After living for a while in a developed country, you tend to take certain things for granted, like good food, good services, comfort, security, etc. And then you travel abroad and realize that most of the world lives in a way that any American or European citizen would consider impossible.
If you’ve lived all your life in America, as is the case for most American adoptive parents, and suddenly go to a country like Ethiopia to get your newly adopted child, you’ll probably have a big shock. Life is hard there, very hard.
In my case, the contrast between America and Ethiopia didn’t shock me much because I was born in Argentina, where in certain places life is much better than in Ethiopia, but it’s not comparable to life in America. There are also places in Argentina where people are really struggling to live, literally, and life is fragile, for example in provinces like Chaco or Formosa, to name just a couple.
We got a taste of what could happen in third world countries in our recent trip to Argentina. Just lowering my guard a little could have cost one of our children his life.

My mother and my brother live in two different houses built side by side and they are connected by two inside patios so in case my mom needs any help, my brother’s family can easily access her house and give her anything she needs.
One afternoon right after dinner we were in my mother’s house chatting at the table and my three children were bored and asked for permission to go and visit their cousins next door. Even when it wasn’t too late, it’s winter and it was already a little bit dark outside, but I let them go warning them to be careful when going down the few steps that separates both patios.
I wasn’t worried, after all what could happen? They were inside the house, protected from any danger, or that’s what I thought.
Feromsa went first and right after him Dylan who was taking Feven by the hand to make sure she didn’t trip on the stairs.
Two minutes after they left I heard a loud crashing sound and I immediately knew it was the patio door of my brother’s house. We ran over there and found the huge glass of the door all broken in big pieces; part of them were on the floor and part of them were still hanging from the top of the door’s frame like daggers . Dylan was crying at the top of his lungs with Feven still holding his hand. They both were fine, but we couldn’t find Feromsa anywhere. We couldn’t cross the door either since there were big pieces of glass still hanging from the door frame and threatening to fall.
Through a side door one of my nephews came out holding a bloody Feromsa on his arms. We feared the worst.
We sat Feromsa on my mothers couch and made a quick exam and I thought his eyes might have some glass pieces stuck inside them. We took him to the emergency room of a private hospital since it’s the only place where you get a chance to be seen fast if you have health insurance or, in our case, if you pay up front. Don’t even think about calling an ambulance, they will arrive too late, maybe one or two hours after you call. Miraculously he only had a few scratches on his face that caused all the bleeding and nothing else. Apparently he didn’t realize the glass door was closed and ran right through it without stopping or falling. I still don’t know how he did it without any significant cut, he could easily have cut an artery and died. His guardian angel was working overtime.
And it wasn’t an unexpected accident, I learned it has happened twice before.
The patio light was turned off. The glass they had on this door was VERY thin, so thin it breaks without much effort, and it doesn’t have any sticker on it to let you know that the door is closed. Feromsa can’t see well since he doesn’t have a good depth perception due to being blind from his right eye. I let my guard down thinking we were safe. 
This accident could have been prevented very easily. But that’s how they live in a country like Argentina. You would think that after this episode, someone has taken preventive measures. But the next day the glass was replaced by another of the same type, a cheap one. They could have installed a thicker one, or a glass that breaks into little square pieces, or maybe polycarbonate… But they chose not to, only to save money. They did not even install a security film on the glass to prevent it from cutting anyone in case it happens again. And the light is probably still off… to save money too.
I know accidents happen, but this one could have been prevented.
In places like Argentina people live precariously, sometimes because they lack the money and resources, but many times because they are used to live that way. They don’t value life, they blame things like this on destiny. There is even a national pride on living dangerously, like “machos”.
You can see in the picture below how close Feromsa came to injuring his eye.

I’m glad that now we only have to worry about erasing the scar on his cheek.
I feel guilty for letting this happen, and I’m still mad to them for not caring. I will never lower my guard again…

AliciA