The natural mother of Angelina Jolie‘s adopted Ethiopian daughter Zahara has made a heartfelt plea to the superstar actress telling her: ‘Please just let me talk to my daughter’.
Poverty stricken Mentewab Dawit Lebiso told Daily Mail Online she is desperate to be part of her 12-year-old daughter’s life – and called for Jolie to get custody of her daughter in the bitter split with Brad Pitt.
She dreams of one day meeting the girl she gave up as a tiny infant – but said she would settle for the chance to simply hear her voice.
‘I just want her to know that I am alive and here and long to be able to speak with her. I do not want my daughter back but just to be in contact with her and be able to call her up and talk with her,’ said Mentewab, who ekes out a living in Ethiopia.
Desperate: Mentewab Dawit Lebiso is Zahara Jolie Pitt’s biological mother, having given birth to her in Ethiopia after falling pregnant when she was attacked. Mentewab has never had any other children and now desperately wants some contact with Zahara
Bid for reunion: Mentewab, pictured left above, gave birth to Zahara, pictured above right with Angelina Jolie in 2007, in Ethiopia but the baby was put up for adoption as Mentewab was so sick. She is desperately disappointed she has no contact with Zahara
Poverty: The simple home in central Ethiopia where Mentewab makes a living renting out two rooms, which brings in less than £15 a month
Mother’s longing: Mentewab told MailOnline that while she had lost Zahara as a baby, she still felt grief. ‘I miss her all the time. I think about her every day and long to hear her voice or see her face’
New life: The life that Zahara Jolie Pitt would have lived in Ethiopia is far removed from the luxury of Los Angeles and life with Hollywood star and humanitarian campaigner Angelina Jolie. Her biological mother is still living in desperate poverty
Mentewab is the first to admit that the Jolie-Pitts have given her daughter everything she could wish for, adding: ‘Angelina has been more of a mother to her than I have ever been. She has been with her since she was a baby, but that does not mean I do not miss her.
But she adds: ‘I miss her all the time. I think about her every day and long to hear her voice or see her face.I know when she has a birthday but I am sad because I can’t celebrate it with her. I would so much want to celebrate with her on her birthday and other special days.
Angelina has been more of a mother to her than I have ever been. She has been with her since she was a baby, but that does not mean I do not miss herMentewab Dawit Lebiso
‘I long to be able to have regular contact with her.’
Daily Mail Online tracked down Mentewab to a town in central Ethiopia far from the capital Addis Ababa and tourist attractions of the African country.
During an exclusive interview Mentewab looked close to tears as she mentioned her daughter’s name and talks of her hopes of one day being reunited with her.
Even now, 12 years after giving up her only child for adoption the pain as she talks about Zahara is clear in her face.
Lonely birthdays: Mentewab told MailOnline she knows every time Zahara’s birthday passes but cannot mark it because she wants to celebrate with her
Modest: The tiny home where Mentewab lives and rents out two rooms is her only source of income. The 31-year-old says she has not received any letters, pictures or money from Angelina since the adoption 12 years ago
Rural: This muddy road where cows graze freely is most likely where Zahara Jolie Pitt would have lived if she had not been adopted by star Angelina. Now it is where her birth mother Mentewab ekes out an existence
Poverty: Mentewab lives off this humble road in Ethiopia. She does not have any photos of her daughter on display as she does not want others in the town to know she gave away her daughter – even if it was to one of Hollywood’s most famous female stars
Brutal rape: One night, when her grandmother was away on business, a stranger broke in and subjected her to a vicious attack. When, a few months later, it became impossible to hide the fact that Mentewab was pregnant, her relatives disowned her
Poor: Mentewab lives in a poor Ethiopian town but occasionally follows her daughter’s progress online and receives news from her brother in America
Struggle: Mentewab initially kept her daughter, whom she had named Yemasrech, which means ‘good news’, but struggled to make enough money then ran away, leaving her with her own mother Almaz Elfneh (left)
No conflict: Mentewab insists she is not asking for her daughter back and praises Angelina Jolie as a good mother. She says simply: ‘I would like Zahara to know she has a mother who loves her as much as Angelina’
She lowers her eyes, and speaking through an interpreter, says softly in her native, Amharic tongue : ‘I would like Zahara to know she has a mother who loves her as much as Angelina.
