P 7 candidates ready for their exams...

In Uganda, you go first to Pre-school, for 3 years, Baby class, Middle class and Top class, in the villages are not many Pre- schools, but in the towns there are many. Children can go to Pre-school when they are around 3 years old. After the Pre-school, they go to Primary for 7 years. And at the end of  P7 there is an important, national examination. It will determine in which division you come, some secondary schools only accept the highest, Division 1 and 2. There is a lot of pressure and it is a trying time for the candidates.

On Monday they start the exams, Nation wide. Today we had a wonderful time in our YWAM Harmony school, encouraging and praying for the P7 candidates.

 Starting with the flag ceremony.

 Singing of the National anthem

 We had come with some staff of the YWAM Soroti base, and David let the singing

 That was fun, teachers, pupils and YWAM staff joined hands and voices!

 There was an encouragement from the Bible and we prayed for the P7 candidates

 The P7 students also had a song for us

One of the teachers provided a cake with firework!!!!I believe the students were so happy and encouraged, it brought us all together and there was a lot of laughter and fun... After that the classes continued, but after the lollipop the children (and teachers) got, I don't know if there was a lot of concentration in class.....

The weekend of newborn baby's...

This weekend we received 5 newborn baby's in Amecet, from all of them their mother passed away....

The first two were twins, they came on Saturday morning, they were born early that same day... and their mother passed away.




















A small little premature boy was brought, he was born 10 weeks too early, but he looked good and was not too small, he was also born on Saturday and was brought in the afternoon to Amecet.

Then at the end of the afternoon a baby girl was brought, she was just born that afternoon and her mother had passed away. 

That made 4 baby's on one day!!!!

Sunday, at the end of the afternoon, another little baby was brought, He was born that day, but his mother passed away. This baby had serious problems, he has seizures the whole time. The father had no one to stay with him in the hospital, because this baby was sick.. The father rushed back to organise to get the body of his wife transported home. Janneke called the doctor who referred the baby to Amecet and stayed with the child, most of the night. But the situation didn't get better, even after giving the medicines the doctor had prescribed. In the morning Janneke went to Dr. Engulu, in the clinic next to us, he advised to bring the baby to Soroti Hospital, the baby was now also on oxygen and fed by NG tube. We called the father, he was first too busy to come, he was organising the burial of his wife... We insisted, so he came, together with a lady who would stay with the baby in the hospital, So this little baby is in the hospital now, we pray he will make it, his situation is not good. All in all it was a sad weekend, so many children lost their mothers, we pray we can minister to them for this time and help the family to care for those little one's.

P.S. The last, fifth baby passed away on Monday evening at around 6 pm in the Hospital.

The day of the abandoned baby's..

This morning Simon got a phone call from the Police in Kaberamaido, a neighbouring District, there was a little child found, abandoned by his parents under a tree, if we could take the child, while they were trying to trace for the parents. It is always so sad to hear that a child is just left behind, whatever the reason might be, how desperate the mother might have been, you can't just let a little child behind! So Simon, Carmen (Dutch volunteer) and I hopped in the car and off we went! while we were driving, Simon told us that he received another phone call, from the same Police officer, there was another abandoned child, in the same District!!

We went to the Police station, about 1,5 hour drive, and picked the Officer of the family department and another Police officer and went to the home where they kept the first child.

 It was a small boy, maybe 1,5 to 2 years old. We got the story that the man in the blue shirt, heard the child crying and he went to look, it was a short distance of his home. He found the little boy, sitting under the tree on his own. he doesn't talk. Nobody saw his mother or father or anyone they don't know in the neighbour hood. They treated his skin rashes, but when nobody came to look for the child, they went to report to the Police.

 Carmen took him in the car, we saw one smile and then he slept. He didn't mind us, he just was okay with us, that is not a good, healthy sign, he doesn't know us, so he should have been scared for us!

then we drove on to the next child, this was a baby of maybe 2 months old......

