This is post number 25 for National Care Leavers Month. Each day I post something from my archive relative to the subject. A nation is like a family and family is like a nation. It is as simple and complex as that. I know my people and I am known to my people and I say this as one who was lost. I first came to Ethiopia in 1995. The BBC documentary Internal flight came on that Journey. A boy born in Lancashire, stolen from his mother, brought up in Wigan who migrated to Manchester found his way to Ethiopia. But it was much more than just one journey. I was not going back to my roots. I was searching for my family. There is a difference. I had to tell my story so that the conditions of my disappearance could be fully understood. Slowly slowly through documentaries and interviews made here in Ethiopia by curious Ethiopians, and legends of broadcasting such as Meaza Birru on Sheger radio, my story was translated and heard and became known throughout the country. The Ethiopian baby stolen from his mother, fostered to English Christians then thrown away into institutions at 12 then left by the institutions at 18 with no one and no explanation had to fight his way back into his story and wear it regardless of whether he wanted to. I fought a system determined to forget and erase me. And I found evidence and I returned to Ethiopia with that evidence at 29, an acclaimed poet. I didn't know what my name meant. In my mother's tongue. it means 'Why'. How could I not be a poet with a name like Why. The story continues. There is so much joy now. A nation is like a family and family is like a nation. It is as simple and complex as that. Photo taken by John O'Rourke on Entoto at sunrise.

Then came November Winter's slow kiss Night draws in to her Frost claws summer's lips Photo by Vladmir Srajber

This is my 23rd post for National Care Leavers Month. Each day I post something from my archive relative to the subject. But today is different. Can you help me find someone. Please. In 1972 a Scottish couple fostered a baby and saved her. She is now looking for the couple to thank them. It means a lot to her. The birth mother recalls meeting them at The Red Cross Office in Edinburgh in 1972. She does not have any details about the foster mother BUT recalls that the foster father was a surgeon (possibly a neurosurgeon) AND that couple had a brown skinned adopted son, which would have been unusual at the time. Please help me find them on behalf of my friend. Please share this post. Especially if you are in Scotland. Image by Geralt