‘I know her life is with Angelina is in another country and she speaks another language than me.
We all die sometime and before I die I would like her to know about me and that she has family here in Ethiopia. I would ask Angelina to let me speak with her. I do not think it is too much to ask
‘She has a life that I could never give her, but I would still like to have some contact. I would like to see her face. She has grown into a beautiful woman and I am so proud of her. My heart bursts because I am so proud.
‘We all die sometime and before I die I would like her to know about me and that she has family here in Ethiopia.
‘I would ask Angelina to let me speak with her. I do not think it is too much to ask.’
The 31-year-old has had no contact with Zahara since she was taken to America by Jolie when she was just six months old in 2005.
Mentewab has not received a card or letter from Jolie in past 12 years. Contact with birth mother is rare for adopted children growing up, however, they have a right to try and trace birth parents when they reach 18.
And despite her and Pitt’s combined wealth estimated at over $500m Mentewab has not received any financial help to escape the dire poverty that sees her surviving on less than pds 15 a month and living in a one room home with no running water or toilet.
‘No money has ever been offered and that does not worry or disappoint me,’ said Mentewab.
Megastar Jolie was told that Zahara was orphaned when she adopted her in 2005, and had lost her parents through Aids.
It is thought that she had no idea that Mentewab was alive until 2007, when she gave her first interview.
Maternal: Angelina Jolie was clearly besotted with her newly adopted daughter Zahara as she planted a kiss on her head just after her arrival in the United States in 2005
‘Aids orphan’: Angelina Jolie revealed she had been told Zahara’s mother had died of Aids when she adopted her in 2005, and said she was also suffering from dehydration and malnutrition. In fact her mother was still alive
New family: Angelina Jolie first adopted son Maddox from Cambodia, in 2002, and later daughter Zahara from Ethiopia, in 2005
Life of riches: Zahara, pictured left above with Angelina Jolie and sister Shiloh, right in 2015, was born into grinding poverty in Ethiopia but adopted by Jolie after her mother fell ill after the birth. Zahara’s birth mother, who gets by on less than £15 a week, wants to be able to talk to her
Mentewab is adamant she does not want to destabilise her daughter, nor is she after money. She simply wants any form of contact she can, although she acknowledges that there is no obligation for Jolie to get in touch.
Gesturing around the bare concrete walls of her home in a back street of the dusty Ethiopian town where she lives, she says: ‘What would I do with the money. I do not want any money from Angelina. She does not have to send me any money, but all I would like is to talk with Zahara.’
Zahara was the second of three children adopted by Jolie,41, and her superstar husband Brad Pitt.
I do not want any money from Angelina. She does not have to send me any money, but all I would like is to talk with Zahara
Hollywood’s golden couple – until their recent split and acrimonious custody battle – also have three other children of their own.
The six children currently live with Jolie in Malibu, California, after Pitt faced allegations, which were later dropped, of strict treatment of the eldest boy Maddox,15, and unsubstantiated rumours of drug use.
The actress has been granted custody of the children Maddox, Shiloh, 10, Pax, 12, and twins Vivienne and Knox, eight, as well as Zahara while lawyers hammer out a divorce settlement and final custody agreement.
Mentewab said she is aware of the divorce as relatives in America keep her informed of any developments by reading out stories from the media.
She had also learned from the internet about the allegations made against 53-year-old Pitt and firmly comes down on the side of Jolie in the couple’s high profile custody battle.
‘I want my daughter to stay with Angelina. She is a good mother and all children should stay with their mother,’ she said.
‘I am sorry that they are splitting up and I will pray for them, but I do not think it will affect Zahara that much.’
However she insisted Pitt had been ‘good father’ to her daughter Zahara.
