Please, pray for Betty...

Betty was in Amecet in 2016, she went back home, very okay. She had gained weight and was doing well. Betty is HIV+. When she came to the last Amun week, she was also sick, we treated her and when she went home she was doing fair. But then in March 2018, we got a phone call from I.D.I. an organization which works in the village, counselling people with HIV. Betty was not doing well, if we could take her back for a while. She came and we saw that she had lost weight. She is 12 years old and her weight is only 18 kg. She is on ARV medicines and anti TB medicines. But since a week is she really sick. We took her to the doctor, also for a scan and for tests, she is vomiting a lot, but lately it looks as if she gives up on life. She doesn't respond much to what we say to her, today she had to go back on IV drip. We are very worried about her....Please join us in prayer for her life....

Our incubator is complete....

We get quite regular, pre-mature baby's. And we were very happy with our simple incubator. It keeps the baby warm and more protected. We got this incubator years ago, in Kampala. I have tried to get the special lamp, which fit on top of the incubator, for baby's with jaundice. I couldn't get it, so when we have baby's who are a bit yellow, we try to lay them in the daylight.

But today we got the lamp. It was send from the Netherlands. Thanks to Trijnie, Klaaske and Marlinde with the Manoah Foundation, together they were able to find the special lamp, which fits on our incubator and they send it to Soroti.

Here you can see the little Gorreti, she is not yellow, but just to see how it would be like. We are so thankful for our friends, who are helping us to help the children!!! Eyalama noi noi noi....

Tracing and Placing.....

This are our two Social Workers, Elias (left) and Simon. They are doing a great job in tracing the families of children, who are abandoned or found in town. They know many people in Soroti, and often they "hear" traces..... If children are found, they hang posters around that place. They talk with people, trying to found out where the child came from. When they have a possibility of knowing where the home is, they go there and they find out the truth. They talk with neighbours and with the local counsellors. And often they "find" the relatives. But not always...... After some time they will find a foster family to care for the child and willing to adopt the child in the future. That foster family comes for interviews and also to the Probation office. After that the family will be visit in the village, to inspect the home by the probation officer and one of our Social Workers.

Simon and Elias are also going to the villages to visit the homes of children who are in Amecet. Last week they went to check on the family of Gorreti and Sam, who are both in Amecet at the moment.

 They talk with the parents, see how they live, if they have land to grow crops, they inspect the home and they try to give advice and to get more understanding about the situation of the family.

 Sometimes they meet the clan leaders and they talk about the child and how to help the child to come back home. On this picture you see them talking about Rebecca, a little girl that came to Amecet, because nobody wanted to care for her. But now, after meeting the clan, it turned out to be different and Rebecca is welcome back in the family.

 This is the family of Matthew, he is also welcomed back in his family. It takes sometimes several visits to the village. But it is so important to know that the child has a place to go back to, after he or she is stable.

Orphans are very vulnerable and sometimes people, even their own relatives, abuse them. It happens that Simon or Elias are called to the village by a concerned family member or neighbour, to help and mediate between the different people. On this picture it was about the cows of one of the orphans, who had been living in Amecet before. He was given back his two cows and Simon was involved in the process.

There are so many situation where they are involved in. They also have a important part to play with the older children in our home. They often sit with them and they talk together. They kind of play the Father role in their life. We thank God for men like Simon and Elias, who play such an important role in Amecet!!!

A day full of joy and happyness...

Even it was raining today, it was a very happy day!! Patrick came to visit with his new parents! Patrick was left behind in the evening in Soroti town. (Sept.2017). He was very sick and he spend a couple of nights in my house. he picked up and when you read the blog of Jan.23'18, you can see the big difference. Patrick had always a special place in my heart!  

Patrick is doing so well, he came inside Amecet and the children were just having lunch., he joined them directly. His parents love him!!! They enjoy him and you could really see that Patrick is at ease with them. I love the little rubber boots from Patrick, just like his dad!!

 This morning we had another visitor, Jesica came, together with her parents. Jesica came in Amecet as a small baby, her mother had tried to kill her. And last year she was adopted into a lovely family. She is also doing so well and her parents are so happy with her! What looks like a terrible situation in the beginning, can have a beautiful and happy ending!!!!

 Then Baby Moses was handed over to his new mother by the Probation Officer. Moses was found in January 2018 on the road. In spite of the tracing, the posters we hang, the radio messages and the newspaper ads, his family was never found. Today he was given a new family, his mother is very happy to receive him and we know that he will be loved and cared for! 

Maybe you remember the blog about the little boy, who was left behind in a taxi? (March 20'18) Later, a bag with dirty clothes and a letter found in the taxi. In the letter was written a name and a village. Our social worker (Simon) went searching and he found the family. On this picture Edward (the name used by us) but his real name is Ronald, is handed over to his father. On the background the grandmother, who will care for him and Ronald looks exact like her! Again a story with a happy end.....