There was a big crowd of people gathering around the car. I got the little crying baby in my arms, people were upset that the mother left the baby behind and they were happy for us to take the child. They knew Amecet and were glad that we would care for the baby. 

It was a beautiful baby boy, with a sad story, the evening before a young lady came with the baby in one of the little restaurants in the trading centre. She took a cup of tea and asked a young girl to hold her baby, while she went to get some airtime for her mobile phone. She jumped on a motor taxi and disappeared. They traced the taxi driver and he told them that she stopped him in the next trading centre and took off. No where to be seen...It really hurts me that a mother can leave her little baby behind like that. How can we find her or her family? She might be from far, nobody had seen her before, this little child will never known his family... 

We took pictures of the children in the clothes they were found in. We will put pictures in the local newspapers, maybe someone will recognise the children and contact the Police or Amecet. We gave names to the them, every child should have a name.. the bigger boy we call Edward and the baby got the name Daniel.              






Baby Daniel got a bath, a bottle and was sleeping in a nice clean bed. Edward also got a bath, and new clothes, he is scared now, he still doesn't talk, he seems to be traumatised. Tomorrow we will take them to the doctor for a checkup, please pray for those little ones........

Metamorphosis of Joseph..

Yesterday, Simon, peace and me went to the Hospital in Kumi with Joseph. We had heard that a medical team from U.K. came to do free operations. Joseph has a severe cleft pallet and was waiting to be 10 kg in weight, so they could operate on him. Joseph was born, while his both parents were in prisons and they are still there. Joseph was brought to Amecet after he was born, because his mother couldn't breastfeed him. he did well and we brought him after some months back to his mother in the prisons. We visited them regular and kept track of his weight. He didn't gain much so in agreement with the mother and the prison warden we took him back in Amecet. And he gained very fast, he is even walking now and bullies the other children. We all love him!!
So yesterday we drove to Kumi (one hour drive) and we picked his grandmother on the way to help caring for him.








 Peace carried him the whole day! He was not allowed to be fed, after the registration they told us that he would be operated the same day!

 At the end of the day, it was the turn of Joseph to be operated! he was not happy, he was hungry and irritable but overall he did well, thanks  a lot to Peace, who was so patient with him! And the operation went well, they did the outside and the inside of his mouth. The grandmother stayed the night with him in the hospital and we went back today to see them.

In the bed next to Joseph were our YWAM colleagues Margaret and Julius with their daughter Sheena. She was also treated because of scars after a burn accident. It was good to be together!

On the picture left the senior surgeon came by to check the wound. everything was fine, it was strange to see his face without the big outstanding  teeth, but it will become very nice, now it looked still swollen and strange, but the doctor was very pleased with Joseph. And we could take him back to Amecet. They gave us instructions and we were free to leave! Even Margaret and Julius were discharged and we drove all back to Soroti! Where they were all waiting for us, happy to see Joseph back so fast.  we are really happy that this is done, I promise a nice picture from him in a couple of days or so. I am thankful for the good care and service of the doctors, who gave their time and effort so freely to the people of Uganda. they operated many children and also adults, may God bless them and give them strength!
And Joseph... may he sleep well in his familiar bed in Amecet and also get the strength to recover!

Happy (wet) Birthday auntie Barbara

Today it was the Birthday of auntie Barbara and we decided to bring back an old tradition back to life: bless the birthday baby with a water balloon fight!!

 The fight was intensified between Auntie Barbara (in the blue shirt in the middle) and uncle Jelle (green shirt at the left) Barbara got him with a water balloon. 

 Just that moment the balloons were finished, but Jelle took revenge with the bucket!

 And he got her as well!

 Dear Auntie Barbara, we pray for many blessed years and we are happy that we can celebrate this day with you!

One little Morning Glory flower withered this morning....

We sometimes compare our children with the Morning Glory flower, they are beautiful when they open in the morning, but they only blossem for  one day.... Some of our children also blossem a very short time, they are beautiful, but only a short time...

