Amun week- Day 4 and 5.

 This morning, we started with singing and meditation. This time they were all reflecting on a Bible scripture by themself. It was nice to see them all sitting around in the garden, reading and praying.

Yesterday Simon and Bernard (in the picture) started the day with a teaching about basic communication skills. It was fun with a lot of interaction.

Then, after the tea break, Sam Abuku gave a teaching about seeing your potential, making plans for the future. It was a good and challenging message. In the afternoon they talked about it in their different age groups. 

 Today, Julius and I taught about relation ships, what is important to keep relationships working and growing. And after the tea break, Andrew spoke about adolesence and the changes that it brings to the body, when you get older. There were two small films and in age and gender groups we talked about boy friends and girl friends. It was a full day, so this afternoon we gave free, to relax and do some laundry.

Amun week- Day 3

 At 5.30 am Amun house is busy with everywhere children waking up and trying to organise themselves and breakfast is at 7 am. At 8.30 we begin in the tent with praise and worship and than a time of meditation. The teaching starts at 9 am.

Today I was the one to teach, about HIV/AIDS and ARVs. When you are standing in front of this group of 45 HIV+ children, who are all on the ARV medicines, then I really feel for them. They know where I am talking about. I tried to explain what the HIV virus does in their blood and why ARV's are so very important. I try to make it easy to understand and hopefully it stimulate them to take their ARVs with more care. When I talked about ARV's I took some time to remember the three children who passed away this year. Children from their group, last year they were there, it was very hard for them to take in. Several children cried, it is the reality, two of the three, got sick because of not taking their ARVs regular. I don't want to scare them, but it is the reality!

We watched a small movie about ARVs, you can see they are very concentrated.

In the afternoon they went into 3 groups (according their age) and they had a time of sharing and evaluating the morning teachings. They had really understood it and it was also good to share in the small group about the 3 children who passed away this year.

Then the games, it is so good to see them all participating, the big ones made most of the noise!!!!

This is a game in small groups. We are so thankful for this beautiful garden en place!

Amun week- I AM CHOSEN.

We have a very full house!! It is again Amun week. Two years ago we celebrated our 10 years anniversary and we had invited over 50 children for 3 days to celebrate with us. All these children had been living with us for a period of time during those 10 years. It was such a success, we decided to do it every year, but then with the purpose to encourage and train them. We invited last year 45 children who are all HIV+ and who have been living with us, this year we have 48 children in the Amun week. We want to encourage them, train them to live positive, encourage them to keep taking their ARV's and to listen to their testimonies. They are also excited to see each other again, they all come from different villages, they are very excited to be here. It was not an easy thing to organise, we have been meeting for weeks and we have help from some YWAM staff from the Soroti base. Today we started with a Sunday morning service. We hired a tent and put it in the garden of our Amun house.

Our Amecet staff is wonderful, they are really so supportive. Here on this picture they are sorting the rice. We buy rice in a big sack and you have to sort it, there are stones in and other things you would not like in your food. To sort rice for 70 people is a big job!!! 

Then the cooking....We have very big pots, which do not fit on our clay charcoal stove, so we do the big pots on firewood. Loyce is lightening the fire here. 

But the food was nice and everybody ate a lot!!

This is the singing during the Sunday service. We have a theme for the whole week, from 1 Peter 2:9 and 10 : I AM CHOSEN. This time we made purple T-shirts and the theme is printed on the back.

Most of the children sleep in Amun home, some in Amecet, but Amecet is also quite full and has to operate as normal. We have a lot of baby's, even this evening, while I was writing this blog, Janneke called me that there was a man at the gate of Amecet, who found a baby on the street. She had send him to the police and 30 minutes later, the police came, with the man and the baby, if we could take the baby in. Tomorrow they would start looking for the mother. Some people asked me how the baby Sabine is doing, we have been very unsure this week if she would make it, you just saw her getting weaker and weaker, but since two days we have some hope, she gained some grams, she didn't need IV fluids and sometimes she is drinking a bit herself (we feed her by NG tube). So keep praying for her! Also some asked how Doreen is doing with her baby, she doing well, is giving breastfeeding, she is struggling with her arm, she finds it hard to handle the baby, but now she can bath her herself and she loves her!! Here a picture from me, Doreen and the little baby Els, it is a real beauty!!!

World Aids day 2013

We stood still as an Amecet family, by World Aids day. It has been a tradition, we have done it now for many years. To me it is an emotional event. We remember the children who died this last year, we light a candle for each child and several staff members share about a particular child. 

 This year we lost 7 children, not all because of HIV, but sometimes they are still very little baby's and we couldn't test them yet. So we just remember them all. Like baby Peter, who died in Jan.2013, he was only 4 days old. Or Fiona, who was 12 years old when she passed away in July. Fiona was so sick and her body just gave up. Baby Anna, whose stomach was so swollen, she had so much pain. We also remembered William, who died recently after his operation, he was only 7 weeks old.

