I have wanted to write this post for a long time....It is about a man named Kofi, who is our adoption coordinator and a very special man to our Ghana children who call him, " Daddy Kofi". We have spent many hours with this man and have come to appreciate his efforts very much for the orphan children of Ghana. We have adopted 12 children so far with Kofi and each time he has shown us how much he loves "his" children. I have spent months in Ghana and most of that time with Kofi....He has shared his country, his people, his schools and his heart to us as we have traveled miles and hours together.
We just brought home Sandra and Jr ( we are naming him Zeke Aaron) Monday after a long 1 year and 9 months process. It was not because of Kofi's lack of effort or trying that this was our longest adoption. It was not because of the court, legal system or social welfare of Ghana that this was our longest adoption. It was because of some other adoptive families who decided that the age of their children was off ( really some parents are upset if the child is not the age they thought , or eye color they wanted, or the children have issues they don't want to work thru ) . Some of these families made a complaint to the embassy and state dept about Kofi and our agency...However, we counter complained about these people because for us Kofi and AAC have only been totally legit, honest and upstanding during all of our adoptions. Have some of the children come home and have a diff. age - yes but not because of Kofi or his manipulating them to say that age. It is because of the birth moms and the sharing by these moms of birth dates that are not remembered or celebrated ever in Ghana. Even so to us it has never been about the age, color of hair, eyes or even the issues the children have when they come. It is about being obedient to the will of God and His desire for these children to be a part of our family. Just like with my bio. children , if the adopted child has issues we work thru them. We don't abandoned them and we certainly would never blame Kofi ( or any of our other country coordinators for other adoptions ) or our agency for the choice we made to adopt a child.
Anyway there were allegations of fraud and I left the Ghana group because it was poorly managed and other families who had a positive experiences like us with Kofi were being "shamed" by one particular woman on that group to not share. However, why would we not want to when for us it has only been very positive for us to use Kofi. We had Sandra and Jr's exit interview last March and we were put into admin. processing ( which has now become the norm for most families ) since these allegations were made by the few. I have seen this happen before in other adoptions and countries and it slows the process down for anyone after those who were unhappy with their children or coordinator make these allegations ( really without much proof but a lot of emotion ). I knew one family very personally and it hurt a lot to see how they were and have been....Very naive on their part to believe that they would not slow and even halt the process for those coming after them. It did and still is .
We received a NOID ( notice of intent to deny ) our children's visas in Sept.. All the allegations of fraud, and deception were there in it towards Kofi...However, we appealed and proved them all wrong and today those precious children are in my home - getting more food than they ever could imagine, medical care if they need it, lots of stimulation and education and more importantly attention and love for who they are from their family . We were so upset with the US embassy in Ghana we filed our own complaint as well about how they treated us and Kofi. It is so rewarding and good to know that we proved the embassy was dishonest, lied to us and just wrong about Kofi and our documents. It really was pathetic when we read their case to deny. I feel like we and Kofi Oppong have been vindicated once again.
You know truth does prevail...when God is in it, really, who can be against you. Kofi is a believer and he tries to walk the walk. That is all we all can do. We are so very grateful for Kofi and how thru his efforts he has blessed us with these precious children. We love you Kofi and Merry Christmas ! Many smiles around our home this Christmas because of you.
