Celebrating life...

Happy Birthday to Apio Ruth!!!! She is 2 years today! On this picture you see her with her mother, Dominique, she is one of our staff in Amecet and she fell totally in love with this beautiful little girl. The people who have followed our blog have met Ruth before. Her story is such a testimony of God's faithfulness and how wonderful His ways are! She came in Amecet in October 2011, you can read that in the blog of October 3, 2011. After we saw that she was really abandoned, we gave her the name Ruth (blog Nov.2, 2011) There were many obstacles to take for Ruth (blogs of April 20, 2012 and May 25, 2012) and she still has a way to go, but now Ruth has a mother, the process is still going on with the Probation office, but it is such a joy to see Dominique and Ruth together.

RUTH, WE WISH YOU MANY HAPPY YEARS AND GOD'S BLESSINGS!!!!

Then we celebrate the life of Dennis, no it is not his birthday, but we celebrate his life!!!

Dennis had a small abscess on his head, and we wanted to shave some of his hair around the abscess, so that it would be easier to clean and to see how it was doing. We had to hold him very well, because he was fighting so much and we didn't want to cut in his head. Suddenly we realised that he was not fighting, we stopped and saw that he was not breathing and totally weak. We were shocked and started to get him back to life! We also sucked out the saliva out of his throat and that made him sneeze and cry. Woh what were we happy to hear him cry!!!! It was really panic, when he was back to life, we took him to the doctor next door and he checked Dennis. Everything was okay and Dennis started to be himself again. The doctor thought that he just got into shock from the fighting and the pain, this picture was this evening at the supper table. He is smiling and playing, Dennis you really scared us today, please do not do that again, we do celebrating your life today!!!

Life is never boring!!

Yesterday , we went for a mouse hunt!! We have a lot of problems with mice in Amecet. In the past we had two cats, but both died. And we had a new one, but the dogs, who are out in the night, killed that one as well. So the mice are celebrating... I even have them in the office, they ate the paper in the printer!! So I set two mice traps and I got two of them!! Yesterday we decided to empty the cupboards in the Internet room, one side is only wardrobes and we have seen some traffic in and out the room. Elias, Calvin and me closed ourselves in the room, covered the opening under the door and emptying the wardrobes. They jumped everywhere!!!! There was a local music instrument laying in the wardrobe, a thumb piano, three mice were hiding in it! We got at least 22 mice and with brooms we hit them.We are going to look for a nice cat, because it is not good to have so may mice in the house.

Today I had to make an emergency call to Elias, he was out, but the water was pouring out, something had broken off and we couldn't stop the water. Elias came very fast and he fixed it, first temporarily, but the he went to town to buy new parts. Then there came two older ladies at the door with a two year old boy. They told us that the boy was called Charles and he had been in Amecet two years ago, when his mother died after giving birth, I checked in our files and yes, the story was true. One year ago the father ran off and now the two ladies were tired of looking after the little boy, who was a very strong, healthy child, and they they wanted to bring him to us while they were going to ask the police to trace for the father. We explained that that is not what we are doing, that they had done a very good job and that they should talk in the clan if they needed help. So they went back home.

The lights went on and off today, we do have solar, but the batteries were not working good, they don't store the solar power anymore, so when the electricity is going off at night, we do have a problem. Thanks to a organization in the Netherlands, Metterdaad, we were able to buy new batteries, and they are fixing them at the moment. We will be able to have solar power again we are very happy with that, to have 8 or 9 baby's and no electricity is not easy, especially when there are sick children among them.

It was a busy day today, I was also quite busy in the office. The government has lots of requests in the way of making reports and gave us new formats, so we have to adjust and change our system again. We got a good assessment report from the Ministry of Gender from Kampala, but there is a lot of administration to do.

It is so good that Anneke, a Dutch retired nurse, is still with us. She keeps an eye on the children and they are all well at the moment. we had a wave of malaria going on, among the staff and the children, but now are most of us okay again!

 

Friends forever.

 

 This is Catherine, my daughter, with Charles. Charles is living in Amecet, waiting for his adoption. He will be going probably in March. They are playing a lot together, Catherine is one year older, but they do very well together, especially in things they are not allowed to do!! Last year another little friend, Kennedy, went out of Amecet, also for adoption. Catherine adapted well, started to play more with Charles, but still remembers Kennedy. I hope she will not be too sad, next month...

