The good news coming out of the Angelina's-Adoption-Gone-Bad story this week: Zahara's birth mother does not want to remove Zahara from her adoptive family. Also good: Zahara's birth mother does not have AIDS. The not-so-good? Zahara was, apparently, conceived in rape.
Mentwabe Dawit, Zahara's birth mother, told Reuters that she
was attacked one evening in 2004 after a day's work at a
construction site in the southern Ethiopian town of Awasa.
As she walked home in the darkness, a man approached. "He pulled a dagger, put one hand on my mouth, so that I could
not scream. He then raped me and disappeared." The 24-year-old decided to keep the assault a secret. "I feared the consequences of being raped in a community where
rape is considered a taboo, even if what happened happened
forcibly," she said.
Now, the fact that Zahara was conceived in rape does not in way bear upon her lovability and adorability and the extent to which she will be cherished throughout her life. Not one little bit. It's just a really, really sad detail, is all - one that underscores just how tremendously wonderful it is that such a child was given a chance at a happy life in a happy family, loved by happy parents. (If, that is, we believe that Angie and Brad are happy. Whatever the case, I think that they're both beyond happy to be Zahara's parents, and that's what matters.)
(Could the week in gossip get more depressing? Between rumored deaths and stories about suicide and depression, it's hardly shaping up to be a cheery Thanksgiving. Could someone maybe show their boobs or something? You know, make everyone feel better?)
Source: Perez; The Age
