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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Liberian Kids Find Freedom To Love Again

Associated Press

Six brothers and sisters traveled half the globe to come here as refugees from a seven-year civil war in their Liberian homeland.

The five families who took them in are working together to make sure the orphaned youngsters retain their family ties. The children are linking up with a new world that officially became theirs Tuesday with final adoption proceedings before Lewis County Superior Court Judge David Draper.

“This is a joyous event,” Draper said as the six Togba children and their new parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles crammed his courtroom. “It is something this courthouse doesn’t see every day.”

After 11 months in America, Gbenie Togba Rinta, 10, has developed a passion for pizza, prawns and chicken with hot pepper seasoning.

And, she says, “I like my new family,” - adoptive parents Sharon and Gary Rinta of Mossyrock.

“I feel that we have been given a gift in adopting Gbenie,” Gary Rinta said. “The sad thing is there are thousands of orphans over there.”

For six of them, at least, the war is over. Small towns in Lewis and Clark counties of southwest Washington now are home to Gbenie, her 6-year-old sister Vamma and their brothers 13-year-old Kerkula, 9-year-old Jude, 7-year-old Galima and 7-year-old Mortuma.

They became part of an extended family here that includes the Rintas, three of Sharon Rintas’ siblings and a family friend.

The Togba children are from the village of Gbarnga, a few hours east of Liberia’s capital, Monrovia. Fighters from one of the warring factions terrorized village residents and the Togbas were among many families who hid for weeks in the bush.

Their father, a carpenter, was killed in the war a few years ago. The two mothers of the children also are gone - one sickened and died, the other fell victim to childbirth complications.

The youngsters lived in a constant state of insecurity and at one point were lined up before a firing squad. Finally, a woman from their village took them in for a month and then brought them to an orphanage in Monrovia.

In February 1996, Sharon Rinta’s brother, Nathan Jones, a Woodland-based freelance photojournalist, went to Liberia on a photo assignment for the organization World Vision, based in Federal Way.

While there, he visited the orphanage run by African Christian Fellowship International and met the Togba kids.

On his return, he asked his sisters and their families if they would each be willing to adopt one or two of the siblings. A family friend also was enlisted.

The Joneses’ goal was to keep the children’s bonds to each other strong and close. The families’ decision was helped by an anonymous donor from South Carolina, whose contribution made it possible for them to adopt the children.

The five families all live within about an hour’s drive, and rely on each other as resources for discussion of issues ranging from health care to culture shock to schooling.

“These children are very blessed to have these families adopt them and provide them with a wonderful home life,” social worker Mary Hatzenbelter told the judge Tuesday.