Deserted: After Mentewab left Almaz took the baby to the local council to ask for help, amid fears she was becoming dangerously malnourished. Almaz said in 2007: ‘I went to the Kebele (the local council) and said to them, ‘Please take the baby before she dies’
Alone but informed: Mentewab has not married or had any other children. She said she is aware of the divorce as her older brother who lives in America keeps her informed of any developments by reading out stories from the media. She had also learned from the internet about the allegations made against 53 year old Pitt and firmly comes down on the side of Jolie in the couple’s high profile custody battle
‘Broken’ promise: A fixer then took the baby to Addis Ababa, and it is claimed that he promised he would keep in touch. Mentewab told MailOnline: ‘I do not want any money from Angelina. All I would like is to talk with Zahara’
‘I do not know who is in the right and who is in the wrong. It is very sad when a marriage breaks up, but I known they will be thinking about their children,’ she said.
‘I am not worried about Zahara in this as she will be looked after by them both. I know they love the children and they will not want any hurt to come to them.
I do not know who is in the right and who is in the wrong. It is very sad when a marriage breaks up, but I known they will be thinking about their children
‘I have read about what Brad Pitt is supposed to be like but I do not recognise this person. This is a man who has looked after and cared for my daughter. He is a good man and I hope that they can settle whatever it is between them and move on with their lives.’
In the days after Jolie filed for divorce she considered a restraining order against Pitt while child protection agencies in Los Angeles launched an investigation after a complaint their eldest son Maddox had been verbally abused on a private flight by a drunk Pitt.
The investigation was dropped but Jolie then insisted her soon to be ex-husband undergo drug testing four times a month.
That information came to light after Pitt filed court documents in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles to request that all records regarding custody issues be kept under seal.
Mentewab said she does not want to take sides in the custody battle, although she believes the six children should stay with their mother.
Humble: In this modest home, built by Mentewab’s father, she now earns a living by renting out two rooms but insists she does not want Angelina Jolie’s money
Birthplace: Zahara, who was originally named Yemasrech, which means ‘good news’, was conceived in the dusty Ethiopian town of Shone where Mentewab was staying with her grandmother
As Zahara lives with one of the world’s most high profile and recognizable names, Mentewab has had no trouble keeping up with her life.
Tucked away in a draw in one of the few pieces of furniture in her living room Mentewab has a file packed with newspaper cuttings and photos of her daughter and Jolie.
The photos from celebrity magazines are well worn where they have repeatedly handled.
Mentewab does not have any photos of her daughter on display as she does not want others in the town to know she gave away her daughter – even if it was to one of Hollywood’s most famous female stars.
Two cousins who live in an adjoining home are even now not aware that Zahara Jolie-Pitt is her daughter.
Mentewab does not like to talk about the adoption as it brings back painful memories – not just of losing her baby but of how she came to be pregnant.
Mentewab says she was 19 years old when she gave birth to a baby girl she called Yemasrech.
In her native Amharic language the name means ‘good news’.
She did not know the father as her child was conceived as a result of a brutal rape attack.
Mentawab was staying in her grandmother’s house in Shone when an intruder broke in an attacked her.
She was too scared to tell her parents but when the pregnancy began to show she was forced to admit the truth.
Initially disowned by her family, she went to live in the nearby town of Hosanna where she says she gave birth to the baby later named Zahara in January 2005.
Stunning but so poor: Such is the grinding poverty of the majority of families in Shone, where Mentewab was attacked, is that children have to work to support themselves and their wider family. Pictured: A camel walks through the fields on the outskirts of the town
Arid: In the blistering heat around Awassa, where Zahara was taken to be adopted, a man carries sticks on the plains in a symbol of the extreme hand-to-mouth existence of the families that Zahara came from
Basic: In a clear sign of the poverty in Awassa, where Zahara was taken to be adopted, children play at the perimeter fence of the airport in the town
Same generation, different lives: Young women around the same age as Zahara walk down the street in Shone, Ethiopia. Most go to school until the age of 16 but also work to support their families
Hard at work: Two boys brush the dusty streets in Awassa, Ethiopia, where Zahara was adopted
With no money and nowhere to live, Mentewab said her daughter became severely malnourished and was close to death.
‘My baby was sick and I was very weak and sick after the birth,’ she said. In a previous interview, Mentewab’s mother Almaz Elfneh has told how she had looked after the baby when Mentewab ran away, unable to cope with the strain of earning enough and caring for her daughter.
