So many stories.

Every child has a story, and some stories are so sad. At the moment we have a child from 6 or 7 years old, she is brought to us by the police. Neighbours brought her to the police station because they were so concern about the little girl (she looks like a 5 year old). She stays with her older sister, who has a baby. The sister goes to work and the little girl has to babysit, she also has to clean the house, cook, do the laundry and fill a water container from 100 liter, every day. She has to walk to the borehole and fill the container. If she is not finished, they beat her! They try now to contact the mother of the girl, to come and pick her.

Then another girl, she is may be 4 years old. Her mother separated from her husband and got a new husband and now both men says that they are the father. They even fought in the police station, so the police brought her to us for safe keeping until they sorted out, who the real father is.

This is Godfrey, he is 6 months old and he was brought this morning by the social worker from the prisons in Soroti. His mother killed a child from a neighbour and she was taken in. But in the prisons she got very confused, she tried to commit suicide and she also tried to kill Godfrey. So they brought him also to us for safekeeping. He almost cried the whole day, but later in the afternoon he settled down and he ate very well. The Prisons will try to locate the family of him. That will not be easy, because the mother and Godfrey were transferred from a prison in the North of Uganda.

Sad stories, but it is nice to see them starting to play and smile again. We hope and pray there will be a place for Godfrey where they care for him and love him!

Mercy for Mercy.

This is Mercy, she was brought yesterday. A very small little baby, as you can see with the size of the bottle next to her, her weight is only 1.7 kg. Her mother died, she was HIV+ and died 4 weeks after giving birth to Mercy. So Mercy is 4 weeks old!!! We took her in, started milk formula, which she is tolerating well and she is fed every two hours. She is drinking fair. She is beautiful and we pray she will pick up.

Next week the schools start again, after a long holiday of 2 months! Simon is very busy this week, we have some children who passed P7 (the highest class of the primary school) and will go now to Secondary school. Some others want to change, so today Simon went to the village to visit all our secondary students to talk with the families and see what is the best for them. Our Harmony Primary school did well last year with the P7 students. Here is P7 a very important class, it determines where you will go for your secondary education. This was our third P7, and for the first time we had two students in the highest level and all the rest was in the second highest level. That is good and it says something about the level of education in our school. We would love to see more students in the highest level, but we will go step by step!

Back in the culture.....

We are back in Uganda!!! After a good trip, we arrived Thursday evening back in Soroti. Everybody was happy to see us and we were very happy to see everybody, so there was a lot of hugging and shouting. On Friday we worked first a bit on unpacking and organising our home again, but in the afternoon we went to a traditional wedding. We got an invitation to attend the wedding of Julius. Julius has been working with us for several years in the beginning of Amecet, he always stayed a good friend and helped us many times with picking people from the airport and escort them safely to Amecet. Many people who read this blog and have been here with us for some time, know Julius. So we had to go and be part of this celebration!! It was a cultural wedding, so it was in his village, at his home. They had made tents and we sat and waited... First the introductions, who is who and which side do you support, his or hers. Then some music and we had to all stand up and inspect the cows, which Julius has to pay to the parents of his (to be) wife. 



Then we went back to our seats, we had not seen the bride or the bridegroom, they were hiding in separate huts until the negotiations about the amount of cows, goats and money were done. And the negotiations were not going well, the two parties didn't agree. After a while the family of Julius served food and I don't know if that was the trick, but the announcement was made that they agreed and the couple could come out. First  a group of young girls brought out Julius, stepping on the swing of an African song they marched around and Julius was brought to his chair. 

 

Julius was smiling from ear to ear, the girls went to get the lady on the same way and there was a lot of shouting and jumping and dancing. I think everyone was happy that the families had come to an agreement. It was already 7 pm, we had been there for more than 4 hours!

And here is the happy couple together, Julius with his Naomi! The little boy is not theirs, it is one of Julius' nephews It was a different kind of wedding, but we wish lots of happiness to them!

I have not yet worked in Amecet, tomorrow will be my first day of work, but I have seen and heard already a lot. There are not so many baby's in Amecet, I think only 8, but there are some children who are brought via the police because of  abuse and of neglecting. No very sick children, also the staff is doing well, so that was a good coming Home!

My girls are enjoying the warm weather and playing outside, especially Helen, she has not stopped playing since we arrived, on the bicycle and in the compound.. One more week and than the schools begin again...

Almost going back...

I have been very quiet in our Blog, we are still in Holland, but almost going back to Uganda. We have had a great time, visiting family and friends, we went to talk on some schools and we experienced SNOW!!!! For Sarah was it the second time, but for Mary, Helen and Catherine was is the first time. They were so excited, but they struggle with the cold! We are packing at the moment and in three days we will be back in Uganda. We are looking forward to it, we missed the sun and our friends there.

I have got some communication with Amecet, overall it went very well, but last Sunday morning a little baby of three days old, died. It was a sad story, the little baby was born on the street, the mother was with a boda (bicycle taxi) on her way to the hospital to deliver. On the way was the baby born and the mother died on the street. Very tragic, the baby had from the start problems with drinking, a lot of vomiting, they tried everything but in vain. The next blog will be again written from Soroti!

Enjoying Holland..

 

We are enjoying Holland so much! Walk at the beach, but it is cold!!!! That is not easy for the girls. But we had a little walk!! It takes a lot of time to get out of the house. We are used to just put sandals on and now we have to put so many clothes and shoes on!!

A bicycle ride, Sarah got a flat tyre after 10 minutes and Helen told us after 15 minutes that her legs were now very painful, but we made it and it was so beautiful on the heather field and through the woods. we have almost 3 more weeks, we are now going to plan some more, otherwise we might forget things to do and people to see.

The news I get from Amecet is still very good, the children are all fine, they got a new baby, just some hours old. The mother died after the delivery, very sad. But the baby is healthy and full term. Everybody is back from holidays, so there is a full team again. (half of the team was free with Christmas and the other half with New Year) and I must say that I am starting to miss them......

Happy New Year!!!!

We wish you all a very good and blessed 2013. We thank you from Amecet for your support and prayers from the last year and we pray we will walk together again in 2013.

Amecet is doing well, no sick children, which is a blessing because half of the team was free with Christmas and the other half is free with New Year. The news I get is that everything is peaceful!!

We, (my 4 girls and me) are in Holland and enjoying everything, except the weather. It is great to see family and friends and spend time together. On Sunday we had a great service in my church ( Rafael Gemeente in Goes). All the seven missionaries of my church were there and we did the service together. We all shared about how God used us on different locations and different ways. For me was it very special, because we dedicated my little girl Catherine and we prayed a blessing over Mary, who joined my little family recently.

At the moment we are with my elder brother, in the North of Holland. We watched the fire works yesterday evening. Sarah wanted to take pictures and the picture above is one of her (many) pictures. It was beautiful. We hope that you all enjoyed celebrating those special days and are looking forward to what God is going to do in this new year.