To be on the right spot, at the right time.....

Yesterday, Simon came back from the village, where he had done a follow up visit with one of the families of the children. As he drove back into town, he saw some people standing in a group, one of them was  one of our staff members. He stopped and asked her what had happened. He heard that a lady had just died, on the back of a motorbike. People tried to let her sit, but she was already gone. The motorbike had ran out of fuel,  someone went for fuel, but was gone already for a while. So the body was just laying there.... at the side of the road.... Simon reversed the car and  and talked with the sister of the lady, who was of course very upset. Simon ended up with carrying the lady in the back of his car and bringing the body, with the sister back to her village. When he arrived in the village, he heard that the lady who had passed away, had a small, one week old baby. The family was very shocked of what had happened. They wanted to give the baby to Simon, to take to Amecet, but he said that they would first think about that and organize. If they still wanted help, they could come to Amecet.

This morning the family came with the baby to Amecet.... A small beautiful baby boy, whose name is Emmanuel. The baby looks healthy and drinks well. It is so good to know, after a story like this, that God is with us....Emmanuel......

                                    

They were all lies.....

When a new born baby is brought to Amecet with the story that the mother has passed away, we want to believe that story. The auntie brought the baby and told us that the mother (her sister) had died, and that the father was not known. The baby was small, weighing only 2.2 kg. and he looked weak. We took the baby in Amecet, the auntie filled the forms and signed. We were going to care for the baby for at least 2 months, if the baby would be stable by that time, he would go home, if he was still a bit weak, we would extend the time in Amecet......

His name is Vincent.

Vincent cried a lot in the beginning, but he started to put on weight. He was healthy, after the first visit to the doctor, he was never sick and he gained, today he is 4 kg! We have been calling to the auntie, she promised to come and visit him, but she never came... After the 2 months were over, we felt that Vincent could go home, so we called the auntie again, she promised to come... but never came. Then I called again and the phone was not answered, for several times. In Vincent's file, I found the mobile number of the local counsellor, that is a kind of village chief, I called him, he told me that the auntie would come that week, he said that he was an uncle of the mother that had died. Today, after again 3 weeks no response, our social worker, Elias, decided to go there and bring Vincent home, there was also another child in Amecet, who was going to be re-settled with his family, so they left this morning. (we always write the directions to the home in our file)

At 4 pm they came back,.........with Vincent....... They had found the family and they had found Vincent's mother and the grandfather (who was the counsellor, and said that he was the Uncle of the mother). There had been hot discussions, the grandfather wanted us to take Vincent until he could walk. He didn't care, Elias could take him...he said. The mother was 20 years old and disabled, she was lame and had epilepsy. 

Elias decided to take Vincent back to Amecet, he felt it was not safe for the baby to leave him with his family. They agreed that the clan would come together and decide what to do. Elias will go back there to follow up. It is sad, that people lie so much and are not willing to take the children back. We do see this more, but we always find out the truth. It is now important that  Vincent is safe and that we make sure that he will get to the right person. For now he is back in his little bed in Amecet.

At the same time that they came back from the village with Vincent, the Police brought a 7 year old girl in Amecet. She lives with her uncle and she had taken 1,000 shilling (maybe around 30 euro cent) the uncle had beaten her so bad, her hands are all swollen and painful, she has bruises on her back. She was dirty and hungry. We took her to the doctor and she got treatment, then a shower, clean clothes and a meal. The police is searching for her parents..
So this was our Friday....

Baby's, teargas and Michel.....

It is almost 2 weeks, since the last blog update, lots of things have happened since the last writing... We got several new born baby's coming in, all because the mother passed away after the delivery. It is always a sad story, we are happy that we can help the family a bit, to take care of the little one, so the family can mourn and sort themselves out, before the baby comes back to them. Sometimes there are additional problems: the dowry was not paid and the family of the late mother, demands the dowry to be paid. It is good that the baby's are then out of the way, in a safe environment....

In Uganda are some political tensions because of the age limit. Some parties want to remove the age limit, so that the president is not limited by the age and can stay as a president. There are hot debates going on. Normally, you do not notice it so much in Soroti, but two weeks ago there was a day in Soroti where the opposition came to campaign and it all didn't end peaceful. There was shooting with teargas and even the army had to come in...There was looting and burning of tires, but there are always people who are suddenly caught in between.. There was a young lady who was selling airtime cards and sending money by phone, as her business. She was hit full by the teargas and was terribly burned. She is now admitted in Soroti hospital, but has a lot of pain and we hope that she will get help, because she is suffering so much. The government doctors are also on strike, she needs to get special help!! But she also has two sons, twins. They are two years old and were now cared for by neighbours, as the grandmother is staying in the hospital with the mother. 

 They were brought to Amecet, where they are safe and getting food and shelter. Patrick and Noah are their names and they are a handful!!! Very naughty and free, so we have to keep an eye on them, they are everywhere... But we see them adjusting better everyday, listening and not fighting.......

