Alice's first schoolday and a Royal visit in Amecet.....

 Alice went to school today! She is 4 years old and lived most of her life with her mum on the streets. She was soooo happy, she waved bye to all the aunties in Amecet and stepped in the car, very proud with her new schoolbag on the back! This picture left is one of the first pictures we have from Alice, she came in Amecet in August 2013 via the Police, she was around 6 months old. Was re-settled with relatives, but ended up living with her mother again. It did not go well, this time several government officials worked together to get her again in Amecet. She has a very strong character, when we came to school, she was so confident, not scared at all. She only didn't want to hang her schoolbag with the other bags, she kept it on her back. You see her sitting at the front (right) with her bag. The children were at Bible time.

 Alice came home from school today , telling us that she was going again tomorrow.......

Then the Royal visit...... I was called to come outside a beauty princess wanted to talk with me. So I came out the office, wondering what was going on. The Miss Teso 2017 came to visit us in Amecet!!

We had a long talk on our veranda, she was the chosen beauty queen from Teso 2017 and she wanted to help the community on different ways. Amecet is one of the ways, she told us that she was an orphan herself and that seeing the way we cared for the orphans and vunerable children, gave her hope. She promised to come back in April, this was just a visit to spie out the land...

A wave of toddlers......

Jackson was our only toddler for a while, he had the whole room for  himself. But in one week time the room is full, we have all the 8 beds filled, just within this week and there is even another child who we want to take in.... 

 This are Pius and his twin brother Joseph. They were brought via the Police, their mother abandoned  them. So work again for our social workers, to trace their relatives. Joseph (right) is one kilogram heavier than his twin brother. They are crawling around, pulling themselves up, you can't get them go out of your sight!

 Joel and Alice are cooking.... Alice is very much the leader, so we also have to keep an eye on that....

 Jackson, our school boy, together with Priscilla, a little girl who is rejected by her mother. The mother is in prisons and now Priscilla came to us. Again our social workers will go and find the relatives of the girl. She is very sweet and is happy to play.

 Our queen Mary.. today we got the good news that she is HIV-, the test results came back, Mary is almost blind and propably also almost deaf.  She is a sweety!

This is the full toddlers room now, all the 8 beds are taken. 

It gives a clomplete other dimension, than the baby's do. We still have around 9 baby's and three older children.

Family tracing........

Our social workers, Simon and Elias, are spending a lot of their time into family tracing. When a child comes in Amecet, and there is no nearby family, they are trying to trace for them. Sometimes it is easy, sometimes it is very difficult, sometimes it is nearby, in Soroti, but sometimes it is far and they have to drive for hours.....
Last week Simon and the Senior Probation Officer from Soroti went on a family tracing trip in the North, in Karamoja.

Karamoja is a very dry land

 This is a picture from the village, where the families live together

 The Karamojong live from their cattle, they are living like nomads, searching for grass for their cows. Amos, the probation Officer stands here with two shepherds.

According to the directions.... this should be the house?????

Simon goes through the gate, checking if they are at the right place.. 

 They found the right people, had a meeting with them and of course  a picture at the end!

Family tracing is hard work, it cost money, time and a lot of energy, but it is worth the effort, when we can bring children back into their own family. 

I am at awe at the beauty of this land Uganda, it is a privilege to be able to work here.

Alice is back and baby Anna joins her...

 Alice has been in Amecet before, she lived with her mother, but the mother has a mental illness. We have cared for Alice when she was very weak and malnourished, we have tried to re-settle her back in the community, to relatives, but that did not work out. She was back with her mother. Today we were asked by the Police, the local counselor from the place where she lived with her mother and the social worker from the hospital, to come and to take Alice. Alice is getting wild, she is begging on the street, walking alone in town, she is 4 years old now. The mother is not able to care for her. So via the Police Alice came back in Amecet.  I walked in the house, when she was eating at the table, she stopped and waved, still knew me, She is a funny girl, very active, but you can really see that she has been wild on the street. Sad a little girl of 4 years.....

Today, we got another intake, baby Anna. There is a similarity  with Alice, her mother has also a mental illness. But her mother is more aggressive, the baby was in danger. The mother was talking about killing her.. She refused to breastfeed and the family was desperate. So we picked her from the village. baby Anna is 5 days old and her weight is 2.6 kg. we will take her to the doctor tomorrow, the mother delivered her on her own in the bush. the baby needs to be checked... 

