Detailed Update on Lael's Adoption

FRIDAY JULY 14 2006
 
The Saga continues....
 
Today, I returned with Ega and a truck full of his family members who acted as witnesses to his identity.  We arrived in Lokossa around 9:30a where the regional tribunal is.  Upon arriving, we were told the President of the Tribunal was not there and that he had a meeting in Cotonou.  We pleaded with his secretary to call him...she finally agreed.  She rang and rang and rang yet no one picked up.  "He must already be on the road," she explained.  This was disappointing because he had told us just Wednesday to return on Friday.  But we waited and waited another hour and then finally he called.  No, he was not yet on the road, and he would be in shortly.  So about 11a, he strolls in and asks to see me and Ega's "runner" named Fabian.  (Fabian is also a crippled man...but he walks with a cane....while Ega is VP, Fabian is the President of the Handicapped Persons Association in Aplahoue). Fabian speaks French (Ega does not) and has been a godsend to help do the running around on Ega's behalf to this Tribunal.  The President of the Tribunal started out his conversation with an apologetic tone which made me nervous.  He was explaining that another important person at the Tribunal had to be present to sign off on the documents.  So he said we wouldn't be able to do anything today and for us to return next week.  Frustrating!  I pleaded with him on Ega's behalf.  I explained the situation and asked for his mercy.  He consented to call in another person who then was commissioned to start drawing up the paperwork for a hearing.  Praise the Lord!  Because this other important person (some title in French I don't understand) was not in the office, all those other poor souls waiting for hours in the court room for their hearing were finally told to return next week.  After about 30 minutes, the President delegated his responsibility over to one of his judges (the President is a judge, too, but he also has administrative responsibilities to attend to).  So all the paperwork was ready and the court room was all ours for a special hearing ordained and called by the President of the Tribunal. 
 
The courtroom is a bit intimidating.  A HUGE room, non-air-conditioned, with rows and rows of hard wooden benches (like church pews...no padding).  As we assembled, the formalities began as the judge, yes even decked out in his black judge robe, comes in from the far left corner of the court room and sits at his elevated table.  He pounds his gavel (sorry to any lawyer readers who know more official terms here) and the proceeding begins.  Ega is asked for his presence and Ega raises his hand.  Since Ega is crippled, the judge was nice enough to allow Ega to remain in his pew to answer the questions.  We are in Lokossa which has alot of Aja speakers, but is also blended town with several African languages.  And at the Tribunal, everything official (such as our hearing) is conducted in the official language of Benin, French.  So with the help of a translator (the judge seemed rather perturbed that Ega nor any of his witnesses knew French), Ega was able to answer all the questions asked of him.  Then each of Ega's three family witnesses (2 paternal and 1 maternal) were brought up one by one to testify to their relation with Ega and Ega's identity. 
 
Those of you who know the story understand this to be rather ironic since his identity on paper is the whole reason why we are having to sit through a court hearing in the first place (modifying his identity on paper to match the name his wife, Lokadi, gave to him on Lael's birth certificate...not his official name known by the state, but the name she thought was his, but in reality was his father's first name!)  If you live in Africa, you can understand the practice of knowing people by multiple names.  Sometimes you are referred to as the name given to you at birth, perhaps at the hospital.  Sometimes, you are called by your "family name" which is often some reference to your father or his side of the family.  Sometimes you might even have a Christian name or a baptismal name, which is the one alot of church people give, especially for those who practice infant baptism.  And you may even identify yourself differently in different situations because, for example, the audience to whom your speaking may need to know your family's name (so you call yourself Gosuvi..."go-soo-vee" which tells them that you are the son..."vi" in Aja...of Gosu).  Get it?  Ega's official name really is Fantodji Kokou Soizoun, yet people call him "Ega" (like a nickname).  His father's name was Gnanlin Soizoun (at least that's one name). 
 
But prior to her death, when Lael's birthmother was asked what her husband's name was, she mixed it all up and said, "Ega Gnanlin".  When we went to do Lael's birth certificate months ago, I asked him if that was his name.  He said, "well, the last name is really Soizoun, but that'll work." (it never occurred to either of us that this would create such a problem later on).    It wasn't until after Lael's certificate was finalized that Ega remembered that he had a birth certificate already done over 10 years ago.  On that certificate is the Fantodji Kokou Soizoun name.  He says he never remembers anyone calling him anything except Ega (his mother confirms that an uncle nicknamed him Ega when he was a small boy...Ega meaning "chief").  Anyway, hence the situation we are in.  The process over the past several months has been to get his certificate changed to reflect the name that is on Lael's birth certificate (Ega Gnanlin). 
 
