What I want to tell you, which I don’t want you to forget in your entire life, is that had I had enough income to buy food and clothes for you, I wouldn’t have decided to lose you from my side by giving you for adoption. Even though you are living far away from me physically, I’m always with you and you are always with me in each and very second of my life spiritually. – Ethiopian Mother to her reunited child
You can’t imagine how happy I am to have his report about my Ethiopian family. I read it and I know I will keep reading it many times again. I have so many answers answered, and knowing that my family never stopped searching and thinking of me, just like me, makes me happy and gives me so much peace in my heart. I am in awe of your work. Thank you so much for everything. You made a miracle happen! – Ethiopian Adoptee, France
Thank you for the phenomenal effort undertaken by your social worker on behalf of finding my daughter’s birth family. Everything possible was asked and searched for, and I can rest easy that I have done all that I can to help my daughter know her roots. I truly appreciate the social worker’s efforts. – Adoptive Parent
I am so thankful to you, Andrea. Every day since I arrived in France not a day passed where I didn’t think of my birth parents especially when I was looking in a mirror. As a kid I was always telling myself that somehow they were watching over me and now it feels like a true miracle coming true as you said. What I have been secretly praying for with all my heart is happening. Miracles do happen and it was thanks to your help and your kindness, your hard work and dedication in helping me. – Ethiopian Adoptee
The point I am trying to make is that I never abandoned you. The paperwork is all false. Please understand that. I love you as a mother. I gave my DNA sample. Hope to hear from you back. I also hope that the report will give you the details of your story with me. I had a bad life, so I could not keep you with me. But, it does not mean that I do not love you. I do love you. I trust that you are so well. I wish you all the best in life. Thank you for searching me. – Ethiopian Mother
When we decided to give you for adoption, our intention was that you would enjoy a better life and at the same time keep in contact with you. – Ethiopian mother
Due to poverty and seeking a better life, I gave my children up for adoption abroad. However, it is very painful to stay for years without hearing any news. – Ethiopian father
I have no words. It’s just magic what Andrea and Beteseb Felega did for us to reunite us with our adopted child who had no information about his family. Thank you so much. We are very happy. – Ethiopian Family
We want to thank the Social Worker for putting together a phenomenal report, the effort he made describing the visit with such an incredible amount of detail, as well as the many photos he took from the road trip, their village and the surrounding areas. It is really professional. – Adoptive Mother
I’ve just had a great experience with Beteseb Felega – Ethiopian Adoption Connection! I used their services to reconnect with my daughter’s birth family in the Wolayta Region. Please consider using their services if you want to connect and/or find a family. Andrea, who runs the program, is very professional and the turnaround time was great. We are so grateful to know that our child’s birth family is okay, and the peace and joy that came over her face was priceless. Their website is also a good resource. – Adoptive Mother
There is always hope. Beteseb Felegea is doing good and I recommend it to others. We are very thankful to you. – Ethiopian Family
Thanks to [Beteseb Felega EAC] I now finally know my real age and gained more information about my beloved late mother such as exactly where she is buried which means more than words can ever describe! – Reunited Adoptee
Thank you. You have no idea what you’ve done for me. This is the happiest day of my life. I hoped for this moment for long time. God bless you. – Ethiopian Sibling Reunited
It was so great – laughter, tears yelling – the whole bit! You are doing saintly work and I don’t know how to articulate how tremendous this is in our lives. It fills a big space in our children’s hearts. I bless the day you emailed! This is as big as it gets!!!! – Melanie, adoptive mother with children reunited
I appreciate [Beteseb Felega’s] transparency and dedication to giving me what I want or need and always checking with me prior to doing anything. I couldn’t believe they offered free support, for in my past everything has come with a great price. I thank God for Andrea and all of the staff at Ethiopian Adoption Connection and recommend all Ethiopian adoptees go through them, for they are not only trust worthy but also care about getting the answers you are looking for.
I can’t thank you enough for this report. It is absolutely amazing. I really have no words that could be meaningful enough. – Adoptive Parent of Reunited Child
I just wanted to let you know that we’re planning on going to visit our family in Ethiopia this summer. I want to say thank you for all your help, we could not have done it without you. – Ethiopian Adoptee Reunited
Read our 2021 Voice of America article in English or view a PDF of it.
