.

Trinidad and Tobago-there are 2 kinds of adoption a person can do. The first is for people who already reside in the country. The Adoption Order is a full adoption done through the court for people that are legal residents domiciled in the country. You must be at least 25 years old and 21 years older than the child. You must be married or a single woman, no men. The other is Legal Guardianship, done from your own country, which will allow you to come and take the child back to your country where you would finish the adoption. This is not as safe though, as it can be revoked later. You must be 25 years old, but there is not age specification between the child and guardian. You can be married or a single man or woman.

A quarter of the people are Catholic, another quarter are Hindu, with the rest being some kind of Christianity or another and some muslims. Almost half the people are Indian (from India) and the almost the other half is black, with the rest being mixed, white, some Chinese and a few native Amerindians.

These next few are part of other countries, so follow their laws
U.S. Territories: Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

U.K. Territories: Antigua and Barbuda, Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Montserrat, Turks and Caicos, Cayman Islands

Netherlands Territories: Saba and St. Eustatius

French Territories: St. Martin, St. Marks, Martinique, Guadeloupe

Central America

2010-06-17T22:16:00.000-07:00

We all know that Central America is actually a part of North America, but for cultural reasons we have given it it's own special designation, or rather relagated it into its own group. The cultural reasons have been eroding away for a long time now, as more and more Central Americans immigrated (both legally and illegally, but that is not what this blog is for, so lets not dwell on that) here to the US, they brought more of their culture with them and began to add to the fabric of our fair nation. They have a shared history of European colonialism, overthrowing European rule and starting out new countries. Also, with so many of their people now Americans, and with it being so close to the US, many other Americans feel comfortable with visiting there and adopting children from there. Many Americans speak or understand at least a little Spanish, which is spoken down there, so it is easier for us to add more Spanish to our vocabulary and teach our new children. Central America to the US is like Morocco, Turkey and Egypt to the British, great vacation escapes so close to their own countries.

Many of the people there are Mestizo, White people of European ancestry (mostly Hispanic,) the Mayans and other Indios/Amerindians, and some Mulattos, Zambos and Blacks descended from African slaves or imigrants from the Caribbean. And aparantly many countries in central America have large groups of Chinese as well.

For the most part, the cultures in these countries was formed by mixing European and Amerindian cultures together, giving them some spice. They all are officially Spanish speaking countries, though many also speak English as a second language.

Lets start from the bottom and work our way to the top.

Panama-famous for the Panama Canal, built by the U.S. to get ships from the Atlantic to the Pacific and vice versa. It is also where American president Bush senior decided to show an overwhelming force of power by toppling the military state and establishing democracy, showing the Americas that the US is in control here, but also displacing over 20,000 civilians and leading to a lot of poverty. Most of the people there are Mestizo, at just over 50%, with blacks and mulattos together forming the second largest group(many of them immigrated from the Carribean.) Full blooded Indio peoples are at around 7% of the population, and include seven groups: the Emberá, Wounaan, Guaymí, Ngöbe Buglé, Kuna, Naso and Bribri. White people of European blood account for almost 9% of the population and then surprisingly, at 5.5% of the population are people of Chinese descent. Spanish is the main language, though many people also speak English. Most people are Roman Catholics, with another large group being Bahai, and tiny minorities being Buddhist and Rastafarians. Indigenous religions include Ibeorgun (among the Kuna) and Mamatata (among the Ngöbe Buglé.)

To adopt, you need to be married, and have been married for at least 2 years. Sorry, no single people are allowed to adopt. Otherwise, the rules are the basic adoption rules and after a short trip to Panama, you will have a child.

Very cute Panama boys

Street boys

Native Embera people

Costa Rica-a famous vacation destination for many Americans. It has had relative peace, especially for a central American nation, and this is one of the features that attracts so many tourists and expatriots to go there. Not to mention the beautiful scenery: tropical forrests and beaches. Whites and mestizos are lumped together as one group here and make up an overwhelming majority of the population at 94%. Blacks make up 3%, Amerindians a tiny 1% and Chinese 1%. They also host many refugees fleeing violence from neighboring Central American nations, and some south American ones, mostly from Nicaragua, Colombia and EL Salvador. The majority of Costa Ricans are Roman Catholics, with some Evangelicals there (EVIL!!!) Mormons are gaining ground there (another EVIL group.) Because of the growing number of Chinses, Buddhism has gained some ground. The language there is Spanish, but some people also speak Creole, and many people also speak English as a second language (and some as a first language.)

Children under 5 cannot be adopted by foriegners, unless they are part of a sibling group, or are difficult to place children because of disabilities. They allow married couples, married for 5 years and singles to adopt. You must be there, both parents if married, at the initial stage of adopting, which can take up to 30 days. After that, they prefer you to stay until the end, but since it takes several months to finish, many people have been doing it in 2 trips.

Nicaragua-is known for its violence, the violence of several coups and of its long civil war, as well as blacks fighting with the Mestizos. Over a million Nicaraguans left the country and settled in over countries. Nicaragua and the US also have had a bumby relationship, to say the least, with the US government supporting the Contras to overthrow the Sardinistas. This all ended when the first woman president, not only of Nicaragua, but of all the Americas, was elected and began to fix her broken country. Nicaragua is one of only 4 countries in the world (though I don't consider Vatican City to be a real country) where it is totally illegal to have an abortion, there are no exceptions. Most of the people are Mestizo, with Whites being the second largest group. Blacks form only 9% of the population and mostly live along the Caribbean coasts. The last group, at 5% of the population are the Amerindians, including the Nocarao people whom the country is named after and the Miskitos. Most people speak Spanish, particularly the voseo form of Spanish. Also, each part of the country and different cities have their own dialect and it has been likened to Italy, where just going a few miles up the road you will run into a different dialect of Italian. The second most spoken language is English, which is actually mostly spoken as a first language by the blacks. Many blacks also speak Creole, showing their Jamaican ancestry. The Amerindians also speak their own languages and many Chinese immigrants still speak their language. Most of the people are Roman Catholic, but there are large numbers of Evangelists and Mormons (the 2 most evil Christian groups I know) and many Blacks are Anglicans.

Adoption from Nicaragua can be a headache. It is long and fraught with delays. You need to do a 6 month fostering IN Nicaragua before the adoption can proceed. I hate it when the countries do this, let's take the parents away from all they know and see if they can properly parent a child, then send them back home. They should shorten it to a month, as then allows bonding, and time to look around and see the childs native culture. Nicaragua only allows Nicaraguans and American citizens to adopt. You can be married or single, though the process takes longer for singles. Also, if a Nicaraguan citizen wants to adopt the child you are adopting, you may be bumped off for them.

Miskito kids

Honduras-was home to a great Mayan civilization, which had already declined by the time the Spanish came to conquer the land and enslave the people. While building up their infrastructure and basically prospering throughout the 20th century. They were mostly protected from the violence of Nacaragua thanks to the US presence there, but did also fight a silent war against Marxist-Leninist militias trying to gain power. Then in 1998, Hurricane Mitch destroyed a lot of the country and set them back 50 years. In 2008 floods wracked the country and then in 2009 the congress lead a coup de'etat, which was condemned by countries all over the world. The congress then suspended 5 constitutional rights to control the people and led an authoritarian government for several weeks, before the rights were restored. Most of the people are mestizo, over 90%. Amerindians make up 7% and are formed by 7 groups(the Ch'orti', Garifuna, Pech, Tolupan/Xicaque, Lenca, and the Miskito who also live in Nicaragua,) black at 2% and whites make up the last 1%. There is also a small comminity of mixed Asians. The majority of people are Roman Catholics and smaller, but growing groups of Protestants.

The adoption policies are currently in flux, and may change at any moment. But it seems that the only real policy is that children must be under 14 years old to be adopted. They can be older, but must go through the family courts, which means private adoption, which is only available for Honduran citizens. You can married or single. You can only refuse one adoption, if you refuse a second one, then your application will be rejected, so make sure you have a good reason to not accept. It must be harder than it appears though, as very few children seem to get adopted from there.

El Salvador- you have to reside in El Salvador for a year if you want to adopt, though there have been several cases where this was not enforced. Married couples, married for at least 5 years, and singles can adopt. You must be 15 years older than the child you are adopting.

Most people in El Salvador are Mestizo, at around 85%. Whites, make up around 14%. The last 1% is made up of Amerindians. Most of the Amerindians have lost their traditions, this was a result of the 1932 massacres where the Salvadoran military murdered around 25,000 peasants, many of them Amerindians. There are very few blacks, because of a law that forbid them to enter the country that was not lifted until the 1980's. There is an immigrant population of Palestinian Christians there as well, with one of there number becoming one of the nations presidents. The native language is Spanish, though many people also speak English. Most people are Roman Catholics, with the rest being Protestants of various sorts and there is a growing number of Mormons (EVIL!!!)

El Salvador has suffered from high crime rates. They blamed some of it on the US, when the US kicked out many illegal El Salvadorans and sent them home. Many of those illegals were part of a gang called the MS13 and they brought the criminal ways they learned back with them. But as they came from El Salvador, they were probably criminally inclinated to begin with. It was also a result of a horrible civil war that wracked the country for over a decade.

Guatemala-the home of the Mayan indians. One of the countries I want to visit. I almost went there years ago, when I was on vacation in the Yucatan, but unfortunatly, at the time terrorists were kidnapping Americans for ransom to fund their war with the government and I decided not to go. This civil war made Guatemala a dangerous place for many years, and they still have not fully recovered. Most of the people are Mestizo, at around 40%. Whites make up 16%. Most of the remaining people are Amerindians, mostly Mayan. There are some Garifuna (Black Guatemalans,) and some Chinese and Koreans living there. Spanish is the national language, though many people don't even learn it as a first language. Many indigenous people still speak their languages. Most people are Roman Catholics, with the second largest group being Protestants. There is a large Mormon following here, which makes since as I think this where they think their new books of the bible took place, so they would press their religion here. There are also many traditional religion followers here, mostly Shamanism.

Guatemala was a favored adoption spot for a short time here. With adoptions being easy to go through and Guatemala being so close to the US, thousands of Americans applied for and adopted children. But with so many children getting adopted, corruption and baby selling crept up and they shut down their program to put more laws in effect, leaving many children in limbo. Adoption by foreigners has not yet been reinstated.

Belize-I spent a summer down there doing an Archaeological dig at Caracol with my professor some odd years ago. From what I saw, the coastal areas were inhabited by mostly blacks and the the inland was mostly the latino and indio peoples. Belize is different from the other Central American nations in that it was colonized by the British and not the Spanish. It was part of the British Empire, as British Honduras, but when it gained independence in 1964 it started calling itself Belize to differentiate itself from Spanish Honduras. At 34%, mestizos make up the largest group. Kriols, which seem to be a mix of Mulattos, Zambos and full Blacks, make up 25%. Kriols are thought to be the face of Belize. Whites/Spanish make up 15%. The Mayans make up 11%. The last largest group is the Garinagu, which are mostly black, but also have some white and Indian ancestry. Surprisingly, there are large groups of German speaking Mennonite farmers living there. There are some Asians, mostly Chinese. There are also large groups of Americans living there. Belize is the only country in Central America where Spanish is not the national language. English is the official language, though most people can barely speak it. Kriol is the main language acually used and is their form of Creole. Spanish is widely spoken as well, considering their neighbors and many Mayan and other indigenous languages are spoken as well. The people are mostly christians, with Roman Catholics and Protestants being the largest. Jehovahs Witnesses and Mormons are also trying to spread out and convert everyone (EVIL!!!!)
There is a lengthy list of requirments to adopt from Belize. First, you have to have a year fostering period with the child in Belize. You have to be at least 25 and 12 years older than the child to be adopted. Married couples and singles can adopt, though single men cannot adopt girls. You cannot have a criminal record (which is rare in America these days.) Also, the court requires a note of suitability from a welfare office or other competant authority, of which I have no idea what this is. I would guess this is already part of your home study.

Kriol boys

Garinagu boys

Mexico-borders with the US, is the source of most of the US's latino population and also the majority of illegal aliens. Much of the Southwestern part of the US once belonged to Mexico, but the US claimed it as the spoils of war, and naturalized the citizens living there, bringing in a huge number of Hispanic and Latino peoples. It would make since that we would want to adopt from there since we share so much already. Sadly each state sets its own rules for adoption and so adopting from there is a long confusing process. Though with the implementation of the Hague convention, things are supposed to be getting easier, and more streamlined. Some things that are common are that they want you to have a 6 month fostering period in country, though a judge may waive this and they do this from time to time. You can be married or single to adopt, must be over 25 years old and 17 years older than the child.

Since many people in the US already know a lot about Mexican history, I will not go on about it. Most of the people are Mestizo at around 75%. The second largest group are the Amerindians at around 15%, who have 62 different groups. Rounding it out are a small population of Whites, followed by Blacks and then some Asians. I remember when I was in Europe I met this guy that looked as Asian as you could get and I was surprised when he started speaking to me in perfect Spanish. He told me he was from Mexico. I guess I should have known better. They speak Spanish there, a Mexican version that is far different from European Spanish as American English is to British English. They also have some indigenous languages and many people have also learned to speak English, though this is usually in places where many tourists visit or where many American expats and returning immigrants live. Most people are Roman Catholic, with some Protestants there.

Next, I will work on the Caribbean.

Proof

2010-05-05T18:02:00.000-07:00

In case there are people there that don't believe me when I say that the Christians are forcibly converting pagan children or adopting them just to convert them, here is a little something I found while serfing the net.

http://greggsutter.com/mt/archives/2007/02/feeding_the_pag.html

http://open.salon.com/blog/verbal_remedy/2009/12/08/the_suggestion_box_is_open

Doubt me now? Do your pagan duties and keep these kids pagan!

Taking a break

2010-05-03T04:45:00.001-07:00

I know this blog is fairly new, but I am taking a break right now from all my blogs. With an increased work load and therefor hours and my sons school year ending, I don't have time right now to do much, but I will get back to it soon enough.

South America

2010-04-06T18:04:00.000-07:00

South America, a continent that houses the great Amazon rainforrest, most of the 2 Americas remaining Amerindian population and the Andes Moutains, home of the great Inca and their descendants. It is a place that has some of the poorest people in the world and some of he richest. Some countries are close to America (as allies, not space,) others used to be close but have since become antagonistic (like Venezuela, well, mostly Hugo Chavez who has a bug up his butt.) Becuase of our old or current alliances, the fact that they speak a language we know of and can easily learn and the fact that many of these kids are white, mestizo or Amerindian like us, many Americans feel quite comfortable adopting from South America. It is their adoption systems or the length of stay in country that causes the problems.

There are several main kinds of people in South America. Amerindians, the original inhabitants of the land. White, being people of European descent. Mestizo, people of mixed White and Amerindian descent. Mulattos, people of mixed black and white descent. Zambos, people of mixed black and Amerindian descent. In the U.S. the term Mulatto has become a bit of a slur. People still use it, but many people of mixed heritage do not like it and prefer to be called Multiracial (though to me this sounds like they should be of 3 or more heritages, not 2.) Also, in America, Zambo, which we pronounce Sambo, does not mean the same thing anymore. It used to mean a person of mixed black/Amerindian heritage, but then came to be a slave name, and recently it has become a racial slur for blacks. In the U.K. it is used as a racial slur for people of mixed black and white heritage. But I use it here as they use it in South America, as only a term for people of Black and Indian heritage.

Colombia- is a Hague convention country. To adopt you must be over 25 years old. They prefer married couples, who must be married for at least 3 years, over single applicants. Singles cannot adopt children younger than 7, and they will only allow singles(man or woman) to adopt on a case by case basis.

The majority of people in Colombia are mestizo. Whites are the next largest group. Mulattos, make up the third largest group. The pure Native peoples make up the last and smallest group. These people often live on reservations and try to keep their cultures alive, speaking their own languages as well as learning Spanish. Many of them also try to keep their native pagan religion in a country that is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic. This religion is similar to that of the ancient Incas, with shamans and priests, many gods and goddesses and spirits. Pachamama, the Earth mother is a major deity.