 In my last blog I wrote about Gorreti, how we had to take her to the clinic on Sunday. We were even worried that she would die that day! This is a picture from today...... She is doing well, drinking again on her own, so we removed her NG Tube. No more IV medication and IV drips. She is gaining again! So again, a happy end, even she is not completely well.

It is good for everybody to have those happy moments, there are so many sad stories and struggles. It encourages us and we know that there is always hope!!! We thank you all for your prayers and keep praying for us!

A Sunday morning in hospitals........(instead of Church)

 Baby Sam was vomiting every time after drinking, We took him for a abdominal scan and they send us to the surgeon, because there was something not right at the stomach, where the pyloric is. The drinking went a bit better, the vomiting was less, but it was still there a bit. The surgeon looked at the scan and the baby and said, let' s do a X-ray with barium. So we called the doctor who does that the best, but he was in Kampala and he told us to come Sunday morning at 10. Mary and I went together with the very hungry baby Sam. He had to drink barium, with a strawberry flavor, he liked it!! Then the X-rays were taken, laying and hanging!! After looking at the X-rays, the doctor told us that it was good, he does not need to be operated!!! We were happy!!!!

We went back to Amecet and checked on Gorreti, who was not well when we left. We decided to take her also to the clinic (another one) for good blood tests and to see the doctor.

 Gorreti is 3 months old, she came to Amecet 6 weeks ago, her weight was 1.4 kg. (6 weeks old)!! She was doing well at first and gained up till 2.2 kg. But then she got sick (last week) we took her to the doctor, she was put on medication, but it doesn't seem to help her. She is dehydrated and she lost weight. I am worried about her, It is only a couple of days since Pauline died....... So we did several blood tests and the doctor examined her. There is an infection, because there is some fever as well. He changed her medication and right now she is on drip, to get some fluids in her. She is so frail and so small......

 There came also a new child on Thursday. His name is Eliya. It is such a sad story, he comes from another district, not so close to Soroti. The Probation officer from that district requested our help. The mother of the 2,5 year old baby boy got a mental problem. She tried to throw the baby into the pit latrine (local toilet) and also tried to strangle him. She also tried to strangle her mother, who helped her caring for the baby. They asked for help to care for the malnourished baby. There were wounds in his neck and he looked miserable. We took him in Amecet and the next day, we went with him to the clinic for tests and examinations. There the HIV tests came out positive. We went with him straight to the hospital, because since some weeks, they can do the DNA test for children at high risk, and they have the result in 2 hours!! With Pauline it was not yet possible, we could do that test only after Pauline was 6 weeks old and then we had to wait 2-3 weeks for the result. Now with Eliya, we got the results 2 hours later and yes he is HIV positive. They gave us ARV medicines for him, so he is now already on the ARV's, we saved a lot of time in the process. It was a lot of running around, but it is worth to do, the children are so vulnerable and depending on us. We are honored to stand in the gab for them. Please help us to pray for Gorreti and Eliya.

Little Pauline has lost her battle....

Last evening at 7.30 pm little Pauline left us to be with Jesus. Her battle against HIV and Pneumonia is over, I believe she is resting in the arms of Jesus.

We had contacted her mother and the mother was with her during the last 2 days, holding her and hoping for the best. We all did, but Pauline was so tired and so weak. She was with us for only 6 weeks. We had started her on the ARV's last week. It was all too much for her..... she was only 2, 5 month old.

The only comfort is that Jesus will care for her now and that there is no more AIDS,  pain, injections or suffering for this precious little girl.

About struggles and victories...

Our struggles and worries are about little Pauline. She came in Amecet around 6 weeks ago. She was, by then, 1 month old. Her mother was very sick and and HIV+. We took Pauline to the doctor, for testing for HIV and she was put on an ARV, while waiting for the results. Pauline was vomiting a lot and had several infection in the time she was in Amecet. Last week we got the test results back and the sad news was that Pauline is HIV+... We took her to the HIV clinic and she was given ARV's, which we started with immediately. This week she lost weight, even while she is drinking enough milk. This morning she suddenly collapsed. Gasping for air, she was put on the oxygen and the Doctor saw her and prescribed medication. She is fighting for her life. We ask your prayers for this  precious little girl........

But now our victories: there were two children picked by their fathers and one by his auntie. All three baby's were taken in Amecet because of the death of their mother after the delivery. They were very small and only 1 or 2 days old. They all did well and were now ready to go back to their families, they will survive the life in the village, they are all three drinking cows milk, so the families can afford to feed them. We mostly start the babies on milk formula, but those tins are so expensive to buy, no family can afford that, so we make sure that all the babies are used to cows milk, before they go home. Today we were extra happy, because all the families came on the appointed time, and we didn't have to trace and call them to come for their child. It is sometimes a real battle to re-settle a child back in his or her family. They want the child to stay in Amecet till they can walk or talk, but we feel it is important for the child to bond with the own relatives, in the family where they belong. So we do all we can to get the baby's back in their families within 2 or 3 months. Only when the baby is not stable yet, we keep the baby longer in Amecet.

But today, we handed 3 baby's back in to the arms of their fathers (and auntie).