Read Our BBC Amharic Article Series
ለዓመታት የተጠፋፉት የወላይታ ሶዶዋ እናትና የኖርዝ ኬሮላይናዋ ልጃቸው
Amharic Only
ከ43 ዓመት በኋላ የተገናኙት ኢትዮጵያዊ እናትና ስዊድናዊ ልጅ
Amharic Only
ለ20 ዓመታት ዴንማርካዊት እህቱን የፈለገው ኢትዮጵያዊ ሀኪም
Amharic Only
Thanks to Beteseb Felega (EAC) I now have contact with my biological family in Ethiopia. My biological mother has been searching for me for more then 30 years. I’m planing to visit them in Addis Abeba in Jan 2018. All I can say is that “life goes in mysterious ways!” – Måns, Sweden, reunited after more than 40 years
Thank you. You have no idea what you’ve done for me. This is the happiest day of my life. I hoped for this moment for long time. God bless you. – Ethiopian Sibling Reunited
View Our Profile Videos
Amarech’s Story of Reunion through Beteseb Felega
Beteseb Felega Profile Video with Amharic Subtitles 2017
የቤተሰብ ፍለጋ ምክትል ኘሬዝዳንት የሆነችው የቃልኪዳን መልዕክት ለኢትዮጵያዊ ቤተሰቦች
I support Beteseb Felega (EAC) because I’ve seen the tears of Ethiopian mothers desperate for news of their children adopted abroad. I’ve heard adoptees who have so many questions about their own life stories. They all deserve the truth. They deserve connection. They deserve to find each other, and Beteseb Felega (EAC) helps make that happen. – Adoptive Mother
I’m just beginning my journey with them and regardless of where it ends I’m touched by the genuine kindness I’ve encountered so far, Adult Adoptee
VOA Amharic Story about Beteseb Felega በጉዲፈቻ የተሰጡ ትውልደ- ኢትዮጵያዊያንን ከዘመድ የሚያገናኘው አውታር
Thank you for your effort that fulfilled my long sleepless dream and released my mind from burden. The sisters [of the adoptee] when I met physically and communicate on telephone we end up with tears of joy. Now thanks to God and you every burden has gone. Dear Andrea, words may not be enough to express my feeling to your deeds but no other way. – Miheret, reunited uncle in Ethiopia
My child’s mother would be lost if she didn’t know her daughter was safe. Beteseb Felega (EAC) helps make this a reality. – Adoptive Mother
Oh, my heart! I have no words. Bless you and those who help you. – Adoptive parent upon receiving a report on their child’s Ethiopian family
Finally, I am going to see my child next month. I am so overwhelmed with joy I feel like my body is numb. All the more when I heard his voice, I shouted like a crazy person and even disturbed my neighbors. How I wish I can fly like an eagle and see all of you in Beteseb Felega and shower you with my gratitude face to face. God being on your side, you did such marvelous thing for me. What can I say? May God bless you abundantly! – Halima, a mother who searched for decades for her son
It was so great – laughter, tears yelling – the whole bit! You are doing saintly work and I don’t know how to articulate how tremendous this is in our lives. It fills a big space in our children’s hearts. I bless the day you emailed! This is as big as it gets!!!! – Melanie, adoptive mother with children reunited
We recentlyused Beteseb Felega to visit with our son’s family to learn more about our son’s story and to build trust with them and we are so pleased with their work. So far, we have worked with five different searchers (yep, 5!!!) and the report that BF wrote is the most detailed report we’ve received. We plan to continue our work with BF as we try to connect with and form lasting relationships with our son’s family. – adoptive mom
Thank you Beteseb Felega – Ethiopian Adoption Connection for the amazing work on our recent family search. You all showed great perseverance and courage to complete the search successfully. Its a life changing event and I encourage others to take the journey. – Paul, adoptive parent
This organization has blessed us so much in our search for biological family, including much needed advice for how to proceed once family was found. I can;t recommend them more highly.
Our family would like to express our heartfelt appreciation for your efforts in getting the job done! You did what it took to make what was impossible, possible! Thank you for having a DNA kit available in ET and not stopping until it got to the US! Keep up the hard work in bringing families together!
I’d like to give a shout out to Ethiopian Adoption Connection. We have been working with the organization for a few months and received a report of the search this weekend. The documentation is very detailed and included pictures of their stops along the journey. In case children are not ready for graphic/traumatic details. they take the time to create a modified report [for the children]. Our interactions have been professional and, as various decisions came up, options were explained. The information we received is a gift for our son.