Colombia is well known in America for its drug lords and cartels, guerrillas and high homicide rates. But it is so much more and better than that. Colombia is a place with striking cities and peasant villages. It is a strange place where the modern and medieval worlds coexist. The country was named after the explorer Christopher Columbus.

City Kids

Rural kids, they look like the old pictures of peasants

Amerindian Village girls

Venezuela-is a difficult country to adopt from if you are not Venezuelan. There seem to only be 2 kids adopted per year internationally. They will try everything to find a home for the child with relatives, friends of the family, and then other Venezuelans before they even think of International adoption, which is how it should be, as long as the kids find loving homes. The process of adopting from here can be long and even after gaining custody, you have a year fostering phase before the adoption is complete. I am not sure if you have to stay in Venezuela that year or if you can leave, I will check into that more. Also, with their current Socialist government and Anti-American president, Hugo Chavez, there will be problems. The majority of the people are mestizo, with whites the second largest group, an unknown number of blacks and a small number of still full-blooded Natives. Over 90% of the people are Roman Catholic.

City kids at the beach

Rural kids (with a white boy missionary)

Guyana-only allows Guyanese citizens to adopt, or former Guyanese nationals. Guyana is strange in that almost half the population is made up of people originally from India, called Hindoestanis. The second largest group is Blacks. These two seem to have conflicts with each other. Next are people of mixed heritage and last are the Native peoples. The largest religion is Christianity, with Hinduism as the second.

This boy looks like a Zambo

The boy in the foreground looks very much Hindoestani

Suriname-the neighbor of Guyana and French Guiana. To adopt you need to be at least 18 years oldwe than the child. If you are married, be married for at least 3 years. If you are single, you need to be older than 25. Despite the lack of restrictions, few children are adopted from here. Like Guyana, a sizable percentage of the people are of Hindoestan(from India) heritage. The two next largest groups are people of Javanese heritage and the Maroons (descendents of escaped African slaves that still adhere to their own religion, Winti.) Next are mixed people, then the Native Amerindians and then some Brazilian Immigrants (they are recent arrivals) and some Chinese descendents of 19th century contract workers. There is no one dominant religion here, and people can be Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Winti and other Afro-Carribean religions, and Native religions. I like the idea of adopting from Surname, as you have no idea what child you will get and if you can't decide on race/color then this would be a great place to try. Also, if you are interested in adopting an India kid or Asian, and you can't afford to fly across the world, here would be a good place, just remember that when you teach them about their ancestral culture, you also teach them about Suriname. Though I will say that looking over the programs I see, most of the children available for adoption are black/Afro-Carribean. And if you have read my other posts, then you know how I feel about that, if you are going to adopt a black child(and you are an American) look in country first, as there are far too many in the foster care system that need good homes.

Maroon kids

I seriously can't tell what race most of these kids are,

but they are cute, so enjoy them as they are.

Suriname girl with her brother

Amazonian Amerindian or Zambo kids

(I love his smile, its so infectious)

Shy boy

French Guiana-is still a part of France. I don't see anything about it, so if you want to adopt from there, contact the French embassy and try. The closest American embassy is in Surname.

Ecuador-is a Hague country. You must be in Ecuador for the finalization of the adoption process, which can last 3 to 4 weeks. You must also remain for an additional week afterwards. It is this month long in country stay that keeps many people away from adopting here. You must be 14 years older than the youngest child you adopt (if a group) and if you are single and are allowed to adopt a child of opposite gender than you, you must be 30 years older than the child. They do not usually allow singles to adopt a child of the opposite gender, but on occassion the do if you were given a favorable report. Of course, married and single people can adopt. You are only allowed to adopt 2 children at a time, unless they are a sibling group.

The majority of the people are Mestizos, with Amerindians are the second largest group, Whites as the third (but only at 7% of the population) and Mulattos and Zambos round it out at the last 3%. The people are overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, with some Indigenous religions still practiced in the country and a lot of synchretization of the 2 religions going on throughout the country. The mormons are going to work down there, and have a growing number of followerers. I really don't like mormons and their conversion happy ways, it also has to do with the fact that when I was in Korea, I refused to talk to a couple of their missionaries and they called me a fag for that. I don't want to be converted and I don't appreciate you people going around spreading your cult.

This has got to be one of the cutest boys I have ever seen.

He reminds me of my son, who dressed like that in the summer in Korea.

I would snatch this kid up in a second as my son.

Peru-only allows children that have been found legally abandoned or orphaned to be adopted internationally. That means no private adoptions, unless you are a blood relative. Both singles and married couples can adopt, but they have very specific age regulations for them. If you are married and between 25-43 you may adopt a child up to the age of 3, married and between 44-50 you may adopt a child between 3-6 years old, married and between 51-55 you may adopt a child 6 and older. Singles must be between 35-50 and may adopt children 5 and older.

Peru is one of the countries I still wish to visit. It's Incan history, Indigenous peoples and their culture and art interest me. Most of the people are Amerindian, the second largest group are the mestizos, leaving 15% of the population white and 3% everyone else. Most of the people are Catholic or some other Christian group, but I know there are a large number of people that still practice the old ways, especially in the rural communities. Shamans still abound and it is a shame that the government census there does not recognise it. The name Peru comes from a local Amerindian ruler there at the time of the Spanish arrival, Biru'. They speak Spanish, but many people also speak native languages, like Quechua.

Amerindian kids wearing traditional clothes

I love this kids expression.

City kids on the street

Bolivia-only allows legal residents to adopt. If you are a legal resident, or married to one, then you must be between 25-50 years old and 15 years older than the child you adopt. Married couples and singles can adopt. Most people are Amerindian, with mestizos next and whites last. Most people are Roman Catholic, though many people also practice the old religions, and mix the 2 together. The country was named after Simon Bolivar, a man who helped several South American countries gain independence from Spain. The people are very similar to their Peruvian neighbors.

Chile-is a Hague country. They only allow married couples between the ages of 25 and 60 to aodpt. You must be 20 years older than the child. Not too many kids get adopted from Chile.

Most of the people in Chile are of White European ancestry, with most of the others being Mestizo (about 40% of the population.) Only a little more than 3% of the people are still full or near full blooded Amerindians. Most of the people are Roman Catholic, with all the other Christian groups the next most populous. There don't appear to be any Indigenous religions left in the country. They speak their own dialect of Spanish and English is also the language most taught in schools as a foriegn language. There are also a group of German speaking peoples there. When I was in University, years ago, a large group of young Chileans came to study. They were a great group of guys, very nice, easy to talk to and their fashion sense was similar to the 1960's and 70's.

Argentina-only allows Argentina citizens and permanent resident aliens who have resided there for at least 5 years to adopt. That is unfortunate, as the majority of the people there are of European descent (mostly Italian and Spanish) and they are a lot like Americans and Canadians. They even have cowboys, one of the few countries to have them other than America (Australia has them too, these are the only 3 that I know of.) They even have the Pink House(Casa Rosada,) which is just like the White House (a few other countries have these too, like Korea has the Blue House.)

The kid in the baseball hat is of obvious Italian descent

(at least it is obvious to me, I have seen many Italian American boys that look like him)

Uruguay-they do not generally like International adoption there and require you to stay in country with the child for 6 months before the adoption is finalized. After you apply for an adoption there, they will waitlist you for up to 4 or more years before matching you with a child. A judge can reduce the time if s/he feels it is in the best interest of the child, but I know of no one this was done to. They time is just too long and only 1 child has been adopted internationally in the last 10 years. There are 2 types of adoption in Uruguay, Simple and Legitimating. You do NOT want Simple, you want Legitimating. Most of the people are of European descent and are Roman Catholic. 10% of the population is black and many follow Macumba and Umbanda, Afro-Carribean religions from Brazil.

Paraguay-has similar rules to Argentina, only that there is no time frame for permanant alien residents. The country itself is similar to its neighbors, Uruguay and Argentina in regards to population and religion.

Brazil-seems to be the easiest country to adopt from. If you are a single man trying to adopt internationally(and trust me, as a single man, I already know how hard it is,) Brazil is the best place for you. You can be married or single, with no lower limit to the number of years you need to be married before you are allowed to adopt. There is only one problem that many people have with adopting from Brazil, and that is the 30 day stay in country with the child before they allow it to be finalized. This is a fostering period to make sure you and the child will be okay together and also so that you can experience their culture. Children mostly available for international adoption are going to be older, between 9 and 12, or other hard to place children, like sibling groups and special needs children. Any child over the age of 12 has to approve of their own adoption.

I personally think that many Brazilians are absolutely beautiful. The mix of features they have is just perfect. They have a different view of race than we do here, so don't be surprised if someone you think of as black, would be considered white, but that is one of the many things I like about the people there. Almost half the people are considered as white, with almost another half thought of as "brown." In America, a brown person would usually be a Latino but in Brazil brown means someone of Multiracial descent, whether mulatto, mestizo(caboclos in Portuguese), zambo(cafuzos in Portuguese) or all the above. They call them Pardo, but in English just call them Brown. Less than 7% of the population is thought of as Black. 0.58% are Asian, a lot of Japanese moved there after WWII, and only a small 0.28% are full Amerindian. The people are mostly Roman Catholics, but there this is the home of a couple of Afro-Carribean religions such as Macumba and Umbanda. The Amazonian indians still practice their animist/shamanic religions as well. If I adopt internationally again (which I probably will when I get the money together) Brazil will probably be the country I do it from. The only problem will be the month long stay and Brazil is known for being a dangerous country, so I will not be bringing my current sons(I have one already and am working on getting my home study done so I can get my second son, already chosen and waiting for me and I for him) with me for the stay. I can't imagine them not being with me for that long.

Steet boy, how can you say no to this boy

Brazilian girls

Boys in the Amazon

Cafuzo/Zambo boys, the one on the left is quite handsome, he got a good mix, the one on the right looks good too, but needs a haircut

Amerindian or Mestizo/Caboclos boys.

The older boy in the front looks a little like Lou Diamond Phillips.

Tepkatchi Amerindian boy, 11 years old and already knows how to live in the Amazon on his own

Afro-Carribean/Black boys of Brazil, though the boy in the front looks more mulatto

I will work on Central America next time.

Africa part 2

2010-03-22T05:25:00.000-07:00

This part of Africa also holds many White Africans, descendents of European colonists and settlers. But after years of being used and abused, of being controled by the white colonists has left many Black Africans bitter. Now that the power is in their hands, they have decided to abuse many of the white people that did not leave when these colonies became independent countries. Violence and abuse is commonplace for many of them, and many flee each year back to their ancestral homelands, or to other African countries that are more friendly to whites, like South Africa. Still others dig their heels in and refuse to move, refuse to be intimidated and are trying to wait out the violence until the hate and bigotry ends and they can live in peace. But Africa seems to always have problems with other races, whether they are white colonists, or other kinds or Black Africans, or even other religions. It will be a long time before they finally learn to stop being bigots. Look at America, it took forever to get to the point we are now, and there are still too many bigots here, but we are still the the most multi-cultural and multi-racial country on the planet. And if you think that these White Africans are not real Africans, think again, as you are living in a place that is not your ancestral homeland either(if you are American or Canadian,) so since they were born and raised there, and were integral to forming the country, they have all the right to be African.

There are also a small number of half Asian young adults and children in Africa now. When Taiwan sent much aide to Africa, they also sent many young male volunteers, who aparently couldn't keep it in their pants and fathered hundreds of children on the local woman. They did the typical thing of abandoning their children, not accepting them, leaving the kids to grow up in a place that does not easily accept them. This from volunteers that were supposed to help the local people. I cannot say how angry I am to hear about how they did that, especially when I lived in Taiwan for year (just came back 6 months ago actually.) Here is one of the articles that talks about it. http://www.g21.net/asia29.htm While what these men did was abhorant, Taiwan is one of the only mostly pagan countries that regularly donates and sends volunteers abroad. If you want to work with a donation program and hate that almost all the ones in America are Christian ones, then check out some Taiwanese ones. If you are interested in adopting a half African-half Chinese child, ask your adoption agency if they know where they are or do good old fashioned detective work.

Africa is always in need of help and donations to get away from the violence of being left berefit by their former European empires. Here is one website I came upon where you can help the children. It is a Christian group, but still it is helping a child and even if you don't want to help since they are Christian, then I hope this inspires you to look for another non-religious group that helps children, or maybe you could start one since you are interested in African adoption.
http://reviveafrica.com/index.php

Note: Whenever I mention Animists, Indigenous religions or Traditionalists, that all means that they are pagan of some kind or another.

Cameroon-Cameroon is one of the few countries that prefers older parents. They prefer at least one person in a married couple to be older than 40, or one person to be 35, but you must be married for 19 years to the same person, or you may have the age requirement waived if you have a medical certificate claiming infertility. If you are single, then you need to be 40 or older. Once you have identitified the child you want to adopt, you can gain custody of that child. You will need to stay in Cameroon for a 3 month period to foster the child while they see if you are a good match, afterwards you may begin the legal procedures. These procedures can take a long time, so be prepared to stay in Cameroon for 6 months up to a year. They really need to streamline this process more, especially with more foreigners adopting there lately. There is also a recent problem with fraud/scam artists, claiming to be from orphanages and soliciting you for money to adopt a child, they are fake. Make sure you check with the Cameroon Misitry of Social Affairs before you do anything, like send any money or take any children.

Cameroon actually got its name from the Portuguese explorers who first came there, saw so many prawn in the water that they called it "Rio dos Camaroes" meaning River of Shrimp, so Cameroon means shrimp. The northern part of the country once held the Islamic Andamawa Emirate, which in the 19th century had a jihad to wipe out all non-Muslims (history shows that this happens whenever there is a large group of Muslims together.) The Germans took over soon though and this ended the jihad as they were forced into servitude of the Germans. After WWI, Cameroon was split between the French in the north and British in the south. Many Nigerians came over to Southern Cameroon when the British ruled, as they were both part of the Empire. The British took care of the south, giving it what it needed to stabilize and modernize, while the French did not take care of the north, letting unrest and radical parties run rampant, until they finally declared independence from France in 1960. Southern Cameroon united with the north a year later to form the Republic of Cameroon, but the president that led the country to independence took complete authoritarian control and suppressed other political parties from rising becoming the leader of the sole party. He later left his successor in charge and while his successor first tried to reform and become more democratic, a coup d'etat led him to become like his predecessor. Finally the economic crisis of the mid 1980's led to full reform and democracy. Though the country had made great strides, it is still occassionally faces violence, and has problems. The former British colony of Southern Cameroon wants to break away and become its own country now and are pressuring the government. There are 2 official languages in Cameroon as a result of its past, English and French. There is also a pidgin lanuage of mixed English, French and local, which is gaining popularity. The south has more teachers and better education, though the literacy rate is high throughout the country.

The northern part of the country still has muslims. Though they are not as violent as they were in the 19th century, they do occassionally harass and discriminate against non-Muslims. They form about 20% of the population. In the South and West, Christian missionaries made headway and converted a great many people, with around 40% of the poplutaion now. Many of these Christians believe in evil Witches (the Christian version of them anyway,) and get hysterically violent about it. The government has outlawed violence against supposed witches, though people still get killed over it. That leaves the other 40% of the population as still pagan, being one of the highest I have seen in Africa. In the north are the Kirdi people, who got their name from the Muslims as a derogatory term. The name roughly translates as "pagan" and the people take great pride in the fact that they held onto their beliefs and never converted to the Islam.

Niger-is a very difficult country to adopt from, so hard that no children seem to have been adopted from there in over a decade, which is when they changed the laws making it so hard. You have to be resident in Niger through the whole process, which can take years to complete. I won't even go into it here, as I doubt there is anyone that would be willing to put up with it. The harder policies seem to have been drafted as this is a majority muslim country, at 90%, and muslims do not allow adoption (though since their prophet was adopted, I do not understand why.) This country is where the bad "N-word" from America came from, refering all American blacks as Niger's, as if they were from Niger, which later had the 'G' changed to the hard form making it a new and foul word.

