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....