Back to normal again??!

Yes!!!! Everybody is back today and  "normal" days are back again...... but what is  "normal"? Today around 11 am a lady came through our gate, she was as bit insecure, but she came to the veranda and looked to all the baby's. Suddenly she said:"that is my baby!"pointing to Apio Ruth, who laying in a maxi cozy.

Ruth came to Amecet on 3/10/2011 (read the blog: Why have those innocent children have to suffer so much) and I also wrote about her in the Blogs of 2/11/2011 and 16/11/2011. The lady was so happy to see her baby, she cried!

Simon and I took her inside, to talk and to see if she was really the mother who disappeared that time in October.The story we got was such a sad one, it brought tears to my eyes. I can't write the whole story here  in the Blog, that would not be good for the case of the mother, who is called Mary. There were all kind of circumstances why she couldn't find her baby. The mother is HIV+ and started, together with the older brother of Ruth, ARV medicines only two weeks ago. Her husband was killed by a mob for stealing some goats, just before she gave birth to Ruth and her twin brother, the end of February 2011. The twin brother died in March, she had no breast feeding. It is a miracle that Ruth survived. The mother liked the name Ruth, she had not given her a Christian name, because she didn't have the money for the baptism, that is when they give the baby the Christian name. She said she would like to keep the name Ruth. Mary now lives together with her children with her two brothers and their families. They build a house for her. But when she came back (after some time) in the village, they wanted to know where her baby was, she didn't know and they beat her. They couldn't believe that she  "lost" her baby. Via the radio they heard about a baby Apio in Amecet home. So she came, partly walking and riding with a truck, to Soroti, asking for this Home Amecet. The boda-boda men (bicycle taxis) knew where that home was and they brought her to our gate. Simon and I asked many questions, we saw that she really loved her baby, but we can't just give her back. So Simon picked the Probation officer (child protection officer) And we had again a talk with her. We have to go back to the doctor for her legs in Kumi and we also have to go back for the HIV test results. But Mary didn't dare to go back home without her baby. So we decided that Simon and the Probation officer would go to her village with Mary, to talk with the brothers and to check if everything was the way she had told us. We made a picture form Mary together with Ruth and we printed it out, to take along with them for the brothers to see. If everything goes well, they could come in two weeks for Ruth. So they left for the 2 hour drive to her village! We did have some other plans for today, but you have to be flexible, tomorrow there will be another (normal?) day!