Nigeria-the most populous country in Africa and the Eighth most populous in the world. It can be hard to adopt from Nigeria, as the law says non-Nigerians cannot adopt there, but this has been inconsistant as non-Nigerians have been adopting from there and seems to vary from state to state. Each state has different requirments. This may be a result of being mostly Muslim in the north, where they have put Sharia law into state law, causing many problems. In the southwest, Christians and Muslims live together, while the rest of the country is Christian, with most focused in the East. There are some traditional religions around in small numbers, namely the followers of Yoruba, which has become a part of the American religious scene for many blacks and latinos, and has spread into the panpagan belief system of America. The age requirements vary but tend to be around 25 years old, and they want you to be 21 years older than they child. You can be married or single. If you are single, you cannot adopt a child of the opposite sex (special cases may allow though.) Nigeria also houses large foreign populations of British, American, Chinese, Japanese, Indian (who brought Hinudism with them,) Greek, Syrian, Lebanese and Cubans (who defected from Cuba after Castro rose in power during the Cuban Revolution.) Many of whom are employees of oil companies. A note about Nigeria is that is has one of the lower rates of HIV/AIDS infections in Africa. There education system has decayed and is full of problems. The official language is English, as a result of being a former British colony, and also because there are so many different ethnic groups that speak different languages, many learn their ethnic language at home and in the community, but English in school and in business, politics, etc...

Sadly violence is a part of life in Nigeria. Recently many muslims rioted when the Miss World pagent came and got so bad, they had to move it to London. Apparantly they rioted when a reporter made some comment, killing over a hundren men, women and children. Nigeria also was home to the infamous 419 crime, also called the Nigerian Scammers, where they would ask you to send a little money to help them get their inheritance, and you would get a portion of that inheritance, or some other B.S. that stupid and greedy people would fall for. I still get those stupid e-mails. Also, there is a beleif in evil witches here, as it is in much of Africa. Even children get accused of this and face horrible consequences. If you are going to adopt from this country, do your pagan duty and adopt a child witch, save them from a life of pain and give them a nurturing home. I don't usually advocate this, the save the kids thing, as it makes you feel like the kids is indebted to you, but this is life or death for these kids. Here is an article about it: http://www.steppingstonesnigeria.org/node/18

Accused Child Witches of Nigeria

Hyena Trainer

Traditionalist

Benin-I can find no information on adoption from this country, though I know of a couple people that have adopted from there, they were probably living there at the time and were able to navigate through the system.

Togo-to adopt from Togo you must be married for 5 years and one spouse must be over 30 years old. Or you may be single, but over 35 years old. They also do not want you to already have kids living in the home, and if you become pregnant before the adoption is completed, they will terminate the adoption. You will need to get authorized from the Minister of Child protection and this authorization lasts for 5 years.

Togo is a small country that was once a colony of France. Over half the people are followers of traditional religions (pagan) with the rest split between Christian and Muslim. This is one of the highest percentage of pagans in Africa. It's pagan culture and beautiful landscapes have inspired their art.

Togo Fetishes

Burkina Faso-is a hague country. There are no residency requirments, you must be 15 years older than the child. You must be married for 5 years and priority is given to childless couples. Singles are almost never allowed to adopt, but the occassional single does do it, though I don't know how.

Burkina Faso is a landlocked country that was a former colony of France. It is now the 6th poorest country in the world. The country is majority Islam, with Animistic Pagans the second largest, followed by Christians. Though the people say they are 50% Muslim, 50% Christian and 100% Animist, showing that they are highly tolerant and even the Muslims and Christians still value the old ways. The Muslims even built the Bobo-Dioulasso Mosque as a place for people of all faiths to gather and work together, being one of the few places that Muslims seem to be highly tolerant and are not going jihad on the other peoples all the time.

The Bobo-Dioulasso Mosque

Ghana-before you are allowed to adopt, you must have been resident in Ghana for 3 months, though the courts can waive this(they can, doesn't mean they will.) You must be married to adopt internationally. Single men are not allowed to adopt at all, and single women can adopt if they are citizens of Ghana. You have to be at least 25 years old and 21 years older than the child. It can take a year for the adoption to be completed, but you do not have to stay in country during that time (the child does though.)

Ghana was once a colony of the British Empire, and was the first sub-Saharan colony to gain independence from them. As a result of being a colony of the UK, English has become the official language, though numerous other native ethnic languages are used as well. The colony was called the Gold Coast, but when they gained independence they decided to use the name of an old Kingdom as the new countries name. It is home to the Ashanti people, who produce many cultural art peices that Americans associate with Africa as a whole, including their textiles (kente cloth) and Ashanti wood carvings and kings stools. Ghana is home to former Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Anan. They are mostly Christian, with some Muslims and a few traditional religionists.

Ashanti Chief

Cote D'Ivoire(Ivory Coast)-while in English we could just call it the Ivory Coast, they want to use the French version of the name and discourage the English name. To adopt you need to be married for 5 years, both of you must be 30 years old or older and be 15 years older than the child you wish to adopt (not that hard when you are already 30.) I can't find any information about Singles, but since they are not mentioned and Africa tends to look down upon single parent adoption as a whole, I would hazard a guess that they do not allow single parents to adopt. Now the hard part about adopting here is that you need to have a 6 month foster period with the child. That means you need to live there with the child. They can waive this period though, if you can prove that you have met the child, are providing care for them and why you cannot be resident in Cote D'Ivoire for the 6 months.

As you can tell from the name of the country, it used to be a colony of France and still have close ties with it. There are White Africans here, descendents of French colonists (as well as some Spaniard ones.) Though a large group of them fled after violence in the 1990's. It was once a prosperous country, but hit some turmoil after the economic crisis of the 1980's. Since then, there has been problem after problem, with renegades, rebels, militias, warlords, etc... This also led to the horrible fate of child soldiers being used, something that seems all too common in Africa. These kids are too young for this and their lives have been shattered by the violence they have witnessed and perpetrated. In 2007, with the aide of Frech troops there to patrol the streets, a peace treaty was signed between the government and the rebels, seeming to bring peace at last.

A little over a third of the people are Muslim, another third are Christians(mostly Roman Catholics) with Animists making up half of what is left and non-religious people making up the other half. Also, there is an education problem there now, with most woman being illiterate and many elementary school aged children not in school. The national language is French, but many other indigenous languages are used as well.

Liberia-does not seem to have any parent requirements to adopt. So, it would seem to be pretty easy, but there are child requirements. Basically the child needs to be cleared by a social worker for adoption. This seems to be the easiest of Africas countries to adopt from. Sadly though, there have been a number of cases where the adoptive parents have terminated their parental rights (I don't know why, stupid people probably were totally ignorant about international adoptions and thought the child would worship them for saving them from being primitives and whooops they didn't do that, so sorry, it didn't work out, go into American foster care while we look for a kid that will do whatever we want like a mindless robot. I've got a couple words for these stupid people and they aren't nice...) and stopped allowing adoption for almost all of 2009. In December of 2009, they started to allow adoptions on a case by case basis.

Liberia is different than the other African countries in that it was not a colony of Europe or an independent African kingdom first, but was founded by freed American slaves, who returned to Africa. The slaves were a mix of different African peoples in America, so they were not a homogenous ethnic group. They settled in this land and named it Liberia, meaning liberty and formed a society similar to the American one they left behind. They were treated as Americans by the local Africans (and the British living and trading nearby) and were often hostile to each other. Liberia has kept close ties to America since it was created. In the 1980's, a miltia nade up of indigenous peoples rose up in a coup and mudered the president while he slept, taking over the country. They adopted authoritarian rule and this led to 2 decades of strife and civil war, which only finished a few years ago with the democratic election of the first woman president(or any head of state) in all of Africa.

Almost half the people are still followers of Animist religions, with almost another half being Christians, leaving the rest as Muslims. English is the main language used, but there are numerous other languages used as well. An interesting note is that quilts are well known works of art there, brought over from the freed slaves of the Southern states, and are often given as official government gifts to foreign dignitaries, one was even presented to JFK and sits in his museum collection, so if you decide that Liberia is the place your child is, then make sure you get a quilt for him/her when you go there.

Sierra Leone-has no age or marriage requirements, but they do require a 6 month residency and that you personally appear in court for the adoption proceedings. This is a not a law though, so you may be able to get it waived by the High Court.

It's name means "Lion Moutain" in Italian, though it was given by exploring Portuguese. It has the sad distinction of being the home of the slave port, where many African slaves were held and shipped off to Europe and the Americas. Later, after many slaves were freed in England, they decided to ship them back home instead of having to support them (how very kind of them, thats sarcasm by the way.) They colonized the area and ran into problems with the indigenous peoples there. Britian used Sierra Leone as a base for it's African Empire until it gained independence in the 1960's. Like all the former colonies, gaining freedom led to problems with government corruption, protests, revolution and civil war. Currently, the Colombian drug cartel is using Sierra Leone as a base to ship its drugs to Europe and many people fear it will soon become a narco-state. But, the government has been stabilizing and will hopefully be stable eough soon to eject these fiends. They also have problems with diamond smuggling andare working to correct that as well. Their Blood Diamonds are well known in the world now, but since the civil war is over, they are trying to have their much tarnished image removed.

The official language is English, being a former British colony, but other indigenous languages are spoken as well, with Krio(a kind of Creole language) spoken the most widely. They are mostly muslim, with animists the second most populous and Christians rouding it out. Though they are mostly muslim, the protect their freedom of religion and will not tolerate any abuse.

Child Soldiers

Guinea-also called French Guinea or Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from Guinea-Bassau (see below.) There are 2 types of adoption in Guinea, simple and pleniere (full). Simple adoption is a guardianship, but does not severe they ties to the birth family, and can be revoked. As such, it does not qualify enough for a visa by the U.S. embassy. A pleniere adoption is the way to go, but you must still be careful for the first 30 days after adopting, as the pleniere can be revoked within that timeframe. After that, you are free and clear. Married and single people can adopt, you must be 30 years old and there must be at least 15 years difference between your age and the childs. If married, you must have been married for at least 5 years.

Guinea was a French colony until independence in the 1980's. Since then it has been in the hands of violent oppresors and only just this year(2010) has finally been allowed to have a free election. Let's see how that goes. They are mostly muslim, at around 85%, with around 10% Christian (of various dominations) and the last 5% as Animists. There are also small groups of Hindus, Buddhists, and Taoists there. Sadly, Jehovah's Witnesses are there as well and go around trying to convert everyone. They speak French, but also many local languages.

Guinea-Bassau-also known as Potuguese Guinea. I can find no information about adoption from this country. I saw on the embassy website that they do give out adoption visas, but I can't find any information about what the country rules and requirements are. If you want to adopt from here, contact the embassy and ask. I did this numerous times when I was looking for information to adopt a second son in Asia. The people here are 50% muslim, 40& traditionalists and 10% Christian.

Tanzania-you must be a resident of Tanzania to adopt from there, there are no exceptions to this. You can be married or single. Single men cannot adopt girls. You mist be at least 25 years old and 21 years older than the child you adopt.

Since almost no one is able to adopt from Tanzania, I will not post it's history or other things here. Just that the country seems to be evenly split between Christians, Muslims and Traditionalists.

Zambia-they want you to reside in Zambia for 12 months, but you can get the courts to reduce this time to a 3 month fostering, talk to a lawyer or your adoption agency about getting that done. You can be married or single, single men cannot adopt girls, and you must be 25 and 21 years older than the child you wish to adopt.

Zambia was a colony of the British and was the home of Victoria Falls and the place where the famous explorer David Livingston was living (as in "Dr. Livingston I presume." said by Stanley,) and he still has a city named after him there, even after the black Africans decided to change the English names of their cities to African ones. Zambia used to be part of Zimbabwe, together they were called Rhodesia, with Zambia called North Rhodesia and Zimbabwe called South Rhodesia. It later gained independence and broke off to form its own country called Zambia.

Many White Africans and Expatriot Europeans live in Zambia still and since Zimbabwe is still attacking their whites in retribution and retaliation for colonial rule, Zambia invited many of them to immigrate over and set up farms there instead, and many have accepted. There are also over 80,000 Chinese and many Indians living there as well. Zambia also has many refugees from other African countries, fleeing war and violence. Their official language is English, but they speak numerous local African languages as well. They are predominantly Christian there, with various denominations, even some synchratic Churches (meaning they took Animist ideas and fused them with Christian ones.) A small minority of Muslims and some German Jews live there as well. An interesting note is that a staple food there is maize/corn, which was originally from America. Zambia has its share of problems, such as severe poverty and AIDS, but their openess to accepting refugees and White Africans makes it a country that I would prefer to be in for the time it takes to adopt there.

Zimbabwe-adoption by foreigners is hard and they do not like interacial adoption, so if you black, then it will be easier, but you still have to jump through all the loops. They don't like white people too much there. You need to be a resident or citizen to adopt, though you can have this waived by the Ministry of Social Welfare (very rare.) Married couples and single women may adopt, you must be 25 and 21 years older than the child. You must also have a clean criminal record, so nothing on it at all (very hard to find in modern American, not because we are lawless, but because civil disobedience has been part of our culture since the 1960's.)

Zimbabwe was a colony of the British, called Southern Rhodesia. They gained freedom and have been killing people ever since. The goverment massacres protesters and has advocated violence against White Africans, forcing many to flee to Zambia or emmigrate to Europe, leaving a population that was once almost 300,000 to about 10% of that now, between 30,000-50,000 left. It is known for its abuse of human rights and for its violence, especially against women and whites. The government is corrupt and their economy has been so mismanaged that it barely exists at all. This has led to around a quarter of the whole countries population fleeing to other countries. Though English is the official language, barely anyone actually speaks it, using Bantu(local African) dialects instead. Most of the people are Christian with Ancestral Worship being the second most populous religion.

Angola-the only rules they have are that you be at least 25 and 16 years older than the child. The problem is that the beaurocratic process takes forever in Angola, so a year to several years to finish the adoption. They are revising their rules now and it will probably be harder to adopt, but more efficient, so faster. Consult an attorny from the beginning to get through this process.

Angola was a Portuguese territory from the 16th century until it gained independence in 1975. It then immediatly had a civil war which lasted until 2002. It has the worst life expectancy and infant mortality rate in the world. They have small populations of White Africans, mostly of Portuguese descent, expatriot Europeans, mixed race/multiracial peoples (they actually outnumber the White Africans) and Chinese (they are all over Africa, I think they are taking over, lol.) They are mostly Christian, and of those mostly Catholics thanks to the Portuguese. The second largest group is Traditionalists. The main language is Portuguese so brush up on your "Olá. Como vai você?"

Sadly, like other African countries, they believe in evil witches and often accuse children of being them. These children are cast out of their homes and villages if they are lucky or put to the old witch trials of fire or water if they are unlucky. Do your pagan duty and adopt these poor children and give them a proper, nurturing pagan home. Here is one newpaper article: http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/child-witches-the-victims-of-african-wars/2007/11/16/1194766965629.html

Ah, the talking bottom is even known here

Accused Child Witches of Angola

Namibia-intercountry adoption is illegal in this country. If you (or your spouse) are a citizen of Namibia, then you can adopt.

Botswana-requires several months, up to a year, of fostering by the adoptive parents before the adoption can be completed, that means a lengthy in-country stay, estimated to be up to 2 years for the fostering, adoption and visa process to be completed. This makes adoption rare there, so rare that the US state.gov website does not even have Botswana on the list of countries that you can adopt from. You can be single or married and you must be 25 years old or older (your spouse too if you are married.) Because the residency is a huge issue, I will not post anymore on this country, except that there is a larger White African population here, as well as a huge Indian African population here and that the people are mostly Christian with Indigeneous being the second largest and Islam and Hiduism after.

