Adoption:
The gift that keeps giving!
By Alicia Resnik
Part 1
child. “I would take a child, any child.
I checked the box for a child deemed
‘less desirable’. Because my children
are twins, they were put in that category.
So I came home with two!” They were
matched in July of 2007. Before return-
ing to the U.S., the family spent time in
Addis adjusting to one another and giv-
ing Ms. Neale a “crash course” on baby
life – dirty diapers and little sleep!
“Just before leaving Ethiopia, was a
touchy time,” explained Ms. Neale. The
children were adopted according to
the Ethiopian court system, processed
through the U.S. Embassy, and she still
didn’t know whether or not she’d be
allowed to take them out of Ethiopia. As
they were preparing to return to the or-
phanage for a final goodbye ceremony,
they were summoned to the Palace. The
First Lady of Ethiopia wanted to see the
Tracey Neale is the mother of twins
Emebet Nigella and Eyasu Nigel who
were adopted at eighteen month’s from
an orphanage in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Former news anchor, and nine-time
Emmy award winner, Ms. Neale’s adop-
tion journey began when she travelled
to South Africa to shoot a documen-
tary on the orphan crises. There she
met and fell in love with Veronica, a
1 ½ year old girl living in Ethembeni,
an orphanage in Johannesburg (see
sidebar on “Veronica’s Story Orphans
Foundation”). Because Veronica was
HIV positive, Ms. Neale couldn’t adopt
her. But meeting Veronica changed the
course of her life. “It’s because of her
that I have them.”
Ms. Neale and members of the
Veronica’s Story Orphans Foundation
team were in Ethiopia for AIDS mission
work. On their way to a CARE Clinic,
they stumbled on the orphanage in
Addis (where her soon to be adopted
kids lived). “The orphanage was as good
as it could be. Orphanages overseas face
their challenges – no running water, a
lot of children, limited staff,” she said.
An older woman traveling with them
told Ms. Neale to “go in and see your
children.” Ms. Neale said she was terri-
fied. “I wasn’t ready yet. I thought I’d
pass out. She said go get your children
so I did.”
Ms. Neale always wanted to adopt.
“When I was 5, I told my mother I
wanted to be a Pediatrician and care
for orphans,” she said. Working with
a private agency, it took her two years
to adopt Emebet and Eyasu. Initially
she had intended to adopt only one
The Neale Family
children. She held an unsettled Emebet
for hours and then decided to come
with them to the orphanage. There the
First Lady placed Emebet’s head against
Ms. Neale’s heart and swaddled them
tightly together with an Ethiopian scarf.
“With that, I felt we had her unspoken
blessing to go home.”
Children in orphanages are often
desperate for the basics, like affection,
love, food and proper shelter, said Ms.
Neale. “My children had to overcome
so much. They had to overcome being
in an orphanage. They had medical
issues due to lack of food, medical care
and exposure to dirty water. “For the
first year water was gold. Cold, clean
water – they would clap their hands,”
she said. “They are healthy now. Luckily
they didn’t have the HIV virus.” They
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