Beteseb Felega / Ethiopian Adoption Connection was on Ethiopian television! Andrea was interviewed for the program “Neteb” in May of 2018. In addition to our representation, there was a panel which included an adoptee, an Ethiopian mother we reunited, and an official from the Ministry of Women’s Affairs.
Bridging continents and years of separation, Beteseb Felega (EAC) is helping families find their way back to each other. – Tracey, Board Member
My biological family is so happy to be in contact with my little sister and me. Truly, that is the best gift that you could ever give to a child. I now don’t have to stay up late at night wondering if my family is okay? What have they been up to? Whether they are still alive? If they have the things they need to live another day? All of these things that I used to worry about and fear: of not being able to tell my mom that I love her more than anything and to let my brothers know that they are the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Now I am at peace, knowing that my family is okay. It’s really reassuring and now I am happier than ever. I am so thankful for EAC. My family is filled with gratitude and hope that other adopted children will reconnect with their families as well. It is our hopes, wishes, and dreams as adopted children to find our birth family. – Amarech, reunited adoptee
BBC Newsday Interview with Andrea
Many thanks to Beteseb Felega Association who made possible a family reunion after more than 13 years. Thanks to them and their volunteers, our daughter Asele has found her bio brothers and sisters. We thought it was almost impossible. Thank you, thank you, Beteseb Felega ቤተሰብ ፍለጋ / Ethiopian Family Search and Adoption Connection. – Adoptive Father in Italy
Thank you from all my family. The biggest thanks to you! We are happy by your work . We received letters and photos. Thank you by the name of God. God bless you and your family. God keep you from any kind of bad enemies or accidents. Thanks for your hard work! – Ethiopian family receiving a letter and photos of their child
I cannot explain the feeling that I got when I received the news from EAC saying that my biological family is looking for me. That is the best news I’ve ever received. For the past 7 years I have wondered and prayed a lot about seeing and talking to my family again. I did not think that it was possible and I almost gave up on the idea but thanks to Beteseb Felega (EAC), I now can talk to my family whenever I want. – Amarech, reunited adoptee
We are Christians and our praying came true. We were waiting for this and are very happy now. – Adoptive father, reconnected
My heart breaks every day for the mother who misses out on the joy of knowing the child I have the privilege of raising. I will never give up looking for her as long as I live. That is why i started Beteseb Felega (EAC). –Andrea, Founder of EAC
The Ethiopian Adoption Connection team is amazing! They were able to find my family within months. Even with the little information I had about my family, they were able to track the right ones for me. They are fast, hardworking people and I can’t thank them enough. Reunited Adult Adoptee
Testimony of adoptive family found by Ethiopian family.
Praise for our ongoing contact services….
I’ve just had a great experience with Ethiopian Adoption Connection! I used their services to reconnect with my child’s birth family in the Wolayta region; they have a social worker who delivered a letter and photos to our daughter’s birth family, and emailed back a brief update with pictures. Please consider using their services if you want to connect and/or find a family; they do charge for this service but having the confidence that a professional organization and social worker were doing the connecting made the cost well worth it. Andrea, who runs the program, is very professional and the turnaround time was great. We are so grateful to know that her birth family is okay, and the peace and joy that came over her face was priceless. Their website is also a good resource. – Carolyn, adoptive mother
I don’t know what to say. Thank you guys you did a great job.You helped me find my lost kids, now i am a happy person thank God. Blessings! — Ethiopian father reconnected with his children.
I support Beteseb Felega (EAC) because my daughter finally knows who she looks like, whose smile and eyes she has. Every child should have this gift. –Adoptive Mother
Thank you very much. You have no idea what you’re done for me. My brother and sister were taken for adoption. For twelve years I have wondered about them. I can not explain the feeling. It was a very difficult time for me but God is good. I found you. I did not think they would be found. Amazingly you found them in one month. I’m lucky I found you. There are many Ethiopians like me. I wish they would find you too. Thank you for your generosity and no fee. You will receive to God. Thank you Andrea and Blene. God bless you.