Mozambique-you must be a resident of Mozambique to adopt. They also want you to have a 6 month fostering period in-country before you can complete the adoption. If the court thinks you will leave the immediately after the adoption, they will move to block the adoption. Also, they require placement reports until the child is 21 years old (the oldest I have ever seen.) They are currently considering changing the adoption laws, hopefully making things easier. They also have some White Africans, mostly of Portuguese descent, Indian Africans, Arabs and a small group of Chinese. A third of the people are Christian, another third are Muslim, with the last third split between Indigenous and other religions (like Hinduism.)

Madagascar-is a Hague country now, so those rules apply. Also, you need to have a trial fostering period of one month in Madagascar before the adoption can continue. It can take 4-6 months after the foster period before the adoption is finalized. You must be present at the final court preceedings. Only married couples can adopt and one of them must be 30 or older. After the adoption, they require regular progress reports until the child turns 18. I would think with them accepting the Hague convention that single people would be allowed to adopt, but I guess not.

Madagascar is an interesting country and is now famous for the movie made with it's name (about the African animals that get stranded there) and as the home of the lemurs, the evolutionary predecessors of the monkeys apes and us. It also holds 5% of the Worlds plant and animal population, most of which are native only there. It is an island country off the coast of Africa. It was a favorite haunt of pirates in the old days, even American ones. It was port for Portuguese traders, a British colony, and a French colony (they even fought in the French Army during WWII) before gaining independence. The people there are descendents of both black Africans and Austronesian (South East Asians/Pacific Islanders) with a little Indian, Arab and European thrown into the mix. They speak the native Malagasy language, as well as French, though with globalization, English is becoming more common there as well. Half the people are Animistic/Ancester worshippers, with Christians forming around 40%, Muslims make up aroun 7% and Hindus the rest.

Malawi-was made famous when the American pop singer made headlines when she adopted her son there. They require you to be a resident, though they don't have a clear definition of what a resident is and they also prefer for you to foster the child for 18 to 24 months before the adoption is finalized. Most people thought it was a law and when Madonna adopted without going through the fostering stage, people went into uproar, but she did not bribe them or do anything illegal, as it is not a law. Married and single people can adopt from there. You must be at least 25 years old and 21 years older than the child.

Malawi has a low life expectancy and high infant mortality rate. AIDS/HIV is very high here. It was once a British colony and was linked with Rhodesia(Zimbabwe and Zambia,) until it broke away later and became independent in the 1950's. There are some White Africans and Asians living there still, thought the overwheliming majority is Black Africans. They are mostly Christians with 12% Muslim, 3% Indigenous and another 4% claiming no religion. English and the native language, Chichewa are the official languages.

South Africa-has 2 systems for international adoption. One is for resident aliens to adopt and requires you to be resident for 5 years. The other one is for countries that have agreements with South Africa, which America sadly does not have. That means that unless you are resident there, you cannot adopt if you are American and since this blog was mostly made for Americans, I will not continue with any more info except that 78% of the people are black Africans, mostly of Zulu descent (famous for routing the British) a little over 9% are white Africans, 9% are mixed/multiracial and almost 3% are Asian/Indian. An overwhelming majority of them are Christians. South Africa has high crime rates and high violence. Because of this (and some social problems) many White Africans are emigrating out of South Africa, but many whites and Asians are also immigrating to South Africa(not enough to replace those leaving though.) It is strange as when most people think of South Africa, they think of the White Africans, to loose that is to loose the worlds perception of them.

Lesotho-a small country located inside South Africa. Currently only four countries are allowed to adopt from there, the US, Canada, the Netherlands and Sweden. They require a 2 week, or more, fostering period in country. This is not only to bond with the child, but also to learn about their country and culture. You must be 25 years old and 21 years older than the child. They have complicated family laws about who has rights to the child, so be sure to check that out thoroughly first. Otherwise this seems to be a rather simple place to adopt from. I wouldn't be surprised if this becomes the next big country to adopt from, hopefully it won't get as bad as Guatemala when it was the big one. The people are mostly black Africans of the Basotho ethnic group. There are also thousands of White Africans, European expats and over 5,000 Chinese. They are over 90% Christian, with all other religions making up the other 10%. It has the second highest AIDS rate in the world right now and as such most of the people are young now as much of the older generation has passed on due to the disease. This has left much of the labor to the children, creating a child labor problem. Lesotho is different in other countries in that women are more literate than men here, meaning they tend to be more educated. The main language is Sesotho, with English as a second official language.

Mountain boys

Shepherds

More shepherds

Swaziland-is another small Kingdom/country located within South Africa. It has few requirements for adoption, married couples and singles can adopt, you just need to be 25 years old and 25 years older than the child you are adopting. Also, when you complete the adoption you CANNOT take the child out of the country for 1 year, unless you get permission, in writing, from the deputy prime minister. This is the kicker, though adoptions have risen, from 1 a year, to 11 last year, showing that he does give permission. The people are mostly black Africans of the Swazis ethnic group, with some Zulu and White Africans. The official language is SiSwati with English spoken as a secondary language. Swaziland has the highest HIV/AIDS infection rate in the world. The HIGHEST! There is much worry that if things don't improve the Kindgom of Swaziland won't exhist much longer. They also have the lowest life expectancy in the world, half the worlds average. Most people are Christian, though it seems to be a synchratic Church system with animist ideas incorporated and even the divine king idea. Indigenous religion is the next largest, with all other realigions rounding it out at the last 1.5 %.

The Swazi people

Africa part 1

2010-02-25T10:05:00.000-08:00

When you think of Africans, the first image to pop into your mind would be of a black skinned tribal man or woman wearing beads and feathers. Well, while there are some people like this in Africa, like the Zulu (they really only dress that way for ceremonies now,) I have some news for you, Africa is not all black, and never has been. North Africans are actually quite fair skinned and are related to Arabs, Greeks, Romans and other European and Asian peoples. The Egyptians, that I already did in another blog entry, are not black, though many black Americans try to say they are. They weren't white either. They were...Egyptian, somewhere in the middle of black and white, and closer to the Arab and Persian groups than "Black" Africans. In fact, they mention Black Africans in their histories as being Nubians or Ethiopians, not Egyptians. There are also white people in Africa, more recent additions from Europe colonies, but still African nontheless. Any American that says otherwise, shouldn't throw stones living in that glass house, since you are living in lands that traditionally belong to American Indians. South Africa is about half White African now, and there are still white Africans living in other old European colonies, though war, strife and violence have forced most of them out and soon they will be gone.

Africa as a whole is usually thought of as a 3rd world continent. It has had moments of glory, including Great Zimbabwe, but has for the most part remained tribal and, though I hate to use the word, primitive. Then the Europeans came in and carved out territories for colonies, making a whole mess of everything by imposong their world order on a people that had their own world order and should not have been forcibly removed from that. Many of those same Europeans later left their colonies, but did not help fix any of the problems. Some left in such a hurry as to cause a vaccuum that has yet to be filled, like in Western Sahara. For a long time, most of the world looked down on Africans, and this has only recently began to change. Why did they look down on them so? Was it because they were black, as many postulate? Or was it because most are muslims? Probably both, as we know Europeans are notoriously racist, but considering that most homogynous societies usually are racist all over the world, this is not unusual. Africans are very racist against many people as well, whites, Asians, other tribes, other coutries, etc... but not all of them are that way.

So, why adopt from there? There are so many black kids in America that are available for adoption and need a home. I personally feel that if you are going to adopt a black child, adopt from your own country first. I think the reason why more people are turning to Africa for adoption though is because they like the idea of helping a poor 3rd world kid, or feeling pity on the starving Ethipian child, or war torn Darfur refugee orphan. That is not a good reason to adopt. If you want to help, donate money or time, or even things, like clothes to these people. Otherwise, you will end up laying guilt upon the child when he or she doesn't live up to your expectations, which you should never, EVER do to an adopted child. There are also people that like the idea of bringing something new and tribal into their family, a breath of fresh air in a stagnant family tree. This last one appeals to me. This is what makes America a great nation, not our money or our domocracy, but the mix of people and the multi-ethnic families that result from this. I have met many families that are a mix of different nations, ethnicities and religions and it works for us.

Many people think of the religion of Africa as being very pagan and involving witch doctors and others, but sadly, the Christian and Muslim horde spread there very well and most countries are predominantly one or the other. This is a sad state for the birthplace of the America's religions of Santeria, Voodoo and Candomble'. There are some tribal pagans left, but they are not as numerous as they should be.

Libya-rarly allows adoptions to foreigners, in fact I could find very little on adoption at all, only that within the past few years only 5 children were adopted. My only advice if you desire to adopt from there is to contact the US embassy and a local lawyer from there. This country is not on the best terms with the west, so don't expect a lot. Also, it is a Muslim country, so...good luck.

Old Roman statue of Emperor Septimus Severus in Libya

This country has an interesting history, so I will post what I know about it. Libya was unified and therefore began with the Roman Empire. Though the Greeks had already taken control of half of Libya before the Romans came and the Phoenicians had some colonies on the other half, the best known was Carthage. The Roman emperor Septimus Severus was born here, so this was his homeland. Then the Muslims came and took over around 650 B.C. It was strongly influenced by the Berbers, Moroccans and Islamic Egytians after that. It was then conquered by the Turks, then made into an Italian colony before becoming independant in the middle of the last century. Then in 1969, a soldier named Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, staged a coup and took over the nation, turning it into the Libyan Arab Republic(i.e. Socialist.) This man has been villified by the west, with good reason, which you can read about on your own as it is too much for this post. The people in Libya are ethnically Arab, Berber, Bedouin, Taureg, Egyptian, Sub-saharan, and Italian, and as such they range in skin tone from light to dark. They are mostly Muslim, at 97% of the population. Though there are some Christians there, made up of the Egyptian Coptic Christians(one of the brands of Christianity that I like the most), Italian Roman Catholics and some Anglicans that are African immigrants from former British colonies. Libya used to have a large population of Jews 500,000 strong, until fascism from WWII Italy put them in "camps" and when Libya gained its indepence muslim violence decimated them to only about 38,000. The few that remained emigrated as fast as they could in 1951.

Taureg of Libya

Algeria-is a Muslim country, as as such they only allow Muslims to adopt. Also, they want only Algerians to adopt, so you must be Algerian. Though there seem to be a number of street kids there, so I hope the country takes care of its own.

Morocco-is a Muslim country, so only allows Muslims to adopt. Also, if you are Muslim, they will not accept proof from an American mosque or Imam. You will have to prove it to a Moroccan Imam. But, they accept converts, so if you really want to adopt from Morocco, then go and convert while there. I don't suggest this in seriousness though, as this would a bad idea and would not only be dishonest, but would be offensive to your gods and their Allah (even if you think they are the same thing, it would still be rude.) Sadly there are a lot of street children in Morocco and I would really love to help them find homes, but Morocco doesn't seem to care much about them. It is like this in Egypt too. Many of these kids turn to prostitution, begging or drugs for money. The government does not protect them. Many Moroccan street children are now trying to run away to Spain, where they hope to have a better life. I will have to check on whether Spain allows adoption of any of these kids, since they are illegal immigrants.

Western Sahara-this is a contested territory, with Morocco's king claiming it as belonging to him, and Mauritania claiming it as well. It used to belong to Spain, but after WWII they hastily left it(within a 3 month period,) leaving it open to other countries to claim it. This idiocy by the Spaniards has left several countries in trouble. Most Americans still call it Western Sahara, while I have heard many Europeans call it Southern Morocco, showing how we feel about it. America thinks it should be independent, while Europe thinks Morocco should have it. Seeing as how Morocco can't even care for its own people properly, I don't see how they would care for all these others. As it is a contested territory, you would not be allowed to adopt, as there is no real law for it there, and it would be a Muslim country or territory anyways. The child needs a passport and legal documentation that the child was adopted. Since the 2 countries that are trying to claim Western Sahara as there own territory are both Muslim, I don't think they would approve of the adoption if you went to them. Some kids run away to Spain, and they might be available for adoption there, I will have to check on that.

This young man is just too cute

Mauritania-only allows Muslims to adopt and must be a family member if you want to be able to take the child out of the country.

Senegal-allows adoptions, but only to people that are unable to have kids. This can be waived if the president grants an exemption. You also have to live in Senegal for 1 year and while this can also be waived, most courts would not allow it. Maybe if the child had severe need for medical treatment not found in Senegal they would speed up the process.

The Gambia-you must be resident in Gambia for at least 6 months before applying to adopt, thought the court can waive this. Then you have to do a 36 month fostering period, which can be done in your home country, before the adoption can be completed. This is what makes it hard to adopt from Gambia, a 3 year fostering is way too long.

Mali-allows some children to be adopted by foriegners. You must be over 30 years old, and does not allow single men. There are 2 kinds of adoptions in Mali, Adoption Protection and Adoption Filiation. Adoption Protection gives you custody of the child, but not full parental rights. The embassy said this could be enough to get a visa to go back to America and get a full adoption there, but ask the embassy first(the embassy you will use is actually in Senegal, not in Mali.) Adoption Filiation is a full adoption, but they will only allow this if you have no children already, and the child adopted is 5 years old or younger. Because of this, you can see why people would prefer the Adoption Protection.

Chad-I can find no information about adoption in Chad, only that many officials are against it and the French aide adoption scandal that happened there. There is nothing even close to mentioning adoption on the Embassy website. I would guess that it is not allowed in this country.

Sudan-is a Muslim country and does not allow adoptions of any Muslim child, but does allow adoptions of non-Muslim children. Any abandoned or orphaned child whose parents religion is unknown is automatically made into a muslim child, whether they should be or not. First you must apply and be granted a "caretaker" status for the child. This is similar to fostering or guardianship. This caretaker status lasts for a year(if the child is non-muslim, otherwise that is all you can get,) after which, if the social worker agrees, you may proceeed with adoption. The year may be shortened by the governer of the child's province if you can get him to do it. Single men are not allowed to adopt. Sudan has many kids in need of homes, especially with the conflict in Darfur, well more like the Genocide in Darfur, where the Arabs of Sudan are trying to wipe out the Blacks of Sudan (which is completely absurd, as many of the Arabs of Sudan are mostly black.) But, since it is so hard to adopt there, and any children in Darfur may have family trying to find them, I would donate money, time or items of some such to help the children instead. If you really feel you need to adopt, talk to the American Embassy there and then get a local lawyer. Good luck! Sudan was the old kingdom of Kush and Nubia, and was culturally tied to ancient Egypt. Many think of it as the Black Egypt (since Egyptians are not black, but rather somewhere between white and black, and closer to Arabs in ethnicity, or I should say the other way around since Egyptians are older than Arabs.) This is interesting to me, and to a child, it is something to be proud of, as being an heir to Egypt. The religions of Sudan are, of course Islam at over 70%, suprisingly the pagan groups are the second largest at 25% with various Christian denominations as third and last at 5%, though half of the pagan peoples are thought to be practicing a synchratic form of Christianity and animist pagananism.

Sudanese Arab girl

Black Sudanese kids

Sudanese Child Soldier,

something that should never be allowed to happen in any country

Eritrea-must be resident for 6 continuous months, but otherwise there are few restrictions. The embassy reports that they have had difficulty identifying whether or not some children are orphans (as defined by the US) and their real ages. So, if you adopt from there, make sure you have all your documents in order and work with the embassy. They are not party to the Hague convention, so those rules do not apply. This is a small country on the Red Sea, between Sudan and Ethiopia. It was created at the end of the 19th century, when Italy carved it out of some tribal territories as a colony. Though people have been living and colonizing the area for centuries, leading to an interesting demographic of people, including Egyptians, Portuguese, Tribal "Black" Africans, Arabs, Turks and Italians. They are pretty much split down the middle of Muslim and Orthodox Christians. They are not tolerant of other religions though, and are especially harsh on Jehovah's Witnesses (good for them) and the Baha'i people, both of which actively recruit people and are labeled as cults or cult like. I had a friend that converted to Baha'i and she was constantly trying to convert everyone around her, eventually she left to go study at their main temple in Israel, so I am guessing they actively try to convert people and this is why they are having problems. Anyway, Eritrea was later taken from Italy by Britain, who controlled it until America and the UN forced them to give them independance, but was annexed by Ethiopia, who forced their language and culture on them, leading to a 30 year war for independence. They won, with UN help and have been independent since then, though they continually have border disputes with Ethiopia. They use English as their official language and have democratic elections. Because they allowed a Somali terrorist to live in their country, several US officials want to brand them a rogue country, but for the most part, most countries, and most US officials still trust Eritrea.