I could not look after her and my mother, uncle and his wife suggested I put her up for adoption. I was so weak I agreed. I agreed that she should be put up for adoption but if I had my chance again I would have kept her
But Mentewab told MailOnline she was simply too sick to look after her daughter, and did not abandon her: ‘I could not look after her and my mother, uncle and his wife suggested I put her up for adoption. I was so weak I agreed. I agreed that she should be put up for adoption but if I had my chance again I would have kept her.
‘By taking her Angelina has saved my baby’s life and she also saved my life. I will always be very grateful to her for that.’
The Wide Horizons For Children agency in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, handled the adoption and on Jolie’s return to the US with Zahara reports surfaced that her birth mother had died from AIDS.
Twelve years on Mentewab is still angry that people were led to believe she had died from the disease.
She blames a ‘Mr Fix-it’ who handled the adoption for making up the story that she had died of AIDS.
There is no suggestion Angelina Jolie did anything illegal in the adoption, or was aware of Zahara’s apparent history.
Hard labour: A women brushes the dusty streets in Awassa, Ethiopia, where the girls who complete their education often have to move to have any chance of finding a job. It is in Awassa that Zahara was adopted
Hand to mouth: Fishermen bring in the morning catch on Lake Awassa, near the large dusty town, population 258,808, where Angelina Jolie adopted her daughter in 2005
Rural: Had 12-year-old Zahara remained in Awassa or Shone her aspirations would have been vastly different and by her late teens, as is the custom in Ethiopia, she would have been expected to be married and begun producing children. Pictured: Fishermen bring in the catch on Lake Awassa
After giving up her baby Mentewab continued to live with her parents and three sisters.
But seven years ago she moved to a town 100kms away with her father after he paid $133 for a small plot of land set back about 100 metres from the main road that runs through the town.
He built a one room house where Mentawab lives and two other rooms that she rents out for $20 a month and is her only income.
Her father died soon after building the homes and Mentawab now lives alone in the single storey concrete home covered by a corrugated iron roof.
The main living room that contains a small table and three chairs is separated from the single bed by as washing line on drying clothes.
A battered chest of draws contains the photos Mentewab has amassed of her daughter and there is a small 15inch Tv.
The room is lit by a single 60watt bulb that is switched on when Mentewab pushes two bare wires together.
There is no heating and no air conditioning and the toilet is a small hole in the ground. A small stove for cooking is in one corner and Mentewab appears to have few, if any, possessions.
Like many thousands of others in Ethiopia, Mentawab faces a daily battle to survive.
Her life is a world away from the luxury and privileged lifestyle enjoyed by Jolie and her children, including Zahara who has expressed an interest in modeling.
While the Jolie-Pitt’s travel on private jets between their various multi million pound homes, Mentewab walks everywhere.
Her daily journey to college means she often shares the road with donkeys, cows and goats that wander around the streets.
Poor: The Wide Horizons For Children agency in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, pictured above, handled the adoption and on Jolie’s return to the US with Zahara reports surfaced that her birth mother had died from AIDS.
Capital: Twelve years on from the adoption finalised in Addis Ababa Mentewab is still angry that people were led to believe she had died from the disease
Adoption centre: The Wide Horizons adoption agency from which Angelina Jolie adopted Zahara, pictured in July 2005 in Addis Ababa when Jolie and Pitt had arrived to pick her up
The 100,000 people who live in and around her town share the roads with the animals with many children engaged in looking after goat herds that meander through the town.
Outside the rusting corrugated iron that serves a front gate at Mentewab’s home, three cows scour the dust covered ground for something to eat.
Inside the small holding several young children, barefoot and their faces smeared with dirt, wander around along with several chickens.
I told them all I wanted was to be allowed to speak with my daughter but when this message was given to Angelina they said I wanted her back and if she came for a visit I would never let her go back to America. That is not true, but that is what they told her
Mentewab’s income is from the rent on the two rooms and any money her brother, who lives in Texas after winning a green card to move to the US in a lottery, can send her from his job as a lorry driver.
She acknowledges that she is ‘barely’ surviving and says it is for this reason she does not want her daughter to return home.
She said two years after the adoption representatives of Jolie and Pitt came to visit her and discuss possible contact.
