Long adoption journey

Published 12:38 am Tuesday, March 29, 2011

LAKE STEVENS — Jaeda Evans watched her daughter toddle around on the living room carpet.

The 18-month-old moved as fast as her little legs could carry her and stopped in front of Evans. “Up,” the toddler said and stretched her arms to her mother.

Evans, 33, picked up her daughter, Zaw

adi, and cuddled her on the couch for a moment. Zawadi swung her 23-pound body toward the floor again, in an effort to get back to the carpet.

“She’s always so easy going,” Evans said. “I just look at her and think I can’t believe you were sitting in an orphanage four months ago.”

Evans made the decision to adopt after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in January 2010.

“I was like, I’m 33 and I’m tired of waiting for a man,” she said. “I thought I can do something to help but they ceased all adoptions from Haiti.”

Evans didn’t want to give up. She said she considered a domestic adoption but didn’t meet a minimum age requirement of being 35. She contacted a friend who adopted two children from the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa. The friend told her about Our Family Adoptions, an agency that helps facilitate adoptions from that country.

Evans didn’t look back.

She took time off from work as a medical receptionist at Everett Neurological Center and received permission from the orphanage to care for her daughter while waiting for the adoption paperwork to be finished. She arrived in Bukavu, located in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, on Nov. 2. The next day she met Zawadi.

“This was the best day of my life,” Evans said.

Zawadi was 14 months old and 15 pounds at the time. In the United States, the average weight for a 14-month-old is about 22 pounds, said Carlos Villavicencio, a pediatrician at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett and Seattle Children’s Hospital.

In addition to being underweight, Zawadi’s leg muscles were small and she could only sit up for 30 seconds at a time.

Evans exercised her daughter’s legs every day in an apartment that she rented in Bukavu. Eventually, Zawadi started sitting up for longer periods, gaining weight and building strength. The pair became regular customers at a coffee shop below their apartment and attracted attention from curious passers-by. They asked if Zawadi, who had a pale complexion due to a lack of proper nutrition, was “mixed blood” and if Evans was married to a Congolese man.

“They don’t understand the concept of adoption,” Evans said. “I learned how to say ‘orphan’ in French and told them she had no mother, no father, and people would kind of understand after that.”

Evans met Zawadi’s father and grandmother during a visit to an orphanage in Kaziba, a village located three hours away from Bukavu. Through the help of a translator, Evans learned her daughter’s name means “gift” and that she was named by her father. Zawadi was a month old when her mother died on Oct. 9, 2009. Her father brought her to the orphanage. Evans assured them Zawadi would be well loved, fed and educated and that she would one day know her story.

“It’s a nice gift I’m able to give Zawadi when she’s older,” Evans said.

A Dutch woman Evans met while traveling to Bukavu lived on the opposite side of town and invited them to stay while her roommates were away. Mother and daughter stayed for two months in the house with a brick wall and guards stationed around it. In January, they traveled to Kinshasa, the capital city, for interviews with the U.S. Embassy.

The interviewing process was slower than Evans expected. To help pass the time, Evans volunteered at orphanages around the capital. At one orphanage, 10 children were happy and well fed in a home environment. The living situation was different in another orphanage with 105 children. Evans said children were fed a half piece of bread and water with a scoop of powdered milk. Three babies who appeared to be dying weren’t given any food.

“We asked the orphanage what those babies were going to have for lunch and she said, ‘Nothing. That’s a waste of resource because those babies are dying’,” Evans said. “I wanted to take all of them and run but you just can’t do that.”

With the help of a local pastor, Evans and other volunteers were able to convince the orphanage director to let one baby go to the hospital to be treated for malaria and severe malnutrition.

The photos Evans brought home March 1 help her explain the experience to her family and friends. She plans to return to the Democratic Republic of Congo one day if her daughter decides she wants to go. She’d also like to get married and possibly adopt again.

Her family is happy they’re both home safe, said Evan’s mother, Denise.

“We’re just enjoying seeing her be a mom and loving it so much,” she said. “We’re happy as can be.”

Zawadi had her own gift for her new family on the day she got home. She started walking for the first time.

Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491; adaybert@heraldnet.com.