Rashaida of Eritrea

(the people are originally from Saudi Arabia)

Ethiopia-is one of the easiest places to adopt in Africa, though they only work with married couples and prefer you to be married for at least 5 years. Ethiopia, like much of Africa, is in the middle of an AIDS epidemic, but much worse. So many children have been left orphaned and are in great need of homes, or at least humanitarian aide. Sadly, this has been the case for so many years, I grew up hearing about the starving Ethiopian kids, and now my son is growing up with it. Ethiopia is one of the oldest human places on Earth, and may be where humanity came from, making them the oldest people on Earth. "Lucy" the Australopithecus is one of the oldest human ancestral skeletons ever found, and she is from Ethiopia. Ethiopia has been an independent kingdom for millenia, and was one of the few African countries that was not carved out by the Europeans, and was able to maintain its independence, even defeating an attempted takeover by Italy. The majority of people in Ethiopia are Christians(mostly Ethiopian Orthodox,) with the second largest group Muslim, but the third largest group are the followers of the old ways, labeled "Traditional Religions" which makes it sound nicer than pagans. Ethiopians are black Africans, with a little Arab here and there.

Djibouti-can't find any adoption information anywhere, but it is an Islamic nation, so probably doesn't allow adoption.

Somalia-it is very hard to adopt from Somalia, but can be done. Don't ask me how. The country is still involved in a civil war and most people hate it right now because of all the pirates, so adoption would be very hard. But, if you really want to adopt a Somalian child, many are in Ethiopia.

Kenya-allows adoption, but can be frustrating because the court does not like placing Black African children with White(and other non Black) foreigners. They are mellowing out a bit, but it still might be an issue. You have to be in Kenya for a while, get the child placed with you and wait for 3 months before they will proceed with the adoption. You must be married, though some single women are allowed to adopt. The people are mostly Christian, with Muslims next and the third largest religious group is labeled as Indigenous (pagan,) there are also a large number of Hindus, around 500,000. Kenya is home of the Masai people, known for their love of red and their warriors. It is also home of one of the largest African preserves, the place where lions, elephants, giraffes, zebras, etc... live. When most people think of Africa, it is Kenya that they imagine.

Not all Kenyans are tribal, these kids wear American style clothes

(though it looks like at least of the shirts is from Australia "Melbourne")

Masai warrior, they were once fierce hunters,

but have of late become the guardians of the nature parks and preserves,

which they still see as an honorable profession (and it is)

Uganda-they want you to have lived in the country and fostered the child for 3 years before being allowed to adopt, though a judge can wave this (good luck!) You have to be at least 21 years older than the child you want to adopt and be married or single, though you cannot adopt a child of the opposite sex if you are single. The people are mostly Christian, with Islam second and some Tradtional religions practiced in the country. There are also a number of Hindu's there.

Congo; Democratic Republic of-I can find little information about adoption from here. All I found was that you really need a local lawyer to help you to adopt and that you need to do the adoption at the local court in the place where the child lives. Here is the only group I know of that does adoptions in the Congo, though they are a Christian organization.

http://www.ourfamilyadoptions.org/?page_id=16

The Congo is the home of the pygmy people, it also still has cannibals there (some of them hunt and eat the poor pygmy peoples.) This is a place that is still the wild Africa that people imagine, it is also a place filled with strife and has seen its once flourishing economy crumble and wither. There is a lot of fighting here, over politics and over mineral wealth. Many militias conscript boys into service making child soldiers, and rape girls and women. They also have an AIDS crisis and the average life expectancy is short, with 50 being old age, most of the population is very young and still in their teens. Most people are Christian, with the next largest group being Muslim. There is also a large group of Indigenous religion followers. Also, the national language is French, so brush up on your Parlez-vous anglais?

Gabon-allows adoption, but it looks like they just changed the laws, making it actually easier to adopt from there. But, since the laws were just changed, I can find no information about it. Gabon is also very blatantly anti-gay in regards to adoption. There seem to be a number of children in need of homes there, so I hope that adoption picks up there. Many kids are left orphanted there because of their parents death through AIDS, malaria or the Ebola virus. Gabon was once a French colony, and their colonial ways still dominate the country. Most of the people are Christian, with a small minority being Muslim and the next group are Ingigenous religions, there are also a small group of Atheists or people with no religion there.

Africa is almost ready

2010-02-24T20:48:00.000-08:00

I am currently getting Africa ready for blogging and will do so within a week.

Barack Obama is not Black!!!!

2010-02-08T15:04:00.000-08:00

I am going off on a tangent this time. He is not black, he is half black and half white. I am so sick and tired of everyone calling him black. His victory of winning the presidency is not for black people, but for mixed people. He also remains the most mysterious of the US presidents, as he attempts to keep a tight lid on his life story. That biography about him is full of so much B.S. It is a shame as he seems to have a really interesting life story, too. He is problably just scared of what people will think about him being raised muslim (as if we didn't already know,) and of his ties to the antiwhite movement by blacks (as if we didn't know, though I don't understand how he could be part of that when he is half white.) He seems to identify as black, though since he knows almost nothing about his father and was raised by his white mother and later his Indonesian step-father, I have no idea why.

You may wonder what this has to do with adoption and paganism, well a lot in fact. This is a talk about mixed people in general and the fact that there are a growing number of mixed children available for adoption. Also, I am trying to get things together so I can adopt a boy that is half Korean and half black. He knows nothing of Korean culture, especially since his foster family put him in Karate classes, because "its all Asian, you know" (very ignorant, there is no one, unified "Asian" culture, they are all different.) Karate is Japanese, Tae Kwon Do is Korean, and since he wanted to join martial arts to feel more Korean, they should have put him in the right ethnic martial arts. His foster family is black, and while they are teaching him all about being black, they are totally neglecting his Korean heritage. As someone that lived in Korea for a number of years, almost got married there and had a son there, I came to love the people and culture and am rather pissed off that they are actually being rather racist to his Asian roots. This seems to be the norm for how blacks act towards asians and has been that way for over half a decade, if not longer.

It is all thanks to President Reagan starting the whole Model Minority thing, by stating that Asians were the model that other minorities should look up to when trying to assimilate into American life, or for people that have lived here forever already, like blacks, for the life they should be achieving instead of the life they were leading. While there were some truths to what they were saying, like the fact that many Asian people came here with nothing and made something of themselves, while many blacks had not risen in the ranks (though much of this was still from racism rather than lack of trying,) the whole point of it was not to flatter the Asian people, but to shame the blacks and to a lesser extant the latin people. Sadly, this did not work out the way they expected, as it has turned many blacks into racists against Asians, culminating in the L.A. riots, where it was mostly Asian people that were hurt by blacks and latinos. This hatred still exists all over the U.S. and was carried our more recently in Pennsylvania when a group of Veitnamese and Chinese students were attacked by mostly black students just for being Asian. I have also witnessed it here in my own town, where the black students are harassing my son, who is Korean, while the white students have accepted him with no problems.

This makes me wonder how I would raise a son that is half black and half Korean when the black community will want him to say he is black, but I want him to be himself, mixed, part Korea, part black and all American!!!

It also makes me wonder what ethnic religion he would be confortable working with. Koreans are mostly Buddhist or Christian, black Americans are mostly Christian or Santarean or Voodooists. Christian seems to be the common element, but I don't like it. I guess I would teach him all of them and let him make up his own mind what he wants, or he can even make up his own religion by mixing it together like I do.

Sadly, some of my immediate family are not supportive of me adopting a black child. It was said that the child would not be welcome into the family and that I would be shunned. They are true southerners, so this should be rather expected. I was hoping that they would be more open, it is adoption after all, not through birth. My sister was pregnant with a child that was half black and would have been accepted (sadly, she lost it as it was an ectopic pregnancy and was killing her, so the doctor made a choice.) So if that child would be accepted then I guess it is okay if I adopt half black kids. I do need the family's support and want it. I raised my son on my own in Korea, Mongolia and Taiwan for several years and it was tough. I lost all my friends and I needed alone time sometimes, which I never got (well once, when my son went on a 3 day school trip, but then I felt so alone and empty without him there.)

Half Black and Half white kids, so adorable

Part black, part white and part Native American boy

(isn't that Creole then?)

First off, you will notice that I do not use the term "African American." Not just for the obvious reason that it is rediculous, I don't call myself European American. It is also because I have had black friends that got angry when called that, as one friend put it "I am not from Africa, my family is from Jamaica!!!" So not all blacks are from Africa, some are from other countries. The only people that should be called African American are people that are actually from Africa and immigrate to America and their children born in America. All other black people have been here way too long to be called African anymore.

Let's start with the old throwback "One Drop Rule" which defined who was white back in the old days when many mixed children were being born and could pass for white in appearance. To make sure they didn't marry into the rest of the white population without the other persons knowledge, they decided that if you had any black in you, you were black. So even if you looked whiter than a KKKlansman, if you had a black direct ancestor, you were black. I think for many white Americans, this no longer applies. If you look white, most people assume you are. If some of your direct ancestors are black, then many people won't care. Yes there are still too many racist whites left in America, and the world, who do care how white you are, but for the most part, it is not a big deal. On the other hand, for many blacks, it still is a huge deal. If you have black in you and you don't claim it, they harp on you relentlessly. Many white people don't say anything when they do this, out of feelings of guilt for our uneasy pasts. This has to stop though. I didn't oppress any black people, and all the black people I have ever met have never been oppressed by anyone. I accept people for who they are, not what color they are. Having said that, if I see a group of black men gathered together on the street, I will probably cross the street or go the other way. Why? Well, even other black people say that they would do the same, so racism can go hang in this instance. Besides, I have met more racist blacks than any other people in America. You can say that it is a reaction to their history, but racism is still racism, no matter how you color it.

Halle Berry, half black and half white actress

Prince, half black and half white, do I need to even explain who he is?

Tia & Tamara Mowry, half black and half white actresses

(Sister, Sister tv series)

Gary Doudan, Haitian with obvious white ancestry, and a good mix it is

(CSI tv series)

Leila Arcieri, half black and half Italian model and actress
(and a babe to boot)

I hate how people expect people of mixed blood to choose one enthnicity or the other. Why should they? All throughout history people have been mixing together, it's what keeps us all the same species. People like to put things into catagories, and unfortunatly, that means we have races. There are only a few main races, Caucasian, Negro, Asian, American Indian, Arab, Australasian, and I would say Indian. Everyone else seems to be a branch of one of them. Of course race is not a real thing. We all share the same DNA, we are all human. Some people call themselves a race because of their culture or religion, as in being Thai or Jewish. But this would actually be an Ethnic group, a group that shares a common culture and are related in some way, like a large extended family. Mixed people muddle up the categories and gets everyone all riled up. There are terms for mixed race people, like mulatto or mestizo, but they can be downright rude to some people, as mulatto means "mule." Though it came into use simply because a mule is a mix of horse and donkey. As Americans, we are all mixed up anyways. Most white people are mixed from all over Europe and parts of Asia, while the blacks mainly came from North-Eastern part of Africa, sold into slavery by their own people, as criminals, prisoners of war or for greed. Others got into the mix and so most Blacks in America are mixed not only with other African groups, but with Whites and Indians. Because of this, I see no reason why a person of recent mixed blood needs to identify as anything other than what they are, mixed. Tiger Woods is a good example of this, he would not identify as black, even though he was half black, nor would he identify as Asian, like his Thai mother. He jokingly made up a word for what he was, but would not identify as either and even married a very white European. Many blacks got pissed off that he would not identify as black, but seriously, why should he, he is not black. But, he is American and that is as good an identity as any.

Tiger Woods

That brings me to another point. You may be wondering why I don't mention Hispanic and Latino people here. Well, the fact is that they are an ethnic group, not a race. Being latino means that you chare a common spanish speaking culture, but you may be black, white, indian or mixed and can be from anywhere in the Americas. Latinos have actually outpaced the black population as the 2nd largest group in America, right behind the white people, and are still rapidly growing. Most of them are Mexican, and I just can't imagine that there were that many people in Mexico that sooooo many could come here and yet Mexico is still packed, well at least Mexico City is. Being half Latin and half white doesn't mean as much as it used to. For an Example, Jessica Alba is half Mexican, half White and all American. I really don't care much about the so called Latin invasion of America, as much of the land originally was part of Mexico before America won the right to it, so they are just returning home. I do wish that more would learn to speak English. I am sorry, but everyone in the world pays top dollar to learn English and so trying to make America a spanish speaking country is just making us dumb, since we speak English for free!!! To work in America and to do legal things you need to speak English. I lived in New Mexico, and while I expected some people to not speak English, I was surprised at how many knew no English as all (or at least pretended to.) They were all nice people though, so at least tried to communicate. With latino and hispanic people, I think that most of the problems that other Americans have with them is simply the language issue. Look at Canada and America as an Example. Lots of Canadians and Americans go immigrate back and forth all the time, and yet there is little to no friction between the two. Why? Because we both speak English (except in Quebec, where they speak French.)

Jessica Alba, half mexican

Enrique Iglesias, part Hispanic and part Filipino

(and a bohunk, I wish I looked as good as him)

In the past, if you were mixed, you would have a difficult life. You weren't really part of either of your parents cultures, yet part of both. It could be hard, and most had to decide to identify with one or the other. They were called mongrels and worse. This is why that idiot judge in Louisiana would not allow interracial marriages, he feared that the children born of these marriages would have a hard life. Times have changed though. I can't tell you how many half black, half white kids I have seen here in my hometown USA, or how many half white, half Asian kids I saw while I was in Asia. Sadly though, being half black and half Asian can cause some problems, at least in Asia. Many of these children have tough times. I have read several books detailing the lives of half Vietnamese kids still in Vietnam and while it was tough on the half white kids, it seemed even tougher for the half black kids. I have also read about some half Korean and half black kids and some half Japanese and half black kids, and many had a tough time. I think they can be rather attractive though. The boy I would like to adopt is quite handsome, though I will admit he favors his Korean mother considerably. He has his fathers nose, a darker skin tone and thicker curly hair than a normal Korean, but he has smooth skin, Asian eyes and prominant cheek bones, like a Korean. I think he is just perfect.

Will Demps, half Asian and half black football player

half black and half asian boy with his father, the boy is very handsome

Rae Dawn Chong, part white, part black and part Chinese actress.

(Poltergiest: The Legacy)

Dwayne Johnson "The Rock," half black and half Samoan,

here showing off his Samoan heritage with a Samoan tattoo

Historically, there is one group of people that have mixed considerably over time, to became a race of sorts. That would be Indians (from India, if I meant the other kind of Indians from the Americas, then I would have said American Indians, Native Americans, or First Nations peoples.) Indians started out as a very dark skinned group of people, which you can still see in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Then a couple thousand years ago, the Indo-Europeans, with very light skin and features came and settled in India, intermarrying with the people there and creating the varied skin tones and features they have there today. That is why some Indians are very light skinned and some are very dark skinned.

Being mixed is not always a bad thing to some peoples. While we lived in Korea, most people assumed my son was half Korean, and he got treated better as a half Korean than he did as an abandoned child (Koreans are weird about that kind of thing, they blame orphaned and abandoned children for what happened to them.) In fact, being half Korean is a good thing for some actors and models, as Koreans like the more western look to their faces. Well, as least half white and half Korean. This is not just in Korea, but also in Japan, where people have been intermarrying with whites and to a lesser degree blacks since WWII. Vietnam, since the Vietnam War, as well as Thailand, and of course Korea since the Korean war.

