Poverty stricken Mentewab Dawit Lebiso, who is the biological mother of
Angelina Jolie’s adopted Ethiopian daughter Zahara, has made a heartfelt
plea to Jolie to let her have access or at least be able to talk to her
daughter on the phone.
Lebiso who gave birth to her daughter when she was only 19 in 2005, says
she doesn’t know the father of her baby because she was brutally raped
by an unknown man who broke into her grandmother’s house in Shone, while
she was there for a visit.
She said when she gave birth to her baby girl, she named her Yemasrech, which in her native Amharic language, means ‘good news’.
She said after she got pregnant from the rape, she was too scared to
tell her parents, but when the pregnancy began to show, she was forced
to tell them.
She said after she confessed that she was pregnant, her family initially
disowned her, so she went to live in the nearby town of Hosanna where
she says she gave birth to her daughter in January 2005.
‘My baby was sick and I was very weak and sick after the birth,’ she said.
Lebiso’s mum, Almaz Elfneh, in a previous interview said Lebiso left the
baby with her and ran away when she couldn’t provide for her anymore.
But Lebiso denies abandoning her child adding that she was simply too
sick to cater for her. She said: ‘I could not look after her and my
mother, uncle and his wife suggested I put her up for adoption. I was so
weak I agreed. I agreed that she should be put up for adoption but if I
had my chance again I would have kept her. ‘By taking her Angelina has
saved my baby’s life and she also saved my life. I will always be very
grateful to her for that.’
According to Daily Mail, Lebiso says she is desperate to be part of her 12-year-old daughter’s life.
She said she’s always dreamed of one day meeting the daughter she gave
up as an infant – but said she would settle for the chance to just hear
her voice over the phone.
Lebiso who still lives in a ghetto in Ethiopia said:
‘I just want her to know that I am alive and here and long to be able to
speak with her. I do not want my daughter back but just to be in
contact with her and be able to call her up and talk with her’.
She said two years after the adoption, representatives of Angelina Jolie
and Brad Pitt came to visit her and discuss possible future contact.
‘I told them all I wanted was to be allowed to speak with my daughter,
but when this message was given to Angelina they said I wanted her back
and if she came for a visit I would never let her go back to America.
That is not true, but that is what they told her.
Lebiso says she knows about the divorce between Angelina Jolie and Brad
Pitt and that she also knows about the allegations made against
53-year-old Pitt. She says she knows that Pitt is a good father but that
she’d rather have Zahara stay with Jolie.
She said:
“She is a good mother and all children should stay with their mother,’
she said. ‘I am sorry that they are splitting up and I will pray for
them, but I do not think it will affect Zahara that much.’
She says all she wants to be able to do is talk to her child. She
praised Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt for giving her daughter the best
life possible, adding:
‘Angelina has been more of a mother to her than I have ever been. She
has been with her since she was a baby, but that does not mean I do not
miss her. ‘I miss her all the time. I think about her every day and
long to hear her voice or see her face. I know when she has a birthday
but I am sad because I can’t celebrate it with her. I would so much want
to celebrate with her on her birthday and other special days.
newspaper cuttings and photos of her daughter, Zahara and Angelina Jolie
but does not have any photos of her daughter on display in the tiny
house she lives in, because she does not want others in the town to know
she gave away her daughter.
capital, handled Zahara’s adoption and on Jolie’s return to the US with
Zahara reports surfaced that her birth mother (Lebiso) had died from
AIDS.
had died from AIDS when she is still alive and healthy albeit poor.
She has never married and made the decision not to have any more children.
‘I have given away one baby and I do not want to give away another,’ she said.
‘I want to have the means to support my own child. If I was faced with
giving away another child I would do everything in my power to stop
that. I would beg every day and go door to door asking for help before I
gave away another child,’ she said.
‘I do not want to be reliant on anyone and that is why I have never
married. I want to be able to support myself.’
To do that, and one day start a family.
She wants to make furniture and open her own shop.
‘I would like to get the machinery and hire staff and do it all,’ she said.
Source: Daily Mail.
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