Christ is born for them....and for us.....

We have a beautiful little girl in Amecet, her name is Esther, I wrote about her before, when she was very sick. She picked up a bit, but we are still so much worried about her. She is almost 4 months old and her weight is only 2.8 kg! But she is such a fighter, she can look at you with those beautiful black eyes, as you can see on this picture. The last two days we have been busy with her, we went for an  X-ray, the doctor there thought, it was TB, so yesterday we went to the hospital, for the TB drugs. But the doctor in the hospital was not convinced, he took the X-ray to a colleague and they both felt it is a bad pneumonia, so again on special drugs for that by IV line. She is HIV+, so she is so vulnerable. Today she got a visitor: her mother came!!! Her mother lives in the village and is also very weak. I had called her 3 weeks ago, asking her to come and visit her child. She had been sick and she had to money for transport. I told her that I would pay her transport if she could manage to come. She was there the next day!! That was more than 2 weeks ago. I asked her to come again, but she told me today that she had been admitted in the hospital for 2 weeks.. She sat there with her daughter in her arms, singing to her and praying for her, it was really so touching to see. Please pray for Esther and her mother, that they can be united again in the future...... pray for our little Christmas baby, I don't know if you have seen our Amecet Christmas card?? It was baby Esther in that little basket in the middle of the children, as Christmas baby!!

Than we have another child I want to ask you to pray for: Abraham, he is 12 years old. He came in Amecet when he was weak, but he did so well, went to school and was ready to go back to his relatives in the village. But 10 days ago, on Saturday, he collapsed, he was completely out, at first it looked like epilepsy, but some things didn't, he was very restless and in pain, but we couldn't get to him, he didn't react on anything. we got the doctor coming to see him and prescribing medication. the next days it was a bit better, he was not wild anymore, could speak a bit, we went back to the doctor, got another doctor come to Amecet to see him, got a lumbar punction done and then the diagnosis came: a certain meningitis got him, one that is seen more with HIV+ children. We were asked to get medicines and every day he has to go on IV drip for 6 hours, with this medicine. for 2 weeks. after the medicine is in, we have to put on 2 other bottles of fluid to "flash" the medicine. I feel for him, the whole day on IV drip, but he is doing a bit better, when we had our Christmas diner, he was sitting at the table with the IV pump next to him. We need your prayers for Abraham........  

 In between we had our Christmas diner. We had a nice time, we had great food, there was real working together and there was no stress at all. We started with a meditation about the most beautiful gift we can give Christ for His Birthday: ourself, we can come with empty hands, just how we are. And He will take those hands and fill them, use them and hold them.

We cut the cake together for His Birthday: Mary with her favorite baby Grace, Jackson and me.

Merry Christmas and a Peaceful 2017

In the midst of our struggles, worries, sadness and life questions is there the Christmas baby, the New Born King!!

We wish you a Merry Christmas and His Blessing for you in 2017!!

The Amecet family

Christmas blessing to the villages

It is so very busy at the moment  in Amecet. There were quite a number of children due to go back to their relatives, it always requires extra work in calling them, talking with them to see if they are ready and when they come, encouraging them to take their child back. We give them a packet with a mosquito net, some clothes, porridge flour and sugar, a toy and a blanket. We always pray for the child and the family before they go. Sometimes we are very happy, but sometimes we are a bit worried. But we need to give the children back to their relatives, they belong there, but some of them we will visit in their home in two or three weeks, just to see how they are doing...

 Nathan has been brought back to his mother. You can read his story in the blog of November 24. We brought him together with his special made C.P. chair and we also had a stroller for them. the mother has a small tomato business on the local market, nearby their home. She can take Nathan along in his stroller, he is quite heavy to carry,. I think he will be the first and only child in a stroller there.... we also gave a small gift to the mother, to help boost her tomato business.

There were several older boys in Amecet, they were all struggling with their medication and some of them came in Amecet in quite a severe state, sick and malnourished. As soon as they were a bit okay, we let them go to the YWAM Harmony primary school. And most of them did very well. It was a good bunch of kids, they really cared about each other, but also for them it was time to go back... That was not easy for them, they became good friends and they will miss Amecet, but they do not belong in Amecet, but at home with their relatives. We will keep contact with them and they were able to go home with a parcel with lots of good things.....

 This is a part of all things we were able to buy, Posho, beans and sugar, biscuits, sweets, balloons, tea, cooking oil are some of the items. Elias and Simon were very busy, they got help from Mary and Sarah to pack all the parcels, ready for the families in the villages. We had made a list with 55 families and Elias and Simon made a schedule for the distribution. There was a lot of driving involved, the families are living all over Teso, from Otuboi, Serere, Katakwi and even in Ngora. We also brought the invitation for the coming Amun week. Every year we have a week in December with all the HIV+ children. A week full of encouragement, teaching, fun and fellowship. We were not able to do this in December, because of the moving back to Amecet, so it is planned for the third week in January 2017. 

