Zahara’s birth family: I just want the best life for her



When Angelina Jolie adopted her daughter Zahara from an Ethiopian orphanage, she was told the baby’s mother had died of AIDS. But, as In Touch previously reported, a woman who claims to be Zahara’s mother is very much alive — and now tells In Touch she’s happy that the 2-year-old has found such a wonderful home. “I’m happy to see my daughter in a better life,” Mentewab Dawit Lebiso tells In Touch.

As In Touch revealed, Mentewab says she ran away from home in the first months of Zahara’s life because she was too poor to feed her. Unable to cope alone, Mentewab’s mother, Almaz, brought the child to a local official who contacted Wide Horizons for Children, an adoption agency. Although Almaz insists she told the official that her daughter had run away, Zahara’s legal papers claim that her mother had died. That agency has now called the police to investigate Almaz’s claim that she never said Zahara’s mother was dead. “The government has to clarify the matter,” Dr. Berhe Tsegaye, WHC’s Ethiopian head, tells In Touch.

Read all about Angelina’s adoption scandal in the new In Touch. Play the video above to see a portion of In Touch’s interview with Almaz, Zahara’s Ethiopian grandmother.

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