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.
With no money and nowhere to live, Mentewab said her daughter became severely malnourished and was close to death.
'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.
Lebiso who was interviewed by Dailymail.com has a file packed with 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.
She said even her two cousins who live in an adjoining home don't even know that Zahara Jolie-Pitt is her daughter.
The Wide Horizons For Children agency in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's 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.
Lebiso says she is still angry that people were led to believe that she had died from AIDS when she is still alive and healthy albeit poor.
She blames a 'Mr Fix-it' who handled the adoption for making up the story that she had died of AIDS.
There is no suggestion Angelina Jolie did anything illegal in the adoption, or was aware of Zahara’s apparent history.
Lebiso, now 31, attends College and lives in a home that was built for her by her father before he died. 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.
Lebiso is completing a three year course in woodwork at a local technical college. 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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