They brought Max a Christmas blessing. He is doing very well and can walk!!! It is also a good way to see all the children and encourage the families!

Charles was brought back to his family! They were happy to see him. When he came to Amecet, he was very weak and sick, now he comes back home healthy and strong!! We pray that the families will have a merry Christmas and hope for the next year!!!

It is our Birthday, we are 15 years old today!!!!

 Today we celebrated that we started Amecet 15 years ago!! We had a cake with 15 candles, which we couldn't keep burning, because of the wind... But I looked back on a incredible journey with God.

15 years ago Helen and I started this beautiful ministry.

Helen is from England and she has played such an important role in the beginning. We were the only two staff, we had to think out everything, how to do it, what do we need, which forms do we make, Where to go for permission to operate, where to go when the children are sick, what are our rules and regulations etc. etc. Helen was such a key person during the first years... On this picture she is with our first two children....Grace and Sarah.. Helen, thank you so much for helping to lay out the foundations of Amecet, on which we are still building!!!

Today, exactly 15 years ago we welcomed the first child in Amecet: that was Sarah!! God has used Sarah so much, she was the inspiration for Amecet. As you can see, she was very sick and malnourished. God has been so good to her, look at the present picture, at the right!! It has not always been easy, at times we saw her so very sick, but every time she came through....

 We grew and grew, this is one of the first group pictures. (2003)

We got also more  and more children, little babies, HIV+ children, children who were in need of a safe place and God helped us. We got more staff and more volunteers came to help for a couple of months. We got nurses and social workers and lots of follow up work had to be done, when children were re-settled in their families.

the Amun week became an important tool in teaching and encouraging the children who were HIV+ and went back to their communities. Several went for training in tailoring, or other courses, right now 4 of the girls from the first years, are helping in Amecet, to care for the little one's!! There are three, who are studying to became teachers, one to become a nurse and another one to become a lab technician. More than 700 children lived in Amecet for a period of time (not included are the children who come via Police for 1 or 2 nights). We have lost a number of children, who were so very sick... we believe that they are rejoicing in Heaven. This is still a painful process, when it happens..

We want to thank everybody who has been with us somewhere along the way, in coming here to help, in giving, in praying!!! We could never have made it all those years without the help of so many people. Thank you so much!!!! Eyalama noi!!!! Please continue to stand with us in the coming years!!

Personally, I have learned so much, from the children, from the Ugandan culture, from my colleagues....I have made mistakes...... I have been forgiven ...... and I have tried again.....

God has been there for me, all the way, He has blessed me with four beautiful Ugandan daughters, it has never been my intention to adopt children, but this is what happened: they all came into my life through Amecet: from right to left: Sarah (19), Mary (22), Helen (11) and Catherine (6)

There are so many stories to tell and so many things are happening... Keep following us via this blog. Keep encouraging us, we need your input, advice and support!!!

Four children went home this week......

When we take children into Amecet, we always tell the family that it is only for a short time, that the baby will come home in 2 months, if all goes well. And at the end of September and the beginning of October, we got a lot of new children in Amecet. Now it is time for them to move back home, to their own homes and relatives! We always explain that to the relatives, we do keep children longer when the child is not yet stable, or when it is not gaining well etc. But when everything is well, the child should be with his or her own people. 

This morning, two families came to pick their babies. Both children were brought to Amecet because their mothers passed away after giving birth... Very sad, at the back the father and uncle of  baby Joseph, they came even a week early, because of Christmas.... the second baby was Lazaro. He was one of our mini babies, his picture is here at the left. His weight was only 1.6 kg when he came, he goes home as a 4.6 baby!! Both families were very happy to take the baby back home to their families. The grandmother of Lazaro brought a chicken to thank us. This is also such a blessing to us, that they are willing to take over the care and are happy to take the baby into their family and hart!! We often help the family with milk money (in the beginning) and than later with flour for porridge, and sugar. The families of Joseph and Lazaro are living too far, so we let them go with advice and prayers. Last week one of the children was brought back by her father. We do help this family with sugar and porridge flour. After greeting them and seeing that the child was doing good, we brought out the sugar and the porridge flour, when the father told us that we could keep the sugar and the flour, because he would leave the child behind in Amecet... It took us some time to explain that that would not be the case, that the child belongs in his family and not in a children home. At the end he left with the child and the sugar and porridge flour. But we were not happy, it gave us a bad feeling....

Earlier this week two other children left Amecet; baby Janet was also picked by her family and they were also exactly on the day we had told them 2 months ago!! Then Solomon was picked by his grandmother and his uncle. His mother is in the Soroti prisons and that was not the best place for him. We found the grandparents and they were very willing to care for the little boy, while the mother is serving her time.