‘I told them all I wanted was to be allowed to speak with my daughter but when this message was given to Angelina they said I wanted her back and if she came for a visit I would never let her go back to America. That is not true, but that is what they told her.’
Mentewab admits that losing her daughter and not being able to see her has shaped her life.
Happy families: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were pictured leaving the Venice festival in 2007 with their children Zahara, left, Shiloh centre and Maddox, right
She has never married and made the decision not to have any more children.
‘I have given away one baby and I do not want to give away another,’ she said.
‘I want to have the means to support my own child. If I was faced with giving away another child I would do everything in my power to stop that. I would beg every day and go door to door asking for help before I gave away another child,’ she said.
‘I do not want to be reliant on anyone and that is why I have never married. I want to be able to support myself.’
To do that, and one day start a family, Mentewab is completing a three year course in woodwork at a local technical college.
She wants to make furniture and open her own shop.
‘I would like to get the machinery and hire staff and do it all,’ she said.
Custody: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have split and have now vowed to keep their divorce private after months of damaging headlines. Pictured: Brad Pitt (R) with his son Knox (in arms), daughter Zahara, left, as actress Angelina Jolie holds daughter Vivienne and son Maddox, left, and daughter Shiloh, right centre, upon their arrival at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport in January 2009
Large brood: The family of eight have been regularly photographed at international airports, with Brad Pitt with his wife actress Angelina Jolie shepherding their six children themselves as they arrive in Japan
‘That would be a great achievement for me and would show that I have made some progress with my life.’
Until she can speak with her daughter Mentewab said she takes great satisfaction in looking at photographs of her on her mobile phone.
‘I am so proud when I see her face. She is growing into a beautiful young woman and that makes me so happy.
I am very happy looking at her progress and see her grow up, but there is also much sadness as I know I am missing out on this.
I am so proud when I see her face. She is growing into a beautiful young woman and that makes me so happy
‘There are lots of children her age in the town and they look so much younger than her. She is tall and so beautiful and as her mother I could not be prouder.
Angelina Jolie revealed she had been told Zahara was an AIDS orphan when she adopted her in 2005.
In an interview with CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer she also admitted she did not know how Zahara was conceived.
Asked to talk about Zahara, she said: ‘She’s from Ethiopia, she’s an AIDS orphan.
The actress said Zahara was in poor health when she collected her from an orphanage in Addis Ababa.
She aid: ‘I think the most upsetting thing for me was that I came here — she had to go to the hospital for dehydration and malnutrition.
‘And when she got there, was lots of other things that they were concerned about that were showing up that turned out to be different things. They thought there was a mass in her arm. It turned out to be a rickets fracture from being malnourished. And things like this.’
Jolie said there were fears her daughter had HIV, but these proved unfounded.
As Jolie’s film career took off she became more involved with humanitarian causes.
Hugs for mummy: The bond between Angelina and Zahara is obvious in the many photographs of the pair, with Jolie pictured clutching her adopted daughter in delight throughout her infancy and toddlerhood, and holding her hand as she grew older
United front: Despite the growing strains in the marriage, the family were pictured altogether at the Maleficent premiere in 2014 with children (L-R) Pax Jolie-Pitt, Zahara Jolie-Pitt, Knox Jolie-Pitt, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt and Maddox Jolie-Pitt
In 2001 Jolie was recognized and named a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Goodwill Ambassador to help educate the public not only about the plight of refugees.
Using her star power she has visited more than 20 countries to highlight the humanitarian problems they are facing and to focus attention on refugees searching for a new life.
Among the countries she visited were Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Cambodia, Pakistan, Syria, and Iraq.
With husband Brad she set up the Jolie-Pitt Foundation to work towards protecting natural resources and conserving wildlife.
Jolie has also met US lawmakers more than 20 times in Washington DC to lobby for causes close to her heart.
In 2010, the United Nations promoted Angie from Goodwill Ambassador to a diplomat.
She is now a special envoy and represents the UN Refugee Agency to other diplomats, governments, and officials around the world.
Representatives for Angelina Jolie did not respond to requests for comment.
Source:https://www.dailymail.co.uk