Dennis Heney, a half Korean and half white model and actor

(X-Men: Last stand and many Korean soap operas)

Devin Aoki, a half Japanese and half white actress

(D.O.A and 2Fast 2Furious)

Yu Darvish, half Japanese and half Iranian baseball player

Vietnamese mother with her 2 sons, one is half black and the other is half white. I think whenever people harp on me for raising children of different ethnicities together as siblings, as if it is a bad thing, I will refer them to this picture. It is a natural thing to have siblings of different ethnicities sometimes, so there is nothing wrong with adopting different children and raising them together.

Nowadays many people think that having some mix to your ancestry makes you look more attractive or a little exotic. Many so called Black actors and actresses are in actuality mixed with half and or some other recent percentage of another race. Many other American actors and models have some mix or other in their recent ancestry, giving them unique looks.

Lou Diamond Phillips, part Filipino and a lot more ethnicities actor

(La Bamba, Young Guns, The Big Hit, etc...)

Wentworth Miller, multiple mixed blood actor

(Prison Break, Dinotopia)

Tia Carrare, mixed Asian actress

(Relic Hunter, Wayne's World, True Lies, Kull the Conqueror, etc...)

Keanu Reeves, part Asian and Hawaiian actor

I know of almost no people of mixed race in cartoons for mixed race kids to epathize with and have as role models. The only half black and half white character I know of is Zak Saturday of the Secret Saturdays, whose father is black and mother is white. His race never seems to be mentioned, and that is a good thing, as it shows it is not as important as the person inside already.

Mixed children are the future. As the world gets smaller and smaller, the people are getting more and more mixed together. Eventually we will be mostly mixed, a lot like Brazil is now. Then our ideas of what is white and black and everything else will have to change, like Brazil again, where what race you are is not dependent on what race you are born to, but what color your skin is. I don't actually agree with that, as I said before, race does not really exist, we are all the human race with the same DNA, but it is better than what we have now.

Brothers in Rio, one is considered to be white and the other black.

I love the white brothers hair by the way, blonde with thick curls.

The future of the world(or at least America) is mixed.

Europe

2010-02-01T05:26:00.000-08:00

I will talk about Europe now, or I should say Eastern Europe. Western Europe is very modern and so it's own child welfare and adoption programs are well handled and the kids find homes quickly. You can adopt from there, but there are few, if any, kids available for foriegners.

These countries are: the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Sweden and Finland.

The pagan religions that was started in many of these countries are well known and used in America, Canada, Australia and other places. They include the the Asgardian gods, Olympic gods, Roman gods, Celtic gods, Gual/Romano-Celtic gods and Slavic gods, to name a few.

Everywhere in Europe has been historically pagan and the information as to what kind of pagan is easily found. European paganism is the most easily recognizable to us in America and Canada as we came from there. While most people now are Christian, there are a growing number of people returning to the old ways. If you adopt from Europe, you have a whole wealth of easily known history and lore to work with.

Americans and Canadians feel very comfortable with adoption from Europe. Many of our people are related to them or came from there. Since many of us are related, we like kids that look similar to us and so have been adopting from there for years. But then they learned how to take care of their orphaned, abandoned and needy children better, began adopting their own children more and so it became harder for us to adopt from there. There are still many children available for adoption, but in Eastern Europe only. These countries are finally starting to fix their systems too, or clam up and let the kids suffer over their embarrasment and stupidity (like Romania.)

A note of Gypsies: Gypsies, properly called Roma or Romani, live all over Eastern Europe. They originally came from India and immigrated over to Europe throughout the first millenium. Their name comes from a misconception that they were originally from Egypt, becoming slang "Gyptians," and later Gypsies. They have a wandering life style and used to go from town to town trading, exchanging tales and trying to wrangle as much money as they could. When countries formed their borders and later required paperwork to travel (as in passports and visas,) they became trapped and forced into a sedentary life. They do not like it, but have no choice. Many integrated into the societies they were trapped in, many others did not. The ones that did not are the ones we think of today. They tend to have olive skin and black hair. Because of their nonconformist ways and penchant for theivery they are reviled in the countries they live in. Consequently many of them have become very poor and so it is their children that end up available for adoption the most. Just remeber that while Americans tend to have a romantic idea of gypsies, they have different ideals from you and many won't bat an eye while robbing you.

Russia is the largest country in the world, at least size wise. It is on both Europe and Asia (though many people are now removing that old barrier, saying that the mountains that seperate Europe and Asia shouldn't really count as a continental barrier, using the name Eurasia now. Really, if mountains counted, then why isn't India a continent? Becuase, Europe wants to make sure they are their own little world, seperate from the rest. Puh-lease!) though it orinally started out just in the Europe side. When people think if Russians they think of the White russian peoples, which are the slavs, descended from the Vikings, whom they call Varangians, and they are the largest ethnic group. There are other peoples though. Russia is known the world over as the primary motivator of Communism, a philosophy which looks good on paper, but never actually works. With the end of Communism, the country was very poor and thousands of children were adopted by Americans and others and was the main source of adopted children for many years, with Korea and China as well. But this has changed now as they are trying to promote domestic adoption and keep the kids they have, sadly though, they still have too many kids than they can provide for and promoting domestic adoption takes time. To stave off foriegn adoption, they have raised the costs as well, making it one of the most expensive to adopt from, there has also been talk that the government has been purposly fudging the medical records, and sending over kids that are mentally unstable and in need of major treatment, or that the kids were severly mistreated in the orphanages there and came to America as mentally scarred. Despite this, if you have the money, then Russia is still an option.

Could you seriously say "No, I won't adopt you," to this kid? I thought not.

They are mostly Russian Orthodox Christian, but there are also Muslims, Jews and Buddhist there. It seems that the people in the city are one of these religions, but out in the country, many people still follow the old ways and are Slavic pagan, animists and Shamans. Some places mix it all together a lot like China does and is interesting.

The All Religions Temple in Kazan, a multicultural Russian city.

I like the onion domes in Russia, they are very beautiful.

Siberia has its own entry here, not because it is a break away state or anything like that, but because I feel it has it's own culture distinct from the rest of Russia and deserves its own entry. It is here that many peoples practice Shamanism and Animism and other pagan religions. It also holds the largest concentration of "aboriginal" (I don't know what else to call them) peoples of Russia. These are the people like the Yakut, Koryak, Chukchi, Ket and others. They are predominantly still animist and shamanistic and pagan. Many still live the old ways. These are the people that walked across the land bridge to America, the Bering strait, and are the relatives to the Eskimo(some of whom still live in Russia,) Inuit and other northern American native tribes. If it wasn't so darn cold, I think I would love to visit these people and listen to their shamans. Though if I can survive a winter in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia with a sweater and a jacket, then I should be fine up there, at least for the other parts of the year. Most of these peoples have a very Asian look to them, with some European features mixed in.

Siberian Shaman

Romania is famous as the home of the legendary Count Dracula, whose real name was Vlad Tepes Dracul. While many people see him as a monster (and he certainly was) the Romanian people see him as a cultural hero. Why? Becuase he was responsible for keeping the Muslim horde out of Europe. If not for him, they would have swept in and forcibly converted everyone, like they did in all the other places they went (and don't pretend like that isn't what happened, because your own records say that you did!) For a time Romania had many children adopted by Americans, but problems with paperwork and fraud crept in and so they shut it down. Sadly, many of the kids are institutionalized and are still there suffering as the government slowly tries to fix things. There lethargy though has cost all those kids a future, as it has gone on for too many years, having too many kids age out the possibility of adoption. Sadly this seems to happen all too much in 3rd world countries. It is working on being a 1st world country very hard, but until it finally fixes its child welfare system, it will remain third world.

Vlad Tepes Dracul, A.K.A. Dracula, and no, he was not really a vampire

The people originally were a Thracian group called Dacians, but were later conquered by the Romans, where they got there countries name (originally it was Dacia.) Later the Slavs came and settled there. This kinship with other Slavs led to it being so easily taken over by the USSR to became one of its communist satelite states. It was after the fall of communism that they became a poor 3rd world country. There are also many Gypsies there. In fact, when most people think of Romania, they think of Gypsies. I was in Romania a number of years ago and many Romanians hate the Gypsies, they go on and on at great length of how they steal everything are dirty and get away with everything and blah, blah, blah. I saw nothing wrong with the gypsies there, and actually all the ones I met where pretty poor. The only problem I really saw, was that they have their kids bombard you with begging. Rather than trying to work with the gypsies and their own personal cultures, which are now part of Romania, they keep trying to force them to be part of their culture. Its a game of give and take, and they don't want to give.

Bulgaria is country similar to Romania, with a similar history or Thracian, Roman and Slav cultures, then Communist Satelite state to the USSR. Though what is different is that an Asian group, named the Bulgars, moved in and took over during the Medieval age. They then took over much of the southern part of Eastern Europe and had an Empire, which later became known as the Second Byzantium. Later the Ottoman turks took over. With help from Romania, they were later able to rebuke the Ottomans and became a state. This interesting mix of different peoples and cultures shows in modern Bulgaria. Though when I was there is seemed the culture was decidedly slavic/balkan, the people themselves were very mediterranean looking. The largest ethnic groups are the Bulgars, Turks and Roma Gypsies. There are many gypsies there, just like in Romania. They probably entered Europe from here. The people are mostly Bulgarian Orthodox Christian or Muslim.

Roma children of Bulgaria

Bulgaria had many children adopted like Romania, but there are few happening now. I think that was because they were a Hague country and for a while America was not Hague, so we couldn't adopt from them. But America is a Hague country now and adoptions may pick up there again. The only annoyance I know of from there is that you have to do post placement reports for 2 years. I understand they want to make sure the adoption is working, but it is an annoyance.

Ukraine has a strong history tied with Russia, as the Varangian Vikings also settled the Ukraine area and controlled the lands that became the Ukraine, Russia(Western Russia) and Belarus. They have a strong Slavic culture and also ties to Poland. The Ukraine was heavily influenced and controlled by the USSR until it gained its independence in the 1990's. The Ukraine looks too similar to Russia for me to go on at length about their culture. One thing I will mention is that this country is where the beautifully decorated Pysanky eggs comes from. It is from here that the tradition of Easter eggs originated. They do beautiful work and I like to use their designs for my Beltane eggs.

The birthrate in the Ukraine has fallen dramatically and so they are worried about keeping the population up. This may hamper adoptions, and in fact the seem to be going very slowly. Though that has not stopped people from trying and many children are still getting adopted. You have to be married to adopt from here though, so no singles, like me, can adopt. They make you do the placement reports too, but are even worse than Bulgaria, in that you have to do it until the child turns 18. The problems I have with this are that it is rather intrusive in your life, is a constant reminder that your child was adopted and not your own and that you have to keep paying a social worker to come and do the reports, which is not cheap.

Moldova does allow child adoptions, but I see no statistics about it and no listing on the international adoption website. From what I can see, the adoption process is simple and takes 6-9 months after the child referral is made, which is about 4 months after you submit your dossier. I would guess that few kids are available for adoption, or that it was a Hague country and Americans couldn't adopt from there until recently, as to why there is limited information. It has a history similar to Romania, being Dacian, then Roman, then the Russians annexed it and ranamed it Bessarabia. Part of it became Romania, the other part remained an individual state and later gained independence in 1991. Many people question if the people in Moldova are ethnically Moldovan or Romanian. The people are mostly part of the Moldovan Orthodox Church (Russian Orthodox) and the Orthodox Church of Bassarabia (Romanian Orthodox.)

Belarus has suspended child adoption to foriegners while they rewrite their legistlation. It has been like this for several years though, so they need to finish it. Apparently they prefer their kids to be institutionalized rather than find loving homes. At least find homes for the kids in your country if you don't want to let them be adopted out.

Poland is known mostly as the place where Nazi Germany began its bid to take over Europe (and the world) when they invaded in 1939, setting off WWII. The poles are a slavic branch of people and had a rather large kingdom controlling much of North Eastern Europe. Then it was erased from existance from constant battles with Russia, Sweden and the Ottoman Turks, and was broken into pieces and absorbed by Russia, Austria and Prussia. Later, Napolean reformed Poland, only to have it again broken up and half of it taken by Russia. Then after WWI, Woodrow Wilson, the American president, pushed to have Poland restored and the other Allies agreed. Poland was restored until the USSR seized it and it became a satellite state until it finally again regained its freedom in 1990. This country has been to hell and back, but it has survived. I don't understand why Russia wanted it so bad, and I don't know what reasons Woodrow Wilson had for restoring this nation. I also don't understand why there are so many polack jokes, as to me this says that you agree with Nazi Germany and with Communist Russia. The poles are usually fair skinned with light hair and eyes. For a while many polish children were adopted by Americans looking for other fair haired children (since it is supposed to be hard to find them in America, as they get snatched up right away. I personally don't care what my childs skin tone and hair color are,) but with the implementation of the Hague convention, adoption was halted for a while and is now back on track. The people are mostly Catholic, and they had a large Jewish polulation until WWII, which then shrunk considerably.

Lithuania is a slavic country. It was part of the Polish kingdom, then later part of Russia and then the USSR. It is now a small country in Eastern Europe afte gaining independence in 1991. (China should take note that many of the countries that Russia took over when it was Communist are now free with the fall of communism. The same thing will happen to them if they don't start allowing more freedom and individualism in the states they are brutally controlling.) They are a Hague convention country and this has stalled adoptions until recently. The only annoyance here is that singles have some problems adopting. The people are predominantly Roman Catholics, but a Lithuanian pagan movement has been started as they try to reclaim their old gods and the old ways. They have are called Romuva.

Latvia is another slavic county. Its 2 main indigenous ethnic groups are the Latvians and Livonians, though I don't know what the difference is. I don't know much about Latvia, other than that it was taken over by the USSR and became a satellite state until the 1990's when it regained its independence. Many people are Roman Catholic, Latvian Orthodox or Evangelical Lutherans. But, Latvia is also having a resurgence of its old ways and has its own brand of paganism called Dievturi (meaning Godskeepers.) Adoption here is fine except that they may require you to live in Latvia with your child for a period from a week up to 6 months, depending on what the court decides.

Estonia is yet another slavic country. I don't know much about it. I remember it mainly because of the movie I saw as a kid Encino Man, where they say that the Cro-magnum man they found was from Estonia and I had to look it up. Apparantly it was a kingdom that got taken over by the Swedes, Germans and Russians, becoming a satellite state to the USSR. It was during that time period that many Russians moved to Estonia where today they make up 25% of the population. The adoption program is open and running, having the same wait because of Americas lethargy to enact the Hague convention (which I personally hate because it removes private adoption for foriegners, which I did with my son in a non-Hague country.) A friend of a friend adopted from here a couple years ago. He was a single man and he adopted 5 boys, all brothers. I asked how he was able to handle that many kids at once and he said the oldest 2 boys really help out with the other 3 boys. I don't know how he was able to afford it, but many times they discount the cost when you adopt siblings, so that may have helped a lot.

Serbia is known for the Bosnian War, which was a civil war between Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia which was just a whole rediculous affair that cost too many lives. Later the same thing seemed to happen again, but with ethnic Albanians forming the Kosovo Liberation army, trying to divide the already small nation of Serbia into an even smaller one. Why can't these Europeans just get along and stop trying to make smaller and smaller countries. As far as I know Serbia allows adoptions, but prefers enthic Serbians first (wouldn't we all prefer our own people first, duh!) and very few kids seem to be adopted. This may be that it is such a violent and wartorn area all the time that people are afraid to go there. But it may also be that there are no adoption agencies there to do all the work and few people like to do private adoptions as it takes more time and paperwork, at least that is what the adoption agencies would like you to think. When I did my sons private adoption, I didn't have to fill out that much paperwork, actually less than an adoption agency because I didn't have to fill out their application! The adoption itself was finished within a month. But I will concede that I did already know my son and he was living with me in foster care for a month already and that because I did a private adoption from his parents, I had to wait 2 years before I could get his American visa. This is only if you adopt a child from 2 parents though. If the child is an orphan or only has one parent (legally recorded as one either with no known father or from one parent unable to be found or from death) then you shouldn't have a problem getting them the visa. Check with the embassy at all times though, and then check again because they make mistakes...a lot.