Sunday afternoon we were called to the hospital to pick baby Samuel. He was born on the same day as baby Anna, by a Cesarean operation. His mother is very sick, Today I went to check on her, she is still hanging on, but in a very serious condition. We pray she will make it. Samuel is a very cute baby, but he doesn't drink so well, vomits a lot. He has put on IV medication, because he developed a fever.

Start of the "Young Mother's Club"..........

 Today a new initiative has started: a club for young (teenager) mothers! We had our first meeting in the shelter in Amun Home.

Amecet is part of YWAM Soroti, as a YWAM base we have been going through a process together and we formed with some of the YWAM Soroti staff a group who are concerned with Mercy Ministry. The practical part of being a Christian, caring for the poor and the needy, We came together a few times, Amecet is a project in this Mercy Ministry, but there is so much need and there are so many opportunities, we have been brainstorming, praying and talking what we could do more. We are only with a few, but we can do more....

The club for young, teenage mothers was born.......

Simon invited 7 young girls, we know, via Amecet. And today 5 of them came. Andrew and Margaret, both YWAM Soroti staff members were sharing with them. It was more the girls who were sharing and telling their stories. It was so good for them to hear each others story, one of them told the others that she always thought that her life was so difficult, but now she heard that others had the same problems and even worse than hers, it helped her. The stories are sad and touching, this time it was more sharing and listening, the next meeting will be in 4 weeks. We don't know yet how we are going to do this all, we would love to help them on their way. But....God will bless this small beginning!!

Daniel is going home....

 It is not always simple to resettle a child back to his or her relatives......

Daniel was brought to Amecet in the beginning of November 2016. A small little, cute baby. His weight was 2.4 kg. The story was sad... His mother is a young woman with a mental disability. She lives with her (old) parents and stays most of the time at home and does little jobs around the home. When she got pregnant she was able to tell her parents who the father was of her unborn baby, the neighbour, who is married and has a family!! Can you imagine what a commotion that brought in the community, the neighbour admitted that he was the one, he has been in the police cell  for a little while, but was set free again. When the baby was born, the mother totally abandened  the baby, she refused to breastfeed and they feared for the life of the baby. That is where Amecet came in and we took Daniel into Amecet, so the families could sort out themselves and at least the baby was safe. Daniel did very well, he was hardly sick and you can see the differance between the two pictures above, Daniel's weight is now 6 kg. But the families were very quiet, when Daniel's time in Amecet was almost over, we started to call the brother of the mother and we couldn't get a clear answer. Simon went to the village to have a meeting with both familes. The father of the baby (the neighbour) is willing to take Daniel into his own family, but his wife is not willing. There was a lot of talking with the wife, but up till now we do not think that Daniel should go there. The grandmother (of the mother side) is also willing to care for Daniel, with the support of the father (neighbour). Today Simon drove again to the village to talk with both families and to see what is the best place for this beautiful little boy. But for sure it has to be a safe place for him. 

I just pray that his sweet smile will conquer their hearts........as it did with me!!!!

Another sad news: Anna Grace R.I.P.

We brought Anna Grace back to her relatives on February 7. We felt that we could not do much more for her. Often she refused to eat or to take her medicines. We had promised to come and visit her soon. And then talk with her and her relatives if she was coming back to Amecet or if she would stay in the village. Today, we had planned to go there, but when Elias and two volunteers arrived in the village they heard the sad news that Anna Grace had passed away on February 20........ It was a big shock, because we had not heard anything and we were expecting her to come back to Amecet. The family told us that she got her medicines that morning and she had told her auntie that this were the last medicines she would swallow, she would not take any other medicines anymore.......

And that is what happened, she passed away at 5 pm!! No more medicines for Anna Grace..................

Anna Grace always wanted her hair braided, but she had no hair, and when some hair was growing, it was very thin. I was always telling her that I have the extensions and the beats ready for her hair ... she just had to eat better, so her hair would grow healthy. We were talking about this, would she have braided hair in heaven????

We lost three children last week, too many!!!! (Read the blog of Feb. 22 and of Feb 24).We know that they are safe with Jesus, but it feels so different.... We know that all three children suffered a lot and they were very sick, but we tried so hard to help them. It is so painful to let them go, but we know that they are in the arms of Jesus  and that is our comfort.