Volunteer and Ethiopian adoptee renew unlikely bond

Christine Ieronimo, a nurse from Connecticut, traveled across the world and discovered just how much she loves the Twin Cities.

Ieronimo visited Minneapolis this month to express thanks to a "mystery man" and his wife, who are actually quite well-known here. It was hard to tell who felt more grateful.

"I'm just a 4 1/2-hour piece of the story," insisted Ralph Strangis, a business lawyer more comfortable discussing Minnesota Twins negotiations than Eva, Ieronimo's Ethiopian adopted daughter who, at the moment, was nestled happily in his lap.

Ieronimo begs to differ. "With Ralph, Eva felt safe and comfortable. She didn't want to let go."

Here's the story:

After Ieronimo's aunt died of breast cancer at age 61, she wanted to honor her aunt's memory by taking up a meaningful cause. She and her husband, Michael, parents of two boys and one girl, were sponsoring two girls in Uganda, "but I wanted to do more," Ieronimo said.

"More," her family decided, meant adopting a child from Africa. She contacted a social worker in Connecticut who worked with St. Paul-based Children's Home Society and Family Service and was matched with 2-year-old Eva, who lived in an orphanage in Hossana, Ethiopia. Ieronimo planned to travel to Ethiopia to get Eva in the spring of 2008.

For two days in Hossana, Strangis and Eva played together and bonded. "She'd probably never seen a person of my size or color before," Strangis said last week with a laugh, seated on a couch in the couple's beautifully appointed penthouse overlooking the Mississippi.

When it was time to take 25 children on the rugged journey to Addis Ababa, he scooped Eva up. "She pulled a flower off a tree, and then we were in the car," said Strangis, the father of four adult children and grandfather of six. "For 4 1/2 hours, she was my child."

Eva, who had likely never been in a car before, slept in his lap (car seats and seat belts are largely nonexistent there), then woke up to water and cookies offered by the big man. They looked out the window together as cars buzzed past and women walked along the roads carrying bundles of sticks and jugs of water.

"When we got to the orphanage, I went to give her to the Ethiopian nanny," Strangis said, "and she was reluctant to go."

After leaving Ethiopia, he couldn't stop wondering about Eva. Ieronimo, too, wanted to piece together her adopted daughter's journey, including identifying and thanking the man holding Eva in a photograph in Eva's file. A CHS spokesperson told her about Pathways. A woman at Pathways sent her photos of two men on the trip. Bingo. "That's the man," she said.

Strangis is thrilled with how well Eva is doing, buzzing about and talking a mile a minute. "Amazing," he said. "She's very confident."

Ieronimo is amazed, too. Two years ago, she returned to Connecticut with a very sick child. Eva had pneumonia. She was tiny and malnourished. One day after a rainfall, Ieronimo stepped outside and saw Eva drinking water from a puddle in the driveway.

Ieronimo had her cause. "I became obsessed with the fact that so many countries in the world exist without potable water. We take so much for granted."

The moment inspired Ieronimo to write a children's picture book, "Drinking from Puddles," to be published in 2011 with proceeds benefitting the Hossana area. She and Grace also plan to partner on upcoming projects, such as setting up a clinic or school there. "I feel I need to give back to Hossana, which is a beautiful area that needs help," Ieronimo said.

"The puddle, the book, Ralph. It's all coming together."