Bosnia-Herzegovina is known for the recent battles and attempts at ethnic cleansing there. Since all these people are actually related, ethnic cleansing is not a term I would use, it was a holy war, plain and simple. Historically the people have been Celtic, Slavic and Roman at one time or another, mixing together. Being so close to the middle east has had strong influences on them and so almost half the people there are muslim. The other 2 main religions are Serb Orthodox and Roman Orthodox Christian religions. I would guess that because most of the people are muslim, that they have a problem with adoption (I don't know why muslims have such a problem with adoption, as their prophet was adopted,) since very few children get adopted. It is stated on the old US intercountry adoption website (since taken down) that they really on allow adoption "if the adoption is in the best interest of the child and if the child cannot be adopted in Bosnia and Herzegovina.” I can't really say anything bad about that, as they are just trying to keep their children, except what do they constitute as not able to be adopted by a native Bosnian. Seriously, you know they let the kids languish there forever before they finally say "okay, you can go live with a family."

Hungary is an interesting place. I liked it when I visited Budapest years ago. It was so laid back and the people were friendly and attractive. I wish I could have stayed longer to really get a good feel for the culture, but sadly I was only there for a short time. It has a whole long history and I would have left this on the Eastern European list because of its history except that it was a communist country and as such it had a period of being poor after the fall of communism, leaving many children available for adoption. It seems to have fared better than some of the other former communist countries though, and so there are few children available for adoption, as far as I know at least. If you adopt from there, there are more boys than girls available and you will have to stay in country for 3-6 weeks. Doesn't sound too bad to me. Because it is not one of the popular program countries, it should also be cheaper. I know it is sad that cost is a factor, but it would be a factor if you were deciding on having more kids anyways. Since it has a long and interesting history, I won't post it here, look it up on your own. Though I will say that I find the wars with the Ottoman turks interesting to read. Thank you for keeping the muslim horde from forcing themselves upon/converting Europe!!! Most people are Catholics or some other form of Christian there, and there is a large group of jews. There is also a growing number of pagans in Hungary following Taltos, a kind of Hungarian shamanism, and a kind of Celtic brand of paganism. There are also many gypsies living in Hungary, like many other Eastern European countries and they have their own brand of spirituality.

Roma children on Hungary

Slovakia has very few adoptions done

Macedonia, the birthplace of Alexander the Great. They don't have too many kids available for adoption.

Croatia has very few children available for adoption.

Slovenia has too many of its own people on waiting lists to adopt, so there aren't enough kids available.

Albania does allow adoptions but it is tightly controlled and is therefore hard to do. More kids get adopted from Albania than the above last 4 countries, but still very few. Albania is mostly nonreligious it seems, at about half the population, with the other half equally divided between muslims and christians(both Orthodox and Catholic.) Though different census' say different things.

Czech Republic has few kids available for adoption.

I would like to go on at length about the pagan religions in these areas, but I think I will save that for later blog entries.

Asia part 2

2010-01-13T06:02:00.000-08:00

Last time I talked about East Asia, which is predominantly pagan, hindu and buddhist (the latter both of which can be qualified as pagan.) Now I will talk about West Asia, which is now predominantly Muslim. I will admit now, that I have no love for Islam. Not just because of the countless acts of terror that has been done in its name across the world, but also for the way they treat their women, gays and pagans. It is a very intolerant religion and that makes me intolerant of them. The religion started out antagonistic, with their prophet himself going to war against the people that wanted to keep their own faith and slaughtering those that did not listen to him. This, from what is called a religion of peace.

Having said that, I will say that I do like the art that has been produced by them over the centuries, though this is more of the Arabic culture than a religious group. When you say you are muslim, it is more like saying you have adopted the culture and ways of the Arabs, and that is a truth.

I will also say that I do not judge individuals, so I have muslim friends and I have no problems with them. I am interested in Arab CULTURE so I listen to the things they say with an open ear, but for the most part, the muslims I know are just normal Americans and Canadians.

If you are pagan and you plan on adopting from a country that is mostly Muslim, then research the religion that used to be there. Also look at the pagan people still living in Pakistan, the Kalasha, for inspiration. I have heard of a small, but growing, number of Muslims have started to reclaim the old ways. I even saw that there is a teenage boy in Pakistan that has become a full wiccan and is trying to teach people about his religion there. So far, he is safe, but I am terrified for him. This is all because of knowledge and the world opening up. Before, they did not have the information available, only able to do what the mulah told them, but now with the internet, they have everything available before them. Also, the muslim world is being dragged into the 21st century kicking and screaming (and bombing and jihading) all the way.

Islamic laws do not allow adoption, but a form of guardianship. This is usually not compatible for western laws, so it is hard or impossible to adopt from these countries. I would suggest you look elsewhere in the world for your new family. I just wish that if they do not allow adoption then they seriously institute a better system for the children, so they don't wind up on the streets like in Afghanistan, Egypt, Morocco, etc...As they are Muslim (or Christian,) I strongly suggest you shy away from adopting from any of these countries. It's wrong for the Muslims and Christians to forcibly convert people, so it would be wrong for you to forcibly convert the kids. But I know most pagans are open to other religions and teach their kids about them so that they can choose, something unheard of in other religions. I will leave with this one last note, a pagan can be a Christian (yes, there are Christian Wiccans, using many of the old ideas,) but Islam is violently against any other religion, so I have heard of no fusings with other religions(except the Sikhs of India,) especially paganism, which is open and empowering to women, and open and respectful to gays

It is impossible to adopt from the following countries, no matter who you are: Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. Iran as well.

Muslim women wearing burqas

Iran and America are enemies right now, and have been since the Islamic revolution there in the 70's. Though it is really that the paranoid and way too conservative (even more conservative than the republican party, if that is possible) government there and the American government are the enemies, not the people of those countries. Iran used to the Persian Empire, and was a grande old place. It is full of history and art and ideas. It is also the home of Zoroastrianism, which started out as a pagan religion, but slowly become more monotheistic, well duotheistic. Some call it the first montheistic religion, but they are full of horse manure. Their beliefs helped shape the western worlds idea of dark and light powers. But, by the same token, they themselves were influenced and that is what caused them to become "montheists." Zoroastrianism also gave the world Mithras, whose cult came to Rome and very much inspired the Christian rituals and mythos. It is sad that Iran is so closed off, as their history is so entwined with the west, and they are a beautiful people.

Persian art

Persian warrior women

Iraq is still a battlefield and a source of much antagonism in the Islamic world against the west, but the war is slowly ending and the country has been trying to build itself back up, if the damn terrorists from other Muslim countries would just leave them alone and let them rebuild, instead of making a pointless and genocidal stand against America and the Western World. There are Christians in Iraq, as well as some other groups that are not muslim, and they allow adoption. I do know of an American soldier that adopted a disabled boy and got him back to America just fine. But, most governments will not be of any help in the adoption right now, and will be distrustful of any requests for visas. Iraq is home to the great pagan civilzations of the Babylonians, Sumerians and the rest of Mesopotamian. It is from them that we got such great deities as Tiamat, Apsu, Marduk, Anu, Enki, etc, as well as the lammasu(sphinx like protector spirits) and girtiblullu(scropion centaurs.) It is also home of the Yazidi, also known as the Peacock Worshippers, whom some people call devil worshippers for their differing views on who and what the "Devil" is. This religion seems to be a fusion of pagan ideas with Islam.

Afghanistan is still at war, and will probably remain so for a few more years, if there is ever an end to it. Every angry muslim in the world, seems to be coming out of the woodwork and joining the terrorists there or in Iraq to keep these 2 countries from ever getting on with their lives, regardless of all the harm it is doing to the people and the thousands of orphans it has created. Afghanistan is a muslim country and does not formally allow adoption, but I have heard of people still doing it here and there. I will see if I can those reports again. Afghanistan has a great history, and has been pagan, Zoroastrian and Buddhist, before the Arab horde spread its muslim message. It became famous for the gigantic statues of buddha carved into the mountains, that were blown up by the Taliban as if offended them. This is another bone to pick with Muslims (as well as Christians) destroying fabulous wonders of the world. They could easily have been listed as one of the wonders of the world, right next to the sphinx. It was also the home of Roxana, the first wife of Alexander the great, and mother of his only child.

Giant Buddha

Jordan only allows Muslims to adopt from there, one of the few Muslim countries to allow any adoption at all.

Yemen does not allow adoptions, however, there are Christians there, and they allow adoption, but to keep the peace it seems they have diven up many things to keep in line with Muslim law, and so I have heard of no adoptions from there of late.

Israel is a hebrew nation, with some Christians and Muslims (the Palestinians) living there. Israel and Jews have a long history of mixing with the pagans, and many time in their history, they were pagan or married pagans or went back and forth, from pagan to Jew to pagan back to Jew. Their primary pagan gods were the Ba'al (it means lord, and different gods held this title, but usually when you hear of Ba'al, it refers to the god Hadad, the god of the sky and storms and rain, thunder and lightning) and the goddess Asherai, the earth and nature goddess. Ba'al was represented as a stone slab altar and Asherai as a tree, usually next to the altar. I have heard of several Jewish wiccans using these two divinities still. It you are Israeli, then you can adopt from Isreal, though the children there usually stay with family already there. If you are not Israeli, then good luck, because it will be almost impossible, almost.

Israeli flag

Ba'al Hadad

Egypt is listed here, even though it is in Africa, as I feel they are more middle eastern in culture and especially in history, sharing more in common with Mesopotamia, India, Greece and Rome than anything in Africa. Egypt is a Muslim country, with a small Christian minority. Egypt is one of the mother lands for pagans, giving us a huge number of gods and goddesses, and magic and amulets and other things we use. Sadly, the Arab horde took over here centuries ago, forcing everyone to convert to Islam and so it has remained today (they still try to force the remaining Christians to convert.) I side with the Christians on this, as they are the Coptic Christians, a mystical brand of Christian that blended some of the old Egyptian ways with the Christian religion. You can adopt in Egypt, but it is very diffucult and can take a long time to finish, it ever, as the adoption is handled by the lower courts, that is the Islamic family court. You won't be able to adopt a Muslim child, as they seem to be left on the streets to fend for themselves if no family is found for them (see also Morocco, posted later.) Christian children can be adopted though. I would seriously adopt from Egypt, if I had the time, money and patience, as I feel very comfortable with the gods of Egypt. But, I would have to make sure to keep up my new childs Coptic Christian traditions as well and let him/her choose what he wants to be when older and not be upset if they choose the Christian one.

Great Spinx and Pyramids

Ancient Eygptian Gods and Goddesses

Turkey is the gateway to Asia for Europe (though I would say Russia is, as it's on both continents and has both European and Asian cultures intermingling.) It is a Muslim country, but it is also the most liberal Muslim country in the world, and the people keep having to fight to keep it that way. They love their freedom and don't want to be like the rest of the Islamic world, they are even pretty much part of the E.U. Their country is what is left of the Ottoman Empire, and they got their name from their people, the Turkic people. They have a strong history with the western world, as well as the Asian world, many of whom are Turkic peoples (the Uzbeks, Kygyz, Kazakhs and Mongols.) The bird turkey, was named after the country when the people thought it looked like a bird from there (I think they thought it was the peacock, boy where they confused.) I visited Turkey a number of years ago and the people were very nice, friendly and open. They even have a gay community there. Turkey allows adoptions, but you need to live in Turkey with the child for 1 year, before the adoption is finalized. There are a lot of English teaching jobs there, and they pay descent wages, so get your TEFL or whatever they require. The land of Turkey has been home to Greeks, such as the Trojans, and Persians, such as Xerxes and Darius. It is from there that several Asian divinities crept into Greece and Rome, such as Adonis and Cybele. Apollo, the Greek god, is said to have even come from here, as is Artemis. Also some Yazidi (see Iraq above) live here.

Turkish Flag

Blue Mosque
Artemis of Epheseus, the mother of all animals, the forebear of the Greek Artemis

Armenia is a Christian country, and is considered to be the first to adopt it as a state relgion. There are also a small number of muslims there. They allow adoption, but looking on the adoption state website, I see no numbers of how many kids were adopted from there, usually meaning very few, if any. As it is a Christian country, I would shy away from adoption here as well, but I will note that there are Greeks and Assyrians (from ancient Mesopotamia) living there, and they are historically pagan. Also, some Yazidi (see Iraq above) live here.

Azerbaijan is a muslim country, with 95% of its people. Despite this, it is a free country, so you can practice what you want, and many of the people there are Muslim in name only and do not practice it, just like many Americans are Christian in name only, but don't actually do anything to be Christian. Though there have been instances of religious presicution, it seems centered on the Jehovahs Witnesses, need I say more...

They allow adoption, but the U.S. government has stated there are serious difficulties there now and has gone so far as to remove them from the adoption state website, so it's up to you if you want to try.

Georgia always makes me think of the American state with the same name, though I know it is a lot like Russia and Armenia. The people there are mostly Christian, with the second largest group muslims (at around 10% of the people.) While they are generally open and religious freedom is the law, there have been threats against non-traditional religious groups (though the largest of these and the one that gets the majority of threats is, again, the Jehovahs Witnesses, man they have it bad in every country, but they don't give up, I would feel sorry for them, if only they would stop harassing me to convert.) There are few kids adopted from Georgia, I hope this is because the kids are finding good homes in their own country.

Tajikistan is a Muslim country, with strong leanings toward Islamic laws. They allow adoption, but very few kids get adopted, as while it is legal, they don't like it. If you try from here, be careful.

Turkmenistan is a Muslim country, though it is still repairing itself from the damage of USSR communism, so many people are Muslim in name only. There is a strong push to make Islam a lot stronger in this country and those voices are being aided by other Muslim nations. Adoption is allowed, though few children have been adopted probably for the same reasons as it's neighbor Tajikistan.

The last 3 countries I am listing here are basically safe and friendly countries that are mostly open to adoption. Of all the ones listed here, these 3 are worth the frustration of adoption internationally, though the religious aspect reamains the same.

Uzbekistan is a very interesting country with an interesting culture that has a mix if Persian, European and Asian in it. It is one of the few places I still want to visit and will hopefully get to in a few years (India, Peru and Egypt are the others.) The people are mostly Muslim, but there are also a lot of fused beliefs here from all over Asia and the middle east, making it the only less than montheistic Muslim group I know of. They also have a large group of Russian Orthodox Christians and Jews there. Unfortunatly, even though they have been rather protected from Islamic fundamentalism/terrorism/extremism, it is starting to creep in. Who knows how long it will be before they start terrorizing the people there. The people here have a mix of Turkic, Asian and Caucasian features, making them very attractive people. They have had some problems with adoption, but it seems to be okay.

Kyrgystan is mostly Muslim, with the second highest majority being Christian. There are still some who practice animism and buddhism, though many have also fused these beliefs together with Islam or Christianity. Sadly, as with all places that Muslims are a majority, they are slowly becoming a Muslim nation, passing laws making it harder for the other religions to practice and outlawing proselytism. The fact that there are pagans here, or at least people that practice pagan ideas here, makes this a promising country to adpopt from if you are pagan.

They also have an anti-gay adoption law, and you have to sign a form promising that you are not gay, if you adopt. Though, China and other countries have this as well. It's a piece of paper, so you shouldn't worry about it, just don't be a flaming queen(which is actually such a small minority of the gay population, that seems to get all the attention though) if you adopt from one of those countries and you should be fine.

