Why Ethiopia?

We've had tons of people ask why we made the decision to adopt from Ethiopia specifically.  Here are some of the reasons:  

• One in ten children die before their first birthday
• One in six children die before their fifth birthday.
• 60 percent of children in Ethiopia are stunted because of malnutrition.
• 1.5 million people in Ethiopia are infected with HIV (sixth highest country in the world).
• 720,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS alone, and there are 4.6 million orphans in Ethiopia. (The most recent stats I can find - 2007 - say that there are 127,000 children waiting to be adopted here in the US - this does not count those who are adopted at birth...but they will never live in foster care or an orphanage.)  
• Half the children in Ethiopia will never attend school. 88 percent will never attend secondary school.  (...can you imagine never sending your child to school?!)
• Ethiopia's doctor to children ratio is 1 to 24,000 (can you imagine if that were the case here?  What would the wait to get into the Dr. would be like?  We think it's bad when we can't get our sick child in that same day!)
• We didn't qualify for many countries.  I am only 25, we've only been married for 5 years, and we're not rich.  Most countries have much higher requirements.