ourafrica:

ourafrica:

African children are not an accessory. by @vohandas

 

I have never been this angry in a while. I literally can’t believe what I’m seeing. I log on to tumblr and few scrolls down what do I see? This. A post by justgirlywishes ​, a blog about girly bucket list  things, that girl like and/or want to do. Things such as “baking a chocolate cake”, “traveling the world” “Looking cute and hoping he would notice” and my “favorite” “Adopting an African Child.” WHAT? I’m not going to channel all my anger towards them alone because I realize they are not the only people guilty of this.  However, I am tired, so tired of people, mostly white celebrities going to Africa and literally picking up a baby and just saying “yup, i want this one” (…it’s that easy If you’re a white American or European and have money) and then parading the child around to the media. “Look at the good deed I have done, look at me, I have gone allllll the way to Africa and saved this baby from disease and famine.” 

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not against adoption. However, adopting a child and dehumanizing them because you have the money to do so and all your friends are doing it… is wrong. Do people realize that these children are people also? Do they realize that adopting a child takes alot of responsibility, just as it would to give birth and raise one? The part that makes me angry is the fact they go to developing countries with cameras and press, and exploiting the adoption process for their own sake. If you really felt it in your heart that you wanted to make a difference in a child’s life and wanted to offer them an opportunity at things they might never be able to have due to their unfortunate situation, would you really need the media? To me that raises a lot of questions. These are the same people who hide their own kids behinds doors because they want them to live “normal lives away from the tabloids”, however, the adopted child? Bring them out! take all the photos you need. “___ have adopted a child from ___” “____traveled to rural village and brings back baby ___”

“Between 2003 and 2010, said the report, the number of children adopted from Africa increased three-fold. During that time, 33,434 children were adopted internationally from Africa’s top 12 source countries — the vast majority of these adopted children ended up in the United States.

Celebrities’ adoptions of African children have been glamorized to an extent, oversimplifying the practice and neglecting to address some of its major issues.” (Jacey Fortin)

All I’m saying is, please. Do not adopt a child because it’s “cool” to do so. Do not adopt an African baby or an Asian baby because they are -cheaper- to adopt.  These are all wrong reasons and It is not fair at all to the child; I would hope when it comes to the adoption process, people took into consideration, the child as a person and not as anything less. 

I open the table for a discussion for anyone who would like to voice their opinion on this..

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