I am happy the children are going home, it gives us a bit of space. Christmas and New Year is always a busy time for us. half of our team is free with Christmas and the other half is free with New year. We do not mind some empty beds.......

The postphoned World Aids Day was today....

 Today we had our traditional World Aids day  gathering, which was emotional and touching. We remembered the children we lost in the last year... It are not all children who died of Aids, but we name all the children we lost and different people share about the children, we light a candle for each of them. We had 10 candles today. Not all of them died in Amecet, only three of them passed away in our home. that were all small babies. In total we lost 4 babies and one handicapped child, then 5 children died who were HIV+, they passed away at home or in the hospital. Those 5 HIV+ children were all older, most of them were teenagers. We knew them for years and it was really painful to remember them. We believe that we will see them again.....

 It was a big group, the older children were also with us. The flowers on the tables represent the life that we also celebrated.. After everybody had shared about the children, we sang together to thank God for the life we see in the children and how God has used Amecet to bring life to so many children.. We prayed together for baby Esther, who is still serious ill... .But we see encouragement....

 This is Samuel, his smile brings healing to us.. he starts to talk and he can stand, but doesn't dare to walk yet. It is a lovely little boy and you can see him getting stronger every day..(blog of Nov. 13)

And this is Emmanuel, the little boy who came two days ago, who was so terrible beaten by his own mother. Today his second eye was open and his wounds are healing. He is playing and is cheerful and happy. We can see that he has quite a strong will, so that will be interested in the future. If we tell him to go to eat, he want to play, if it is time to sleep, he wants to go outside... ( Blog of Dec. 7)

A day of contradictions: graduates and suffering children

 The day started with our worries about baby Esther. she is struggling, not gaining, at the moment she has fever and diarrhea. We have been gone to the doctor with her, almost every day. The little girl is HIV+ and is on ARV's, but her immune system seems to be so very low. She got blood transfusion, yesterday, but still today we do not see much improvement. I called her family today, to come and see her....

 Then there is another girl we want to ask your prayers for: Anna Grace. Recently the doctor changed her ARV medicines into stronger ones, but she is losing weight and we need wisdom helping and counselling her. Yesterday she was on IV fluids, today, she seems a little bit stronger. This were the most urgent children at the moment, the other children are fair, so at 11 am I left Amecet to go to the graduation of the Harmony nursery school. That is a big event here, the parents are coming, a tent was hired and put up in the school compound and everybody looked very smart and excited.

 Songs, poems and dances are performed and it was such a nice time. If you see the children marching in, dressed in their gowns and the caps on their heads... The parents are all so proud of them and speeches are done about the opportunities the children have and that they have to dream big...

 This is Benjamin, a graduate from the nursery school, but some years ago, he graduated from Amecet!  It was such an encouragement to me, to see him standing in his gown and his cap, the world is open for him, yes Benjamin...dream big!!!!

There were some other people there I knew ): Simon and Josephine, the twin children from Simon, our Amecet Social Worker! They also graduated today, here is Simon standing with his children, all celebrating the success of the twins..

There was a meal for everybody and after that I went to Amecet, I had heard that two children arrived brought by the Police from the village... I was shocked when I saw them, what a big contradiction with what I just witnessed at the graduation, where parents are proud of their children and want them to succeed in life......

Emmanuel did not experience much of that. His father is not known and his mother wanted to kill him. She had beaten him up and tried to throw him under a car. We are not sure how old he is, the Police letter said three years, but we think he is older. He can tell what has happen to him and he knows that his mother is now in the police cells. He was brought together with his 3 months old sister, a baby with cuts in her neck, they think the mother wanted to kill her as well. For the rest is the baby not wounded, there are old scars.... But Emmanuel is badly off, he is in a lot of pain, one eye is completely closed and there is a big, deep cut above his right eye. Together with Deborah, our nurse, we took them to the doctor, where they cleaned the wounds and he is started on anti biotic. he is so sad and he cries of the pain.

Please stand with us in prayer for those suffering, sick and hurting children..............

MOVING DAY.....

Yesterday we gathered with the staff in Amecet Home to thank God for this opportunity of renovation. We walked through the rooms asking God to bless all those children who would come and sleep in the beds, all the staff who would work there and all the people who gave and came to help us with this project. We don't want to take it for granted, we are so thankful for all what had been done !!!!!

 

Today was the big moving day.... We have been bringing things over in the days before, and then sometimes you need them again. Like yesterday, i got a phone call from the hospital if we could take a baby in, because the mother had just passed away.. All the intake forms were already gone to Amecet, so I had to get them first, before I drove to the hospital to pick the baby. But today we were able to bring everything back from Amun home to Amecet home. It is only two plots along the road, but still it was a lot of work... On the picture above, Elias and Emmanuel brought 4 baby beds and some minutes later the aunties came walking with the babies, after feeding we could lay them in their beds again, only in a different room...

