Spirit of Adoption Reaches Into Africa

It was that smile.

Four years ago this month, Cheryl Shotts of Indianapolis watched as Diane Sawyer interviewed a starving boy for a “60 Minutes” segment on the famine in the west African nation of Mali.

Mesmerized by the boy’s gentle grin and dignity in the face of the death around him, Shotts felt she must do something to save the child. Her life would soon become a voice for African children looking to escape a life of hunger, disease and poverty.

Shotts, a delegate at the North American Council on Adoptable Children, which wraps up its four-day annual convention at the Anaheim Marriott hotel today, is viewed as an example of the organization’s spirit.

An estimated 1,600 people came to Anaheim to swap ideas about adoptions in the United States and how Americans can adopt children from other countries. Shotts held a seminar on adopting African children Saturday night.

Joe Kroll, NACAC’s executive director, said the purpose of the conference is to provide workshops on various aspects of adoptions, including how to deal with children who have special needs and how parents can best provide for the new members of their families.

“We really do go out of our way to give children a future,” executive director Joe Kroll said Saturday.

For Shotts, the adoption process meant four months of red tape and $12,000 in expenses before Mohammed, the boy she had seen on “60 Minutes,” arrived to a new life in Indianapolis with her husband, Charlie, who flew to Mali to get the child.

Looking back, Shotts said Saturday that after seeing Mohammed on television she knew that she would find him “even if I had to tear up the world looking for him.”

Mohammed, estimated to be 13 at the time--no official records were available--at first thought he came overseas to be a housecleaner.

“I said, ‘No, you’re my son,’ ” Shotts said.

It didn’t take long for the family to realize that emotionally, Mohammed was a cross between a 20-year-old and a 5-year-old, she said. On one hand, he knew about MTV from a group of U.S. Army soldiers he had met in Mali. On the other, he did not know how to tie a shoelace or pull up a zipper.

Now 17, he likes wearing his Batman hat around the house-- and watching his TV favorite--CNN’s nightly news.

“He didn’t know how to be a child,” Shotts said of her son, who had been left alone since he was 5. “He never had a childhood.”

Shotts, who later located and adopted Mohammed’s brother, said her “African angel” enjoys learning in school and has adapted well. Now a U.S. citizen, Mohammed dreams of becoming the U.S. ambassador to Libya or Iran, she said.

Shotts, who formed Americans for African Adoptions Inc. after Mohammed arrived, leaves for Ethiopia in October planning to return with 13 children from that impoverished nation engulfed in civil war. The children will be adopted by families in the United States.

“These kids have tremendous potential,” she said. “Once they’re given the right environment, they excel.”