How do I begin to Thank You, for finding our children’s younger sister? We didn’t think we would ever find her, we searched for three years. As my son said, “We are complete!” Thank you is not enough. We pray blessing for you! – A, adoptive mother
We just used the team at Ethiopian Adoption Connection for a birth family search for our son. We feel strongly that he should have knowledge and access to them if that’s what he wants when he is older. Whilst we have not found them yet, the search has been thorough, comprehensive, with great communication and is ongoing (they haven’t just stopped). Much better than the previous search we had done. If you feel like us, and you think your adopted child should have as much info as possible, then I highly recommend. – David, adoptive parent
I don’t have enough words to thank you. May God protect you from the evil one. Now I have others who are struggling alongside with me to find my only brother. Now I am no more alone in this fight. If I just know he is alive that might be enough for me. Even if he says I don’t have a brother it is ok I will take it. The thing that haunts me the most is where did he end up – in good family or on the street, that I heard happened for some adopted children. – Fantahun, older brother of an adoptee
I support EAC because when we found my daughter’s mother, she said, “I never thought I’d see or hear from her again”. No mother should live with that hopelessness. –Adoptive Mother
Andrea, thank you so much for blessing me today. You asked me to come to speak for you, however, I am the one who came away most touched by your testimony and your mission. It literally brought me to tears, as I know the pain and suffering they endure every single day. YOU are making a difference in the precious lives of so many Ethiopian families. Thank you for loving these precious people! It takes a special person with love, compassion, and selflessness to do what I witnessed today. Every photo and story you shared today is planted deeply in my heart. God bless you friend and this amazing organization. – Jennifer Fredericksen, first grandmother
First I need to thank My Lord Jesus. Thank you. I don’t know how i will thank you. Any how I need to say God bless you. You answered our 16 years question in our life. We are all happy. Our sister now we talk to her. She is safe and alive so we thank you. Before we don’t know where she is but u did it because you have a good heart to help people. That is why you get our sister and you didn’t ask any money. It is free. Oh God please bless this family thank you, thank you, and thank you. – Saron, Reconnected Sister in Ethiopia
Dear Andrea,
Thank you for the information that you forwarded to Trish Maskew and for letting us know about your organization and its efforts. We will keep the information on file and share it as appropriate with entities that may have interest.
Sincerely,
Stefanie Eye
Senior Advisor
Office of Children’s Issues
U.S. Department of State
[email protected]
Consultant, Tolliver Group
Just wanted to post a public “thank you” to Ethiopian Adoption Connection. The team, and specifically a wonderfully passionate and tenacious social worker, completed a birth family search that was very difficult, remote and time consuming. Andrea’s wisdom in working through specific challenges in our case was so appreciated and she continues to try to tie up loose ends on our behalf. We received a very detailed report and many photos that will be so valuable to our son as he grows and processes his journey and beginnings. We are grateful. If anyone has been thinking about searching for birth family, Beteseb Felega is a wonderful organization! Adoptive parent
I am your mother. I miss you. I would be happy to see you once and die the next day. – Ethiopian mother to her found child
From one of our social workers, providing an update for a family: “There is no connection in the place where I am now. I walked more than 15 KM and I climbed a mountain to write this message for you.”
Just wanted to share that I used Beteseb Felega / EAC’s new phone check-in service and it was great. It totally put my mind at rest about a situation that had come up suddenly with a member of our Ethiopian family, and I got a lovely report of the call in writing. Privacy and confidentiality is really important to our Ethiopian family members, so this is a great option for us when we need a quicker back-and forth conversation than we can get with letters or erratic internet access. This way we don’t have to involve other family members or locals – and a personal matter stays more private. Highly recommend this option! – J, Adoptive Mom
I want to express my appreciation to Beteseb Felega for the excellent job you have done for my family’s friend, whose children (two boys) were adopted to Europe in the mid 1990’s. Since then both sides did not hear from each other or the adoptive family even though the father was looking and searching for them for more than twenty years. Anyone who is a parent can imagine how painful it was. Luckily we found the organization called Beteseb Felega (EAC) and posted the information on the website which was a very simple process and for free. Then miracle happened, they found the children within a short time, less than a month. Now one of the children and the father are talking over the phone and they also have exchanged photos and videos thanks to Andrea. I witnessed how supportive and encouraging Andrea was during the process of connecting this long lost family. I want to say thank you for the noble work you do and to those who support you to fulfill this vision which ignites hope to those who do not know how their adopted is and to the children who are left in the dark about their roots. – Blessings, Melkamua