Calvin brought one of them, just carrying, it didn't fit on the car anymore.....

 The babies were just sleeping on further in their new home, Auntie Barbara is changing a baby.

 This is the girls room, at the moment we have only two bigger girls.

 And that is the boys room! We have at the moment five bigger boys, You can see Jackson there, he tries to hang out with the big boys at times... We got all those beautiful sheets as a gift, Thank you Hannah, it looks really smart!!

And the kitchen is already the place to gather......

 We did do a lot, but the office needs still a lot of work.... we asked the Internet provider to come to change it all back to Amecet Home, but we haven't seen them yet...maybe tomorrow???

And then this room.... we have use it now to bring everything in, which we don't know yet where to put... We are waiting for the carpenter to make an old cupboard fitting in the hall way, so we can store all the puzzles and games and creative things in. We still have work to do... But we had a great day and everybody helped and worked hard, so we will be finishing soon.

It feel really good to be back in Amecet!!

Renovation....Excitement....

We have worked again hard in organizing and finishing, and we have now a date that we will be moving: Monday December 5th!!

Maybe some of you are not so interested in renovated rooms, sorry, but I am so excited, when I see the room with little beds, I see babies laying in them and how better and more safer we can work now! So here they are again, pictures of rooms, but I start with the kitchen:

This is such a make-over!!! We have tiles up to the ceiling, easier to clean and it looks so nice and light!! The fridge and the stove will have to come back from Amun, where we use them now, we would love to get a new stove and fridge, then the old ones can go back to Amun house. But for now we will get the old ones back. The staff is also excited, they said, now I want to do the dishes here!  

The furniture is still very okay to use, but after all those years it could use a new layer of varnish. So all the furniture, which has been packed under the car park for more than 2 months, was brought out under the trees to be worked on. While I was busy inside, Cathy was outside, helping the two men with varnishing!!!! She was very proud of her work! During the days is it sunny and hot, everything dries very fast.

Winnie, Barbara and Deborah are organizing the wardrobes in the hallway. We are blessed with many sheets, blankets, covers, towels and other things, this is again an opportunity to organize it better, people who have been with us, know that those wardrobes are always so difficult to keep tidy.... 

But we try it again....... 

 This is the first room which is ready, the beds are even made ready for the babies to lay in. The only thing missing are the mosquito nets, but they are coming... I can get excited when I see this room, thinking about all the little babies we will have sleeping (and crying probably :)) in these beds. The metals on top of the beds are for the nets, we don't have to put hooks in the ceiling, but the net is right on the little bed.

 This afternoon suddenly dark clouds came, so all the chairs which were still a bit wet from the varnish were brought into the house, so they would not get wet. You can see the dining tables at the back and the electrician is repairing some lamps.

This is taken from the other side of the living room and you can see the sofa's, with new covers, which were made by friends from the Dutch team that was here!  O and I can see that the electrician has to hang the lamps on the same height....:) so that are the things we are busy with now....

Will be continued.....

World Aids Day - Morning Glory children...

Today it is world Aids day, It has become a tradition in Amecet to come together as the whole "Amecet Family" and we remember the children who have gone to Heaven in the last year. I find it always quite emotional, different people talk about the children and we light a candle for each of them. Every year we have children to remember, they were all like the Morning Glory flower, which only bloom for a day, but they are so beautiful..

These pictures are from different years we looked back on their lives and how we enjoyed them, even it was for a short time. Not every child died of HIV/AIDS, we include also the other children, sometimes they were premature babies, for who life was just too much..

Today we decided not to hold our gathering today, we are in the middle of moving back to Amecet Home and so much is going on. I felt that I wanted to honor the children who passed away and remember them on the right way, we always did, so we decided that we postponed this event to maybe next week, when we are back in Amecet and we can do it in the right way. 

But I have been thinking a lot about it today, we see HIV/AIDS every day, we know the battles we have to fight, together with the children. We have lost many battles, but we also won many battles and many children are living a "normal" life, with taking medicines every day. We hear their stories about the stigma other people give them, we see their tears and sometimes we have no words... There are still many battles to fight, but if we can let them feel that they are special and that nobody should look down on them, that they can have a life like everybody else, we have won a lot. I have been thinking a lot today about two girls we lost this year: Norah and Amida, both because of HIV/AIDS. It really affected me and I was sad for several days, you can read the story of Norah in the blogs of March 19 and 20 and I wrote about Amida in the blog of June 22.

Dear Norah and Amida, we have not forgotten you, thank you for your smiles and your jokes! We will meet again.........