Esther, one of our staff, light the candle for Christine, she also died recently, after a very difficult and lonely time.

 After the serious time we also thank God for the life we see in many children. At the moment we have quite a full house and God is blessing us and He also entrust us with the care of the children. There were soda's and cake!!

We toast on LIFE!!!!!

A busy day for Sabina (and us).



Sabina (the baby from yesterdays blog) is doing much better. During the night the diarrhea stopped, but we were still worried about the breathing. Very fast and difficult, we used our saturation meter and she didn't need any oxygen. The pediatrician from Soroti hospital, Dr. Florence, came in the morning to see her. She checked the lungs and couldn't give an explanation for the difficulty in the breathing. We had to put her back on a slow IV drip, she was still dehydrated, continue with the IV medication and when she was a bit stronger , in the afternoon, try to get a chest X-ray, a scan from the heart and a HIV test done. So after some hours of IV fluids and her IV medication, I took her to the neighbour clinic for the X-ray and the blood test. After that Janneke and I went together to the hospital to the doctor for the ultra sound of the heart. I had called the doctor first, to see if he was there and we didn't have to wait long with this little girl. The scan showed that there was a small hole in the heart between the left and the right side. That is why the breathing was so fast. With the report we drove to the clinic of Doctor Florence and she prescribed some extra heart medication. She feels that the hole can close by itself, in time. When the infections are over, she will pick up and get stronger. I think that Sabina will be in Amecet for quite a wile, her home situation is too harsh for her.

 Here we come back from the doctor, at least we can laugh again!!!

Maybe you think we have only baby's, yes, sometimes we have only baby's, but not at the moment!! Auntie Janneke 2 has always a lot of fun with the bigger children, she is really good in stimulating them to draw, count, read and paint! Left is Gipas, it is so nice to see him smiling and playing!! Today we got even two more little boys via the police. Both were brought because of problems at home and they were in need of a safe place. After a shower they loved to play and I hope they forgot their problems a bit.

Please pray for Sabina.

 This is a picture I took this afternoon from Sabina, the baby I wrote about in the previous blog. She is very sick at this time. She had not been drinking well since she came, she is now 3 weeks old and her weight is 2.2 kg. She started to get diarrhea, so we went to the doctor on Sunday and she had to be put on Iv drip and IV antibiotics. Today we didn't like the way she looked, so we went to the pediatrician from the hospital. She told us to put her back on drip and change the IV medication. We did, but this afternoon the breathing changed, we had to put her on oxygen as well. I am so happy that Janneke is here, she is now in charge of the medical side of the children. Since I am not living at Amecet anymore she is really an answer to prayers. So I don't have to go in the night back to Amecet, she just called me, Sabina is a bit more comfortable, but is still in critical condition! Please pray for her, it is such a beautiful little girl! Pray also for Janneke, she is still settling in and then directly such a critical baby is not easy. 

African baby's are so beautiful!! This is Emmanuel, he was born last night, but his mother started to bleed after the delivery and in a short moment, she passed away. Very sad, she was only 18 years old.

Emmanuel is brought to us, till the father has got a bit over his shock and the family knows who will care for this little boy.

Moses went out and Sabina came in!

Moses was picked by his auntie today. He is the baby on the picture with Sarah, on the blog from yesterday. We explained all the medication and I think the aunt understood. We will go and visit them soon in the village, to see how it goes.

 Today a new baby arrived! It was a little girl, she was brought by her sister of 16 years and the probation officer from Kotido. That is a district in the North. The population is there mostly Karomajong, it is a tribe which lives as nomads. They are very poor and they live mostly from their cows. Both of the parents died this year. The mother passed away after giving birth, the father died 8 months ago.The 8 children are now on their own, the oldest girl is 18. The sister was wearing the tradional clothes and was wearing many bracelets around her arms and legs. She also had the decoration on her face. It is a sign of beauty. She told me that it is cut with a razorblade and safetypins.

The little baby is called Sabina (after the social worker) She weighs 2,4 kg and is 2 weeks old. She looks healthy, just a bit small. 

 

 

This is our new leaders team of Amecet! At the front (left) sits Elias, then clockwise: Simon, Els, Janneke and Dominique. We all have a heart for children and we see that Amecet can really do something for children who are in trouble. I feel we are a good team and I I appreciate each one of my team members. I am looking forward to see what God wants to do with and through us.

It is going good with Doreen and her baby, we could take her back to Amecet on Friday. At first the baby kept on loosing weight, but since two days the baby is gaining again. It is not easy for Doreen, it is hard to handle her baby with one disabled arm and only 3 fingers at het other arm (hand). But she loves her baby and the feeding is going better and better. She needs still a lot of help with bathing and handeling her baby. She also gave the baby the name: Akello Else.....