Now before you all think this is nuts, know that this is a common practice in Africa.  And so the process began to change the name.  For whatever reason (I have my thoughts, but they are not always nice), it's taken months to get through to today.  But there we are...in the court room where the judge is asking all these witnesses to confirm Ega's identity as Ega Gnanlin.  Everyone there knew what Ega was having to do, so everyone said the right thing.  The judge drilled them on their relation to Ega and while the name thing got a little confusing, in the end, the judge accepted the testimony of all the witnesses! 
 
One final form has to be completed on Monday by the Tribunal and according to their word today (which sometimes does change without notice), the authorization will be decreed on Monday for Ega's birth certificate to be issued!  Now, it is my understanding that the Tribunal in Lokossa (about 30 minutes from us) will declare its authorization on Monday and that the county clerk's office here in Aplahoue will then have everything necessary to issue the certificate!  I can't tell you exactly when that will be, but after spending 5 hours with the bigwigs of Aplahoue (I say that somewhat in mockery which I know is not very Christian like, but please....these guys are like a circus)....they assured me yesterday that once Lokossa does its part (they of course but the entire blame for the delay on the Tribunal in Lokossa....the Tribunal points the figure in Aplahoue's direction), everything in Aplahoue is ready to go!  So we are hoping that maybe by Monday, or at least sometime early next week, we will finally have Ega's new birth certificate!!
 
To review, once we have finally obtained Ega's certificate, we can then proceed to the Notary back in Lokossa who receives Ega's written consent for us to adopt Lael.  The Notary naturally requires some form of identification for the father of a child to consent to giving up his child (only natural).  Now that we are close to having it, we will soon be able to schedule a meeting with the Notary in the next couple of weeks and the Notary will draw up the consent papers.  Once signed, it has to be delivered to Cotonou (the capital) where official "consent to adopt" papers are drawn up with Ega's and our information.  Supposedly after 3 weeks, the official consent form is returned to the Notary in Lokossa where all of us will sign it.  With that, we will then be able to proceed, with the help of an U.S.Embassy-approved lawyer, back to the Tribunal in Lokossa where we will have a hearing of our own.  We will first petition the courts to accept our appeal to adopt Lael.  While the law says that the parents wanting to adopt should not have children (this is written to protect from child trafficking which is prevalent in Africa, especially in Benin), an exception is written into the law.  We will appeal first to be permitted under that exception clause after demonstrating our story to the judge.  The lawyer feels confident that the judge will understand the situation and have no trouble granting the exception.  According to the lawyer's words months ago, we would then immediately (same hearing) present our second request...the request to be granted full adoption rights for Lael (having already obtained the father's consent for such).  If all our ducks are in a row (we are asking all along the way if there are other things we can have ready to present to the judge as supporting evidence), theoretically, the judge could even grant the request the very same day. 
 
It's hard...any of you who have followed this saga....to imagine anything happening quickly here.  The lawyer says it shouldn't take that long, but time is relative here in Africa!  At this point in time, I'm hesitant to say whether it'll be one month, two months or much more before all of this part is finished.  Once we have fully adopted Lael according to Benin law, we will proceed with all the necessary steps imagining her coming to America (that's a whole other list of steps!) 
 
Thank you all so much for praying....we are confident that patience and perseverance will pay off.  We desire to maintain a positive witness for Christ through all the proceedings and even in all the frustrations, while also demonstrating nothing less than unending love for Ega and Lael.....nothing, even on the most frustrating days, could make us change OUR mind about adopting Lael!  We want Ega to always know that we will go to all lengths for her and even endure a whole lot of frustrations on her behalf!  I don't think he would ever doubt our love for him or her, but we feel it is our witness to Ega, the local church here, and Ega's larger extended family that we will go to any and every effort to give her every right and privilege of being a Vaughn!  He wants that and that's why he asked us almost one year ago to take Lael into our home! 
 
As we look to celebrating Lael's first birthday on Tuesday (18th), I am always reminded, too, of the following Sunday (23rd)...the day Lael's birthmother passed from this life.  Ega still grieves her loss (evident when he was recounting the story of her death to Greg and Melanie Bailey just the other day).  So even as the excitement of making steps toward Lael's adoption increases, none of us want to miss the moments over the next week or so to remember the pain of Lokadi's death a year ago.  Lael is in our home now and every day we labor on behalf of her adoption BECAUSE her birthmother is no longer alive.  We do celebrate Lokadi's victorious reward in heaven because she was a believer!  We ask you to continue praying with us through the days and months ahead for Kadi Lael's adoption!  (Kadi is pronounced like Katy in English but derives from her mother's first name....well, at least ONE of her names!)
 
Keep interceding!
 
-Randy