Afghan Baby Found Beside Road Gets a Family - East Idaho News
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Afghan Baby Found Beside Road Gets a Family

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GETTY W 122911 AfghanMap?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1348752299185iStockphoto/Thinkstock(KABUL, Afghanistan) — A newborn girl left abandoned on the side of the road in southern Afghanistan has been adopted by a childless Afghan couple.

“We have named her Arya [which means happiness], and we will take care of her forever,” the adoptive father, Mohammad Zahir, a 29-year-old shopkeeper from Ghazni, Afghanistan, said on Thursday.  “She has completely changed our lives.  We are so happy.  The whole family has been supportive of our decision.”

Zahir has been married for four years, but he and wife Fatima have been unsuccessful in their attempts to have children. After a visit to a Ghazni hospital, however, he and his wife have their family.

“A man, Mohammad Zahir, contacted us and asked if his family could take care of the baby,” Baz Mohammad Himat, director of health in Ghazni, said. “They promised to take care of her for the rest of their lives.”

“This family was on a waiting list with this hospital for any unwanted baby,” Himat said.

The baby was discovered last week by Polish soldiers, who initially named her Pola after Poland.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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