 On Friday we went to Doctor's Plaza with Michel. He was operated on August 15 from Osteomyelitis, has been with metal pins in his leg since that time. But all went well. the X-rays showed that the bone was growing again and Friday, Nov. 17 the pins were removed!! On the picture you can see him, sitting in the wheelchair, going to the theatre. The left nurse is one of the three student nurses from Holland who are with us in Amecet. They are working at three places in Soroti during their practicals, In Amecet, in Doctor's Plaza, a private clinic and in a Government clinic. They will stay here for more than 3 months.

The picture below shows him today!!! The pins are out and he is allowed to put weight on his leg. But because he is a bit wild, the doctor let him walk still for 2 weeks with his crutches... We are so thankful and happy that everything went well and that Michel still has his leg, that the infection has stopped and the bone inside the leg is growing strong!!!!

The triplets - 1

Yesterday morning, baby Mary got problems breathing. The doctor from the neighbour clinic came to see her and she was put on oxygen, IV medication and a lot of prayers....

She was up and down, but she made it through the night, this morning I found her better than yesterday. But then after 12 pm it went wrong, she couldn't keep up her saturation and at 2.15 pm she just stopped breathing. There was no struggle, she went peaceful to the Lord.

It is sad, we had good hopes for the little girl, who had been already been admitted in the hospital for the same kind of problem. We said goodbye to her, and Elias, together with some of the staff went to the village to bring the little coffin home. It was a strange view, the two baby's still in the bed and the third one in the little coffin. 

Many things are going on......

This little, new born baby was brought to Amecet on Tuesday evening at 9.30 pm. They found the baby, laying on a veranda. The baby was around 1 day old....... At first the staff received the baby, gave her a bath and a bottle. She didn't drink much, but the next feeding went a bit better. The next morning, the Probation office and Elias, our social worker got into action. It is so good to know many people and also that Amecet is known by many people. Within a couple of hours, the mother was found! She lived not far from Amecet, together with her other daughter of, maybe, 18 months old.

She had told the neighbours that the baby had be born dead, so that is why she left Monday pregnant and came back Tuesday evening without the new baby. Elias and the Probation Officer tried to get more information, but the whole story was full of lies. 

The story was changing and changing, they tried to get the contacts of the father, or her family, parents or sisters. At the end she was taken to the Police Office, because what she had done is a criminal act, and the other little girl was brought to Amecet. The mother was put in the cells, because of her attitude and she was released the next day. Elias got some telephone numbers and he got into contact with one of the sisters. The sister was very upset when she heard the story. She promised to come the next day. There has been a lot of talking and calling over the phone and the mother came suddenly at  the doorstep of Amecet, last night, on Thursday evening, to pick both of her children!!! We couldn't just give her the children, they were brought by the Probation officer and we needed to know if the children would be safe. At that same moment, the sister also arrived and there was quite a confrontation between the two sisters. The staff told them to come back the next day to work everything out.The next day there were talks and at the end the mother took the offer from the sisters to go back home, to the village, where her parents were still living. They were willing to help her with the two little children. The sisters went to her little room, she had been renting and brought the sister, with all er belongings, back to the village.

Then the sisters came to Amecet, to pick the two little girls and to bring them also to the village. It was hard work for Elias and the Probation officer, to be sure that the two children were safe and cared for.

Patrick, the little boy who was found in town, is doing very good. He is happy and soooo cute. He eats very good and you can't recognize the little boy who came so sick and malnourished in Amecet. The only thing is that he is still not talking to us. We know he can talk, we hear him sometimes talking to himself, when he is in bed or playing on his own. We are trying to find relatives, gave out posters, place his picture in the local newspaper, but still there is no one who comes forward. Simon and Elias went on Tuesday morning early, to check some areas at the lakeside, where the fishermen community lives. They came back late in the afternoon, there was no one who recognized Patrick.... This week he will be again in the newspaper, but I think  that he will probably go to a family who is willing to foster and than adopt him.

And on Wednesday, we held our first Amun week meeting!!!

We did that in the garden of our Amun home. The Amun week is a special week, we organize every year for all the older HIV+ children, who have been living in Amecet in the past years. In December there will be around 50 children staying for one week in Amun home, we will have a tent in the garden for all the meetings, we will do games and there will be singing and a lot of fun. We like to use this week to encourage the children and to teach them more about their HIV+ status. There are some YWAM staff from the YWAM Soroti base, who are joining us every year to help organizing, teaching and just be there for the children. I will be writing more about this week.....

Simon went today to the village. Two weeks ago, he went on a home visit to Alice and her grandmother. Things didn't look well there. So today he went back to follow up and he has brought them both a mattress, sheets a blanket, mosquito net. they were so happy!!

The grandmother told him that she had never had such a nice sheets and blanket. She hanged them around her neck and kept holding them the whole time. She also told Simon that when she would die, they should bury her in these sheets!!! Alice is doing well, they work together in their garden en eat from that. Alice is going to school and her health is okay.

This are just some stories about what happened this week. There is no one day the same as the day before!!!

P.S. the last news about the triplets: they are all three above the 2 kg!!! Even the last one, who was brought on Sunday, is picking up!!