Many people in Uganda think adoption is western or for women who can’t have children but this is not true
Doreen (not real names) is a mother of four and two of her children are adopted. Her dream is to have 12 children and since she can’t have them biologically because of her busy schedule, she chose to adopt so as to have the big desired family.
“I always wanted a big family and I have two biological children but because it’s hard for me to have all of them biologically, I chose to adopt. I have so far adopted two and I hope to adopt more.” Said Doreen during a meeting between adopting parents to share experiences.
This is the same story with Esther (names withheld) a mother of Kenyan origin who believes adopting is about the heart. “Not many people can adopt, it’s about having the heart, the heart to love and give”. She says.
Esther says many people who even have children cannot take care of them in the best way possible because they don’t have the heart. She has two biological children and chose to adopt a child who has become part of the family because of the love they share.
“I adopted my baby girl when she was only 2 and half years, she is now five and we are all happy as a family.” She says through the adoption process, she first went and chose the baby who was given to her through the weekend but the child didn’t want to leave because of the bond that had been created.
Esther is one of the many women and men including Ugandans who adopt for different reasons. Pamela Kamusiime, a communications officer at the Child I Foundation says many Ugandans have not picked interest in adopting yet they have the capacity.
She says they are encouraging people to adopt children so that they can also have families. “As Child I Foundation, we did a study on a baby home we had (Malaika baby home) and found out that the children in homes do not get the desired love. It is a routine for the care takers and there is no sufficient bond between them and the children”.
She says many of these homes have many children with few caretakers who cannot give all the time to each of the children like in a home. She added that many of the orphanages have relatives that can actually take them in and this is one of the things they encourage.
Kamusiime appealed to all Ugandans to pick interest in adopting children.