Adopted teen seeks out and supports birth mom in order to share salvation

When Selam Ball was 15 years old, she, like any other teenager, got a job. Her job was at Papa Murphy’s pizza in Great Bend, Kan. She didn’t earn a whole lot, around $50 to $100 a month, and every single month she gave it all away.

At a Western Union office after payday, Selam would wire this money halfway around the world to a woman whom she did not know very well, but who holds an important spot in her life—she was Selam’s birth mom.

“You have to meet people’s basic needs before they will be receptive to hearing about Jesus,” Selam says as she explains her long-term goal of supporting her birth mom, which is to impress upon her the grace and mercy of Christ and the free salvation He offers to all.

Born in Ethiopia in the town of Addis Ababa, Selam’s father died when she was two years old, leaving her young mother, Emebet, alone to raise two small daughters, Selam and her little sister Tita. Emebet tried to care for the girls, but with little family support available and few chances to earn money, she eventually split the girls up between family members to care for them. She would always come back, Selam said, but one day, she didn’t.

The relative that Selam was left with cared for her for about a year, but then she too was not willing or able to care for Selam, eventually placing her in an orphanage. Selam was six years old.

At first Selam was devastated, depressed, mad and defiant, but as time went by, she began to see school and education as a way to break free from the poverty she had known. She worked hard and excelled in every area, and it paid off. When she was 12, her good grades helped her earn a spot in a group of students traveling to the United States for an adoption youth camp sponsored by the Gladney Center for Adoption. 

The camp allowed those youth who were eligible for adoption to be paired with prospective adoptive families, which Selam did when she got to the U.S. The experience did not go well. Selam went home with a childless single woman who lived in a rural area. It was a vast change from the noise and chaos of being in an orphanage, and Selam became lonely. She thanked the woman for her hospitality, but said that she was declining her offer of adoption. Selam was devastated. Here was her chance to move out of poverty, and she just basically gave it up. However, she said she knows now that God was involved with the situation and had other plans for her.

In Great Bend, Kan., Mark and Krista Ball, along with several families from their church, were also working with Gladney and came across Selam’s photo. The Balls already had seven children, four biological and three adopted, but there was something about Selam that Mark Ball couldn’t get past.

“My dad had heard the story of me turning down the lady in Texas, and he said he just knew it was because I was meant to be with them,” Selam said. After the initial shock of the thought of adding another child to their brood, Selam’s mom, Krista, agreed.

So at the age of 14, Selam was united with her forever family in Great Bend. She said the day her mom came to pick her up at the airport and take her home was magical, saying that the two of them instantly clicked.

The Ball family was always very involved with church, and Selam attended as well. At first the language barrier was a challenge for Selam as she listened to the pastor, but as time went by the message became clearer and clearer. The biggest revelation for Selam was salvation is a free gift from God. The national Christian religion in Ethiopia is the Ethiopian Orthodox religion, which stresses work as the means to gain access to Heaven. It was all that Selam had known since birth.

As the reality of the free gift of salvation from Christ began to settle in her heart, Selam slowly began to feel His presence growing stronger and stronger in her life, and at the age of 15, she accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. Her next thought after her acceptance was that she needed to tell her birth mom and her biological sister about the free gift of grace.

Facebook allowed Selam to reconnect with her biological sister, Tita, who is just a year younger than Selam. Through Tita, Selam learned about the plight of her birth mom. Diagnosed with diabetes, and living in poverty, Selam’s birth mom was needing support. It was then that Selam made the decision to financially support her mom, and get a job at Papa Murphy’s.

In 2010, at the age of 16, Selam, along with her mom, Krista, and her friend, Melani Skinner, made the trip back to Ethiopia, where the women met with Selam’s biological sister and mother in a restaurant in Addis Ababa.

“The meeting was a little awkward,” Selam admits, “but they were both very sweet.”

Selam shared the news with Tita and Emebet that salvation is a free gift to those who put their faith in Jesus Christ, telling them that no works were needed to assure their eternal salvation. It was a hard message for them to hear, Selam said.

“My mom is very set in her ways and the Orthodox religion. So, I told them what I needed to, and we prayed, but there was no quick conversion on their part,” she said.

Selam’s mission now is to continue to love her mother from afar by helping Emebet meet her basic needs, hoping that someday the message that she delivered in that restaurant will become reality for her.

Since Selam went to college in Hays, Kans., and is a full-time student and athlete as a pole-vaulter for the Hays’ track team, she has been unable to work to provide for her biological mother. However, her mom and dad stepped in and are providing the money Emebet needs to pay her bills and buy medicine. Once Selam is finished with school, she will be able to once again support her birth mom. However, this may be a while.

Selam will graduate this May from Hays, and then will attend the University of Nebraska Lincoln’s Medical Center to study dentistry, which will take four years. Part of her tuition will be paid for by the U.S. Army, so once graduating with her dentist license, Selam will then spend four years serving as an Army dentist.

After her studies are done and her obligation to the Army is complete her goal is clear--establish a dentist office in the U.S., and then begin going on medical missions around the world, helping to meet the needs of people and telling them about Jesus.

“I just love Jesus so much and am so grateful to Him,” she said. “Looking back at my life now, I can see where He had a hand in so many of the decisions that were made that led me to the United States and to my family. I want to tell everyone about Him and to let them know that God can make anything happen.”