Kazakhstan, one of the biggest of these countries, and the one that has another group of very interesting people. The main religion is Islam, but many people are very secular and while it is the main religion, it has fewer people than the other countries mentioned above (except Armenia, Georgia and Israel.) The rest are Russian Orthodox and Catholic Christians. Now I lived in Mongolia for a while and met several Kazakh people, and all the ones I met and heard of there were Buddhist or Shamanistic/Animists, so I know that there are many in Kazakhstan too, but for some reason they are barely mentioned. It could be that many of them moved to Mongolia or Russia for some reason. Or maybe it is the country people that are still following the old ways, and it may be hard to survey them all or the government just doesn't care about the country folk. Another note about the Kazaks, they are famous for training and using Eagles. When I think of a Kazak, I think of the amazing Eagle Hunters. The people of Kazakhstan are a mix of Caucasian, Turkic and Asian, with many looking either very Caucasian or very Asian. All the ones I met were very nice and friendly and great. This is one of the countries I will consider adopting from, though it and Kyrgystan are both hard for singles to adopt from (it's not illegal, the people just don't understand how modern Americans can be single parents, so it makes it harder.)

Kazak shaman

Kazak eagle trainer, they start young, see the handsome features they have

Kazak Eagle Hunter

As I said above, since these are mostly Muslim countries, I would not try to adopt from them, except for the 3 mentioned above. In the end, the decision is always yours, but save yourself the headache and the heartache.

Next I will go into Eastern Europe.

Asia

2010-01-10T19:25:00.000-08:00

I will start with Asia, more specifically East Asia. It would have to have the most pagans on the planet now, since it also has most of the worlds population. When I mention adoption below, I mean adoption to foreigners and do this from an American perspective, as I am American and know the American laws and rules.

Native religions found in Asia include Toaism, Shintoism, Shamanism, local Folk Religions(like in China), Caodaoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhs and myriad lesser know religions. Islam, being imported and later forced upon them by the Arabs, is not native. Christian missionaries abound as well, in their fervent bid to take over the world, sorry, to save the world.

China is where a large group of children are adopted from, mostly girls, but not all. The people of China are predominantly Taoist, Buddhist and Folk religion followers. For the most part they mix it all together, a spiritual path which I have adopted and feel most comfortable with. Though China is communist, they still allow a little faith these days. China has been changing the rules a lot lately, trying to limit the number of children adopted out of the country. They have long waiting lists now, so it may be best to look elsewhere.

Do I need to even mention this is the Great Wall?

Buddha, Confucius and Lao Tzu

Studious son

Tibet is a part of China, though I personally believe that it should be free, that won't change the fact that China has an iron grip on it and won't let it go anytime soon. Many people feel the plight of the Tibetans and the most famous buddhist in the world (no, not Richard Gere) the Dalai Lama. China usually does not allow you to choose which state you can adopt from, but it never hurts to ask. There are many Tibetan orphans and lost children living in India, where you can request a state, so I would try there, it's less costly than China anyways, so save your money and spoil your kid when you get him home. Tibet has a rich culture with art and religion, and it should be maintained.

Tibetan village girl

Buddha boy

Boy and mother

Tibetan Mandala

Hong Kong does allow adoption, but I was told they really only do special needs adoption to foreigners. I tried to adopt from them while I was living in Korea, but they told me I needed to live in my home country to do it. As they were being nice and honest, I can't say anything bad. I will keep them in mind when I am ready to adopt again at the end of the year or beginning of next year. Hong Kong is the same as China in regards to religion, though there are more Christians there thanks to being owned and run by Britian for 100 years.

Taiwan has become a new option for adoption, as China slows down and adds more rules, and as such, it is hard to adopt from simply because they are overwhelmed with applications. When I lived in Taiwan, I saw that many private adoptions have been taken over by the Evangelicals and Catholics. I applied to adopt once and the worker told me that she would not work with me because I was not a "True Believer." This infuriated me, as the children they are offering for adoption are not even Christians, the mothers just use them in the hopes of getting their children a better life in America and Canada.

A temple that was near my apartment in Taiwan, I think it was to Matsu, the goddess of the ocean and sailors

Korea is another place that has had many children adopted. I will note that many people who live in the cities are Christian, while many of the people that live out in the rural areas have remained buddhist, shamanistic and have a religion similar to Shintoism. When Japan took over and forced their society and religion onto Korea, many Koreans turned away from the old religion when they were freed, to distance themselves from the Japanese. They embraced the religion of the people that helped them gain their freedom, the Americans, who were predominantly Christian. The three adoption agencies that work in Korea are Christian, but that does not mean the children are. Korea was one of the first countries that America began adopting from. This started from all the half Korean children left by soldiers after the Korean war (the bastards, I wish I could go back in time and force them to make child support payments to their mothers so that they could have kept them.) It has been one of the major countries for international adoption to America since the war. They have finally wised up and are trying to get more people to adopt domestically and are slowing down their adoption program with the intention to stop in a couple of years. If this was working I would agree with them, but I lived there and saw that many of those kids WERE NOT getting adopted. Of all the kids that were adopted at the orphanage I volunteered at for 4 years, only one was a domestic adoption by a Korean family. All the others were by Americans. Also, there are those Boystowns and Girlstowns, where the Catholic church will not allow adoption and keep the kids there. From what I saw, they were pretty much buying the children, as another way to convert people to Christianity. You don't believe me? I was there! I volunteered there for over a year.

My son is Korean. I lived in Korea for a number of years and volunteered at an orphanage there, where I met him. Groups of Christians would visit the orphanage to volunteer, trying to convert the kids to Christianity. The owner of the orphanage said she was Christian, but as she showed no interest or knowledge of it, I think she just said that so those people would leave her alone. I was very disgusted by those volunteers as they kept telling the children that Buddha was the devil and so all Buddhists were devil worshippers. My son was very angry when he learned that Buddha is in fact NOT the devil, and so distrusts Christians now. It doesn't matter what country they are in, Christians are mean, nasty, rude and cruel.

Giant Golden Buddhas from the Jogyesi temple, Seoul, I took my son here several times, but because of what those Christians told him, he resisted going, then he finally did go and saw that Buddha is not the devil! I also took my foster son, but as his family was buddhist, he enjoyed it and bowed before the Buddha

Japan is Buddhist and Shinto. The Ainu people(the original inhabitants of Japan, the others are from Korean and Chinese blood, or mixed with the Ainu) also still have their shamanic bear cult. You can adopt from Japan, but it takes time and patience as most of the kids in the childrens homes(i.e. orhanages) there can't be adopted as their families would rather them stay there than find a home with strangers. I have only heard of people that already live in Japan, and have done so for several years, getting to adopt, as the laws can be diffucult to navigate through. I did find one place that would let me adopt as a single man living in America, but as I am not ready to adopt again, I haven't tried it yet. I have to say, that out of all the countries I have visited, I liked Japan the best, once I got over the fantasies I had about it. Sadly it is not like it is in the Animes, but I still really enjoyed it and the people and the temples. The people were very nice and not once did anyone question me about whether or not that Asian boy was my son (which they did in Mongolia and Bali and Taiwan, though most people in Taiwan also assumed he was my son, so it wasn't as bad as the others.)

Vietnam is currently closed to adoption, but this seems to happen every other year and is expected to open again within a year. Vietnam is mostly Buddhist and has Caodaism, a synchronist religion. When the french took over they brought Catholic missionaries with them, and so Catholicism is the 2nd largest religion in Vietnam. They also have their own native folk beliefs. This is a country I hope to adopt from next, as I feel really connected to them somehow. Vietnam is also one of the few countries that allows single men to adopt (like me.) Vietnam has more orphans and street kids than it knows what to do with, they really need help. Also there are still many half American, half French, mixed all together kids there, that are having kids and can't make it because they are considered inferior to a full blooded Vietnamese. If anything, it inspires a patiotic duty to get our kids and their kids back. Too bad the government fudged that up so bad, waiting to long to get the kids here, then not letting a lot of kids in because of lack of documentation, just look at their damn faces, even if they are half French, who the hell cares, don't leave them there to suffer!!!

Caodao church

Caodao bishop

Laos does not really do adoptions. They don't have any programs for it. You can adopt from there, but it will be difficult and I think you will have the most problems with the embassy, proving that they child is legally adopted and that the forms you have are legit, as documents are frequently forged or fudged there. They are buddhist and have a folk religion.

Pha That Luang stupa

Cambodia is cut off from adoptions right now and has been for years, though this is Americas doing, not Cambodias. I helped a friend do a private adoption there of twin boys, but he is still waiting to get their immigrant visas. Luckily he has been living abroad in China for several years, and had no plans to move back home for several more years, so he has time to wait. They are buddhist. NEW: Cambodia will allow international adoptions by March 2011!!! Here is the news article:http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2010033034500/National-news/foreign-adoptions-by-2011.html

Could you resist saying no to him? You can't can you.

The Khmer had a great civilization in Cambodia

Thailand is buddhist and native folk religion. I was told 2 years ago that you had to be married for 3 years before you could adopt from there, but looking at the US adoption government website, it says you can be single. That pisses me off if they changed that rule now, as I was totally ready to adopt again when I was in Korea and had a good job with a good wage, not know that I am in economically depressed central Florida. If it has changed for real and Vietnam is not open yet when I am ready to adopt again, then I will try Thailand. I think that the kids and Thailand need help, there are far too many sexual predators there and the kids need to get off the street and away from the pornographers and pedophiles.

Kid Kickboxers

Kid Monks

Singapore does not do adoption, as they don't have enough kids available even for themselves.

Mongolia does do adoption, but they don't do that much. I am rather pissed off at them, as I lived there for almost half a year trying to adopt, was told by almost everyone there that I could adopt and then got screwed as they told me that single men can't adopt. There are few orphans available for adoption, which is all that America, in all it's idiocy, will give visa approval for. There are many street children in desperate need of homes, but to adopt them you need to live in Mongolia for 6 months to fulfill Mongolias' rules, then wait 6 months to a year to do the adoption, then wait for another 2 years with your new child to fulfill Americas visa requirments. I was willing to go through all that pain, but they screwed me over. This is why you need to be careful when adopting from countries that don't have established agencies or good records. They are Tibetan Buddhist by the way, though the Christian missionaries are having a field day there, too many mormons trying to convert eveyone!

"Manhole kids" kids that live in the sewers under the streets to stay warm. They are all too common in Ulaanbaatar.

Myanmar(Burma) does not do adoption.

Bangladesh, you have to be Bangladeshi to adopt from there. They are Buddhist, Hindu and have a strong Muslim majority which also seem to make the laws of the country, hence, not really allowing adoption, but guardianship (also see India below.)

India has many children in need of homes. People who are ethnically Indian get first pick of the kids, but this makes sense to keeps kids with their own people if they can. But, since India has a quarter of the worlds population, there are just too many kids to find homes for, so there will be no problems finding a child that needs your love. India is home to Hinduism and Sikhism. It is also claiming to be the home of Buddhism, but so does Bangladesh. There are also a large number of Muslims in India, but many were forcibly relocated to Pakistan. Also, there are far too many Christian missionaries there. The Hindus are fighting back, and while I share no love for missionaries, the Hindus are fighting back with extreme violence which horrible, and shameful. They do not do full adoptions there, they give you guardianship to take the child back to your home country and complete the adoption there. But if I understand the laws correctly, if you are Hindu, Buddhist or Sikh, then you should be able to complete an adoption there. Also there is the law that says to adopt you, or your spouse, must be 30 years old or older.

Sikh boy

Hindu holy men

Sri Lanka is a mostly Buddhist country. It can take up to a year to be matched to a child, and then you still have to wait after that to complete the adoption.

Pakistan is one of the few Muslim countries that allows adoption. Though, you have to be Muslim and you or your spouse has to be of Pakistani nationality. There are some Christians in Pakistan, and so if you are Christian (what are you doing reading this blog then) you can adopt a Christian child. Sorry, no other people can. That is sad, as there is a group of people in Pakistan that are a 2000 years old, or more, pagan civilization, called the Kalasha. I will try to find out if they are allowed to be adopted by other pagans, or at least non Muslims, but with muslim views on pagans being usually extremely violent, I doubt it.

A Kalasha family, a people thought to be left from Alexander the Greats army. Notive the light skin tone, some are even blond haired and blue eyed.

Nepal does adoptions, though I have heard it goes slowly. They have laws that say you have to be married for at least 4 years, though a single woman over 35 can adopt, the married couple must be 30 years or older. No single men can adopt. They are buddhist and have their own folk traditions, with a mixing of some hinduism, too.

Bhutan is a small country in the Himalayas next to Tibet. They allow adoption, but I know of few adoptions done there. As I said, it is a small country. The only restriction I see is that you need to be married. I have also read in reports that most domestic adoption does not take place legally. Many of the people there are from the Tibetan ethnic branch and so they share a similar culture and religion (Buddhist.) Since I love Tibetan culture, I have a love for Bhutanese culture. Sadly there are issues with travel to Bhutan by foriegners, such as a possible limit to tourist visas and a high cost of $200 a day to stay in the country. This is done to protect their culture from outside influences.

Malaysia is in the souther part of Asia, consisting of several large and small islands, with beaches and tropical forests, making it a paradise. It has an interesting mix of Asian peoples. Islam is the majority religion there, though there are also Buddhists, Hindus, Animists, Taoists, Folk Religionists and Christians there. Malaysia would be a nice country to adopt from, but, they require you to live there for 2 years before the adoption and up to 2 years after the adoption. Leading to very few children getting adopted. Also, you can only adopt a non-muslim child, which is fine, though I do hope that all these kids are finding homes, especially the muslim ones, since they can't be adopted.

Indonesia has the most muslims in the world. As such, while it is not an Islamic state, they control much of the political power and have caused problems, such as the Bali Night Club bombings a few years ago, and currently there is a fuss because some Christians are using the word Allah as the name of God, so there have been church attacks, because god forbid anyone to use the Arab word for God but the Muslims. Arab traders "influenced" the people to become Muslim over several hundred years. But there are a large number of Buddhists (mostly enthnic Chinese) and Hindus(the Balinese, though they have their own take on Hinduism.) There are also some Christians and a few followers of the old ways. To adopt in Indonesia, like Malaysia, you need to live there for 2 years, and also, you can only adopt a child that is the same religion as you. I was also told that you have to tell the court you believe in God/Allah. If you are Buddhist, Hindu or Animist, then this is a rather nasty thing to do, but as I said, this is a majority Muslim nation.

Of all the places here, I liked Bali the best. The people are very devoted and open and spiritual, leaving offerings daily. I have to say that if I was able to adopt from Indonesia, I would try to do it from Bali.

Philippines has a very interesting history, and a very interesting people, many are mixed ethnically between native Tagolog(native), Chinese, Spanish and American. They were part of America before being granted independence and so share in part of the culture. Many children are adopted from the Philippines by Americans. The Spanish owned the Philippines prior to the Spanish-American war, and the missionaries went crazy, forcibly converting most of the people, so today 90-95% of the people are Christian. There are a few Muslims there (which have caused terror, even with their smaller population) and a few pockets of the old animistic religion who worship the diwatas, which comes from the same Sanskrit root word as the english deity. With pagans there, it would be just fine to adopt. Most of the kids are from poor families that have not officially become Christian, even though the adoption agencies ask that you be a Christian with strong morals, I would feel just fine lieing through my teeth. I have strong morals, and my family is Christian, so good enough. There are too many kids in the world in need of good homes and looking at the kids living on the filthy streets here makes me worry that they care more about converting everyone than the childrens health and futures.

Philippine street, and this is considered clean!

I will cover the rest of Asia next time.

Why?

2009-12-14T12:09:00.000-08:00

This was created to help pagans adopt children. It was also created as a reaction to the overwhelming number of Christian adoption services that very much so discriminate against pagans. It was also created to help pagan parents adopt kids from other pagan cultures and keep them pagan, as too many Christians adopt children from pagan cultures and then forcibly convert them, sometimes just because they are Christian, other times they do this out of a missionary obligation to convert people and feel that converting kids is easier and better than adults.

I will post about countries that have pagans, whether as a majority or minorty
I will post about your rights
I will post about personal experiences

This is not an adoption agency. Though it would be great if I could make this into one, but at the time, it is just not feasable.

Blessed be.