PLEASE HELP !!!!! (1 of 5)

OPERATION “SUNDI’S GIFT”

Sundi’s Gift is the code name for the emergency operation needed to ensure that the Smith family does not have their two adopted children, Sundi and Damon, taken away due to suspicions concerning their true motivations for adoption.

MISSION:

Obtain a signature from the desk of President George W. Bush, using a customized pre-written letter that assures the High Court of Kenya that the Smiths’ two adopted Kenyan children will be accepted as US citizens, and that the government will follow standard practices to ensure that children are not used as domestic servants or abused in any other way. The contents of this letter have been provided to the appropriate US government offices, but nobody we’ve contacted is able to write the customized letter that we need in court. We are now out of time.

STRATEGY:

“Shock” and “Awe”—that is, to shock and awe our leaders with the level of concern that every day Americans have for orphaned children in need of forever families. From Tuesday, 4/22 at 8am until 8pm EST Wednesday, 4/23, we are begging our friends, family, and everyone they know to respectfully and diplomatically flood our leaders’ offices with phone calls and emails requesting this letter. Please see “The letter we need is below” link on the blog for the full contents. We don’t have any powerful American politician friends, but we MUST have a letter by Wednesday night, so our only hope is to somehow hit the magic number of emails and/or calls that merits immediate attention at the highest levels. We don’t know what that number is, but it must be a huge number, so we need all of the help that we can get !!!!!!

NOT THE STRATEGY:

We do NOT want the US government to intervene with the Kenyan government, nor to pressure them in any way to approve our adoption if they are not comfortable with it. Child trafficking is a pervasive global issue. The judge has expressed serious concerns about the rights of the children, and these concerns should be treated as such. If Kenya needs written assurance that our children will be given full rights as citizens and that standard adoption follow-up policies will be followed, it is our obligation to comply. If our government will not do this for us, then it will implicitly validate the suspicions about our negative intentions.

BACKGROUND:

The Smiths were approved for adoption by the United States in January 2007 and Kenya’s National Adoption Committee in July 2007, and traveled to Kenya shortly thereafter. They have been continuously caring for their two adopted children for the past nine months. Unfortunately, they have hit some road blocks in the adoption process and since November have had 8 court dates canceled. Last Friday, the Smiths were threatened with having their kids taken away from them. The primary red flag is that the Smiths are a young couple with no biological children, choosing adoption as a first option. Since this is not common, the High Court of Kenya is concerned that the Smiths may have ulterior motives for how they will use our children when they return to the United States . If we don’t have this letter when we walk into the court on Friday at 8am (1am EST), we have been promised we will be thrown out of court—for the sixth consecutive time since February 29. And that’s the best case scenario.

IMPLEMENTATION:

If you are willing to help us, please send emails starting NOW and/or phone calls starting tomorrow (Tuesday) at 9am. The earlier people hear about our kids’ plight, the better. You can scroll down or click on the “Sending Emails” or “Making Phone Calls” link on the right to see all of the info that you need. We made them different blog entries to make it easier to scroll.

Since you are just expressing support of a pending request that has already been submitted, you can contact offices from other states (For example, you can contact Obama even if you don’t live in Illinois.) Also, you do NOT need to know us personally to participate.

We don’t have any time to spare, as we have already missed our original deadline. However, if we receive the letter by cob Wednesday then we hope we can submit the letter as evidence on Thursday, the day before our court date.

This won’t take much time. All you have to do is copy and paste the email, then put your name and where you are from. You don’t have to know us in order to call or write; you just need to be concerned by the possibility of orphaned children being taken away from their adoptive family and put back into an orphanage.

If anyone is hesistant because they think this is a joke, please point them to our blog at www.us-in-kenya.blogspot.com to confirm that this is legitimate. We really wish it were a hoax.

Remember that the goal is not to win an argument, but to present a simple request. As Christians, Kim and I want even this process of begging for help to be characterized by gentleness, self-control, and gratitude on the part of us and our friends. That way, God can be honored even in the midst of a very difficult situation. We believe God has already said “yes” to our adoption, and now we are waiting for the hearts of men and women in positions of authority to be moved.

Our orphanage, Happy Life Children’s Home, has a saying “You can’t change the whole world, but you can change the whole world for one person.” Please help us permanently secure the privilege that we believe God has already given us; the opportunity to change the whole world for two fun, beautiful, and incredible little Kenyan kids that we couldn’t love any more if they had our own blood. And we are more blessed to have them than they are to have us. Please help us bring them home!

MUNGU ACUBARIKI SANA SANA! God bless you so much!