Esther is now laughing again...in Heaven...

 Esther was with us in Amecet since February 2017, she was very thin and also weak, but she could still laugh by that time. She had several health problems, one of them was being HIV+ and she was even operated in April. When I left, at the end of April, I was not sure if I would see her again, and I said goodbye with tears in my eyes.....

I came back in Uganda on Saturday evening ( 27/5) and on Sunday I felt to go Amecet to see Esther. She was very sick and weak. This picture is from that day. She recognized me and she could still talk. On Monday she was more weak, but she could still tell me that she wanted to sit with me, I had her in my arms for a while, the speaking was more difficult. The doctor of the hospital came to see her in Amecet, on Tuesday and prescribed blood transfusion, we did that yesterday and we also put her on the oxygen machine. But in the evening, we saw that it was not going better. With the staff together we prayed for her, knowing that God could take her home every moment.

I went home, unsure of my emotions, I was sad, but I also knew that when God would take her home, her suffering would be over. But I also felt anger, towards....I don't know..., angry at the HIV, which took again an innocent victim...  Seeing the first picture, where Esther could still smile and laugh and then the last one, where she can hardly open her eyes... Esther should have been playing, going to school and having the hope of a good future...

This morning she was worse, didn't react on anything and at 11.30 m Deborah came to tell me that she had passed away, just quietly, without a lot of struggle. Simon and Emmanuel are carrying the coffin with her small thin body into the car, which will take her to her last resting place in the village.

Esther was only 9 years old, we celebrated her birthday just 2 months ago, by that time she hardly smiled anymore, but now....I am sure she is smiling and laughing with Jesus...

Reunion....

There was a special gathering in a big play garden in Holland. we met with the 8 Ugandan children and their  families, who all have been living in Amecet, but are adopted in Belgium. Amecet works hard to reunite the children with their own family, if that is not possible, we try to find an Ugandan family who wants to give the child a home and a family. If that is not possible, the child can be adopted by a foreign family, this is a long process, via High Court.

 We had to make a group picture: from left to right:
At the top Helen and Mary
Then: Justin, Cathy, Els, Peter and Moses
Sagal is sitting in front of Els
Then sitting: Emmanuel and Thomas
Frank (brother to Emmanuel) and Walter

 It was all started by the plan to let Helen and her good friend Mary meet together, When Mary was still in Amecet, they were very good friends.. After Mary went to live in Belgium, there were long Skype talks... They just had to see each other and this meeting ended up to be a reunion....

 I was so excited to see them all again, and it is going well with all of them. Their parents also all came and it was a very nice and relax time. The children played and the adults played with them and talked together. I was impressed with the way they had grown and changed. the most I was touched when I saw Thomas, here on the picture. This little boy came into Amecet, more dead than alive, now I saw him playing in the sandbox!!!!

And now...we say goodbye to Holland and we fly back to Uganda tomorrow. We have had a good time, saw many people and did many thing. We enjoyed our time very much , I feel refreshed and I am looking forward meeting everybody in Amecet again. 

We still ask your prayers for Esther...

Dominique Branner

21 hrs · 

This is Esther maybe a little over 2weeks ago. She is now 11kg. The change is drastic. She now has a feeding tube. In her mind she has given up. Help us pray for her. That we would know how to love her and minister to her in such a way that she would understand how significant her life is!!💕💕💕💕 — with Marlinde Zwart.

I copied this FaceBook message in this blog. Dominique wrote it. It is not going well with Esther. I wrote several blogs about her. Please keep praying for her......

Merabu went HOME!!!

I got the message that the little girl Merabu went to be with Jesus last night... It is always such a sad situation, but we know that the love and the care of her Heavenly Father will comfort her family and us. He knows what was laying ahead of her and in His Wisdom He took her Home. 

Thank you for praying and standing with us, please do not stop praying for Amecet, the staff needs your support and we still have sick children.

This is the small coffin, some of the staff will go and travel with her to bring her to her last resting place in the village. She will be burried next to her mother. No more pain and sickness......

Baby Merabu needs prayer...

Just had contact with Amecet... Baby Merabu is very sick. During the day it seemed to go a bit better, but at the beginning of the evening it went very bad. It is so hard with those little babies, it can go suddenly worse...

As a staff, they came together to pray for her and to anoint her with oil. It is always a very special and tense time.

They brought her twin brother, Filbert, to be with her. Filbert is much bigger and is growing well. But it is a touching moment, to see those two little babies together and knowing that one of them is in a critical situation. 

For me it is special that I could be in touch with them by social media and skype, praying for them and letting them know that I am with them in spirit...

Help us to pray.........

While I am in Holland for holidays, I still have contact with Amecet and I want to ask you to pray for them. There are 3 sets of twins at the moment, all new born babies, whose mother passed away after the delivery. The first twins were Stella and Rose, I wrote about them before. They are now doing well, except that Rose is struggling at times and needs very close supervison.

 This are Lucy and Leya, they also lost their mother. They are doing well and drinking and growing good.

 The third set of twins are Filbert and Merabu.  They both need to be fed by a N.G. tube, they are too small to drink themselves, they are exhausted after drinking, so for now they are feeding them by NG tube.

But we ask your prayers in particular fro baby Merabu, this baby had problems with breathing and was in need of special care. She was on oxygen and IV medication.





They send me this picture, the baby was stable, but so small and weak...

The care of all those small babies takes a lot of time and energy, but there are more children at the moment who are in need of your prayers..

Esther, I wrote about her in the last two blogs. She is back in Amecet, but today it did not went well with her, high fever and she almost collapsed. She is in need of a special (very expensive) antibiotic medicin, which they will try to start with tomorrow. Please pray for her...

                                                                          Then baby Ben, I wrote about him before, he is now 8 months old and has still seizures. We went with him to the specialist in Kampala several times. He had now problems with swallowing and a severe lung infection. This is such a sad little boy, I have never seen him smile......

There are two other children on IV medication, it is very busy at the moment. Please pray for our nurse Deborah who cares for all our sick children with the help of a volunteer nurse Marlinde and Dominique and Immaculate. It is a lot of work......                            

Esther is back in Amecet!!!

Esther was operated on Friday morning, the doctors saw an obstruction in the intestines, via the X-ray and the scan. But....After they had opened her, they couldn't find anything anymore, they checked and checked, but nothing... So they closed the wound. Esther has now stitches, but they haven't done anything to the intestines. I got the news that she came back to Amecet on Monday and she is allowed to eat and drink. This picture is in Amecet , she is not happy.. Pls. keep praying for her, also for her emotions..

I also heard that there is a new pre-mature twin in Amecet, two little girls, Leya and Lucy. They are doing good. But we also ask your prayers for them.

I am for 4 weeks in Holland, with my two youngest daughters. We are enjoying the friends and family and the stroopwafels........

 and even the rain (a bit)