Real Life Miracles Bring African Child to Raeford North Carolina Family and the Make-A-Wish Foundation by Vic Fichman

Charity and Igor Alanso of Raeford North Carolina knew just one thing. Their growing family was missing something or more accurately someone. Though they had two children of their own, this family of four felt compelled by forces they could only attribute to God and their Christian faith to adopt a child from Africa.

Having been exposed to friends and family who themselves were missionaries to Africa, they knew full well the critical need for adoptive parents in this region. They set out first on their own, then with the help of an organization known as “Acres of Hope” to locate a 2 year old girl to adopt. They were able to locate and adopt not one but two girls whom they wished to bring to the United States. While waiting to deal with a host of complications that kept coming up in the course of adopting their new daughters, they unexpectedly met and fell in love with a young man named Darling Boy Bupeamie.

Darling’s story wasn’t your typical adoptive story even among the many and varied tales you hear of African adoptions. All his short life of 12 years he’d been a very sick child and in a country where it’s not uncommon for families to take the sickest children with no hope of survival out into the bush to murder them, made the fact that he was still alive in the first place to be adopted the first in a series of miracles associated with this young man.

Darling’s birth father saved, begged and borrowed every penny he could gather (over $6,000 Liberian dollars or the equivalent of $60.00 US) to bring his Darling Boy out of the deepest, poorest section of Africa (where the natives were lucky to even have clothes to wear and the average income is $30.00 US) into Monrovia in the hopes of finding someone, anyone, to save his beloved child (one of 10 brothers and sisters).

His father spent weeks visiting every aid agency available begging for help and mercy for his son until the last possible day he could stay. Only at the last minute did the Acres of Hope organization say “yes” they’d help.

Charity Alanso had traveled on her own to Monrovia Liberia to get to the bottom of problems her family was experiencing in their efforts to adopt a young girl. She was staying at a missionary compound run by Acres of Hope when she first met Darling. But that wasn’t the first time she’d heard of him. Charity had seen his picture on the Acres of Hope website weeks before she’d even arrived in country and had wondered about the sick little boy who so desperately needed help. She knew full well that “older” children are seldom adopted, let alone one who was seriously ill.

One night Charity arrived at the compound she was staying at after a grueling session with government officials (both ours and theirs) to find Darling staying in the same section she was housed in. They struck up a conversation that quickly progressed into something stronger, culminating with his adoption several weeks later, on the very day before the Alanso’s government permissions to adopt and their visa’s where set to expire. Just as if someone upstairs was watching out for both the Alonso’s and Darling. With the government’s blessing, the birth father’s best wishes and love, Darling began his journey to America and medical help along with a new 9 year old sister Aries adopted at the same time.

To Doctor’s here in America, it quickly became clear that Darling Boy, now known by the adoptive name Emanuel Alanso was a very sick young man. Suffering from Epstein’s Malformation, Emanuel is facing very grave surgery at the University of Alabama Birmingham Hospital with very long odds of survival. Doctor’s therefore put his family in touch with the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Central & Western North Carolina immediately to see what they could do to help the young man and his family spirits in this time of grave concern.

Meeting with Emmanuel was a pleasure. With a very bright smile and a very intelligent demeanor he’s ready to tell us about his homeland, and we learn from his proud adoptive parents he’s very smart. He speaks and/or understands four languages! His native tongue, English, French, and Spanish.

His wish, it turns out, is very straight forward. He has been in contact with his birth father via phone on several occasions since his arrival here and he would very much like to see his Dad and his favorite brother one last time before his surgery and whatever the final results are.

There’s one more equally heart wrenching twist to this story. Emmanuel’s adoptive father is a Sgt. in the Air Force. While serving in Iraq last year the hummer he was riding in as a roof gunner was unexpectedly swept over by a sandstorm that blew in off the desert. The driver hit a large hole in the roadway and he was thrown from the vehicle onto the roadway where he crushed a number of vertebrae. He is now constantly in crushing back pain. The pain killers are slowly killing his kidney’s. And the Air Force has decided to dis-charge him involuntarily. They say he’s entitled to one year’s pay and a very partial disability check and that’s it.

He’ll have no income. No job (as the sole bread winner of the family). No prospects for the future. No medical insurance for everything Emanuel’s going to need to pay for the treatment’s he’s to get and may need to recover. At age 26 his life and the life of his family on paper looks worthless. They are facing certain bankruptcy.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Central & Western North Carolina is stepping up to the plate to work immediately to bring Emmanuel’s Father and Brother here to America. There are of course complications. They can’t pay for the Visa fees, birth certificate costs, and the other application fees associated with the Family making their trip here. The family is doing the best they can from their end.

And yet, when asked, the family says they’d do nothing different. What fate the rest of us if we don’t reach out now for this family?

Emanuel still can’t understand why people want to help him. Give him things to make him feel better and a home. The only answer we can give is “Welcome to what’s best about America.”

He leaves July 5th for his surgery on July 8th at the University of Alabama – Birmingham where he’ll be operated on by Dr. Christopher Knotteraig.

Contact Information:

Igor and Charity Alonzo

(910) 848-2876 (Home)

Vic Fichman (Author of this story)

Make-A-Wish Foundation of Central & Western North Carolina Volunteer Wish Granter, Fundraiser, Speakers Bureau

FMS – 866-460-1044