That happened with baby Grace, who was brought to Amecet on September 16, she was already 3 weeks old, but her weight was only 1.3 kg. Her mother is was very sick of Hepatitis B and Grace was born 3 months too early. You can read our blog from September 16.

She was a very small, delicate little girl. Every time you saw her or when you had to feed her, it amazed me again, how small she was, how tiny her little hands and feet were. At first she started to gain a little, 10 gram, 50 gram, we were happy, maybe she will live!! Her mother was still in the hospital, fighting for her life. But last week the family decided to bring the mother back home, in the village, the doctors couldn't do anything more for her. She is very, very sick. On Thursday night Grace didn't drink as much as normal, on Friday she seemed to be tired, she had lost weight, but when I fed her, she drank okay, no fever, no cough, no diarrhea, no vomiting, we decided to just feed her every time and see what was happening. During the night she started to vomit and in the morning Janneke took her to the doctor and she had to go on IV drip, That was yesterday, early this morning she died. 

Simon organized a small coffin, it was still way to big, and we brought the little body to the village. The family received her and thanked us for our care. The mother was not there, she was cared for in her parental home, but they said, they had no hope for her anymore. Maybe that is why God took Grace home? Maybe it would be too much for the family to care for this little girl? Maybe, maybe? We will never know, we did the best we could, but it does hurt, bringing this little girl home in a small coffin. May she rest in peace!!

Success stories and a new challenge........

On August 8 Judith was brought into Amecet. A very malnourished little girl, Lot of crying and a lot of oedema, she lost all of her skin, but now she is a beautiful smiling, happy girl! This is truly a success story!!

 That same day, Mary was brought to us. she came from the same village as Judith. She was also malnourished, started to get swollen feet and was very unhappy. Look at the picture right. The same little girl, playing and very dirty from the sandbox, Happy, talking and knowing what she wants or not wants

 Then Joseph, he has been with us before, but was united with his mother, who is in the prisons. His weight  needs to be 10 kg. before they can operate his cleft pallet. It did not go so well in prison, so we all agreed to take him back in Amecet to help him grow better. And it worked, he is almost 10 kg. now, but also his development really starts to change. he is walking now!!! He is bullying every body around, it is a real boss! 

 Today we brought Judith back to her mother in the village. her mother has been quite sick before, but in those two months, she really got strong and healthy. she was very happy to hold Judith back in her arms, even she was crying (she just woke up after being asleep during our trip). We are going to help the mother with milk money and porridge flour and sugar. Also the community health worker is keeping an eye on her and also on Mary!

And also Mary's mother was so excited to hold her daughter again in her arms. It is so good to work together with the local health workers, they also had been the ones to bring them to us. they had found them in their community and were very concerned about them. It is so good to bring them back on this way, to their mothers!!! Many of the children coming to Amecet, don't have mothers anymore, so it is good to encourage the mothers and to come alongside them.

Then the new challenge.....

Simon was yesterday in a village for something and the village chief called him to his office. There was a problem...there was a lady who was suffering from frequently epileptic attacks ,and she was living there with her two little boys, twins of 3 years. Their house was almost falling apart, they had nothing in the house, apart of a mat and two small cooking pots. Often the little boys worked for their food.....catching water for a local restaurant and they were than paid with food. After the death of the grandfather, the mother was alone the rest of the family had abandoned them and the officials were very concerned for them. '

Simon went back today to see what we could do for the two boys, was there any family around? There is an uncle, but he has refused to care for the two boys, the parents of the mother have passed away. there seems to be nobody around to help the two boys. Simon talked with the people involved and also the village chief and other authorities and everybody felt we could really help the boys by taking them into Amecet and to be looking for a fit family for them. So Simon brought them this afternoon to Amecet.

After a shower and nice clean clothes, they look so smart and nice!! They are still shy and a bit overwhelmed with the toys and all the people in Amecet. A lot of work still has to be done in connection with the uncle and maybe other relatives we will find. But Moses and Peter are cared for and we will see what will happen......