Too much malaria and a new Rose.

We have never have so much malaria as we have (had, I hope) now. I think. At this moment at least 10 staff members have malaria and are undergoing malaria treatment. Most of them were able to do their work, even they were under the treatment. I was the only one who was out for almost 4 days! I was too sick, this time, to be able to work, but now I completed the medication and I am feeling much better. Even among the children, several of them have malaria. We have screens, mosquito nets around all the beds, we sprayed even the whole house last week and still... malaria. I hope we have had the worse, but I am thankful to the staff, that they saw the children and continued to care for them in spite of their own struggles.

Today a new baby was brought to Amecet, her name is Rose and she was 2 days old. Her mother never came out of the anaesthetics used by the Cesarean operation. The baby is huge, when you compare her with our other little one's.

Her weight is 3.8 kg, we have never such a big baby's! But the father had taken the body back to the village to bury and the rest from the family didn't know what to do with the baby, so they came to ask for help. After the burial (which will be tomorrow) they will have a clan meeting to decide together where the little Rose will go and who will care for her. So until then, she will be safe with us in Amecet. Here is Florence holding Rose (in the pink cloth) and Rachael, who came in Amecet one week ago. Rachael is doing well, she is over the 2 kg now, and almost 1 month old! You see what a difference between those two little ladies!

Mama Susan and Baby Ben went home today!

Susan came in August last year in Amecet as a 12 year old pregnant girl. A very sad situation, Susan is so small, you could easily take her for 10 years old. She was brought by the police and her family and the family of the boy (who is on the run) are in jail. The baby was born on September 18 (see the blog) by a Caesarian in the hospital and everything went well. Except that baby Ben had a problem with his legs and also a bit with his arms. For the rest is he doing very well and Susan is a wonderful mother! We have taken Ben several times to the Orthopaedic Centre in Kumi, but there is not much what can be done. We have to wait how Ben is developing. The Police and the Probation office is very much involved in the whole process.  And they found the mother of Susan, who lives in another village. After much consulting, the family from the mother's side is very willing to take Susan in and help her caring for Ben. Susan will go back to school (P3) and the grandmother will help with Ben. Susan was very exciting to go back to her mother and today was the big day!

Ben is a cute little boy, who laughs a lot. (only not on this picture)

Simon and Elias were going to bring them back to the village, together with the Police (not on the picture).  We were able to provide some things for her and Ben and we will be visiting them, to check how things are going. This was the first time we had a mother and baby in Amecet, it was so good that we could help her and I believe that she is now in the right place. We will miss them, we all loved Susan and her "Bennyboy"!

Two little baby's.

We didn't have Internet for almost one week, last Wednesday we were asked to pick a baby from the maternity ward in Soroti hospital. Little Peter was born in the Health centre in the village by a Cesarean, but there were complications. They were referred to Soroti hospital. The mother was very sick and the family asked if we wanted to care for the baby, while the family cared for the mother. We took little Peter to Amecet and he was drinking well and doing good. Sunday evening we were asked again to pick another baby. While I was in the hospital I tried to find Peter's mother, to see how she was doing. I heard the sad news that she had passed away early in the morning of Thursday. I was very sad about it, the family had taken the body back to the village to bury. I guess they will come to see Peter when the mourning time is over.

The baby where they asked help for, was a little girl of almost 2 weeks old. The mother had also had a Cesarean operation, she was a very young mother and this was her first pregnancy, she got twins. The first baby was alive, but the second baby was dead. The mother got also complications and was septic, they asked us to take the baby, while they cared for the mother. When I saw the baby I was shocked, in the papers I had read that the weight of the baby was 2.4 kg, but the baby I saw, was in a bad condition. The family told me that the mother had no breast feeding, this baby was starved. We took the baby to Amecet and you can see on the picture below, Rachel weighs 1.890 kg.

Today I took her to the Doctor and he told me to put her on a IV drip. She is drinking fair, we have good hopes for this little girl. She is alert and I was touch by her look, the way she looks at you, you almost can see the suffering where Rachel went through during her 2 weeks old life. We pray for her mother, that she will get better and will be able to enjoy her little girl and to care for her.