Adopted twins reunited, begin new lives in U.S.
Published: April 23, 2007
The airline said she hadn’t made the flight. But the Liberian adoption agency said she did.
So Joe and LaVerne Matthew, an East Cleveland couple eager to meet their new daughter, Yealay, paced, waited and prayed for hours Friday at O’Hare International Airport, unsure whether their drive to Chicago had been in vain.
They were waiting to reunite Liberian twin girls, toddlers who ended up on different continents during the adoption process due to illness.
Yealay’s twin, 14-month-old Decontee, arrived 10 days ago. On Friday, Decontee cuddled on Joe’s knee contentedly, but she couldn’t stay awake as the wait dragged on.
She drank a bottle, fell asleep in LaVerne’s arms and groggily refused to wake up at the joyful moment when her twin finally came through the door, part of a group of 14 African youths being adopted in the United States.
Yealay, a mirror image of her sister, was handed to LaVerne. She quietly studied her new family, while Joe, LaVerne and their teen daughters, Garmai and Nowai, delightedly scrutinized her right back.
“They are identical!” said LaVerne, 47. “In their pictures, they didn’t look so alike.”
After he got his first hug of the little one, who was clad in a yellow sleeper, Joe said, “This is incredible. What a journey this has been.”
He said he feels the girls would not have survived had they remained in their homeland.
“A child without a mother — in Liberia, that would have been difficult,” said Joe, 48.
The Matthews, both born in Liberia, weren’t sure if they could afford to adopt twin toddlers, but they knew they had to give it a try, especially after generous Clevelanders read their story in The Plain Dealer last month and donated funds, clothes and four cribs.
The twins are the daughters of LaVerne’s cousin, who died in childbirth. The girls were placed in a Liberian orphanage after their father, an illiterate farmer, could not raise them alone.
Yealay’s arrival was delayed because she had malaria, and required blood transfusions.
Decontee has grown increasingly more comfortable in her surroundings since she arrived in the United States. She spent her first two days in a hospital room at Cleveland Clinic, where tests showed she was healthy but underweight at 17 pounds.
Decontee babbles, laughs and giggles. But the 14-month-old does not walk. She crawls a little but mostly likes to be held.
Many Clevelanders have come forward to support the Matthews, a couple with modest earnings who didn’t know how they would pay the $27,000 in adoption fees. Joe’s colleagues at Sherwin-Williams Co. took up a collection. People have donated baby items to Christ the King Catholic Church in East Cleveland, where LaVerne serves as a bookkeeper.
The Matthews said the support has given them strength.
“I don’t know what it’s like to live on faith, but I think I’m learning,” LaVerne said.
Yesterday the double stroller a friend donated ended up hauling only baby bags and extra blankets. The Matthews hugged the reunited twins tightly, all the way to their car.
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