Her legs were made for walking........

Gloria is a little girl who is now 3 years old. Her mother brought her to Amecet towards the end of 2008. The mother was very weak, she had AIDS. She could hardly carry her baby, who was around 9 months old at that time. The mother just started ARV's. We talked to her and offered to take Gloria, who was also HIV+ and sick, for a couple of months in Amecet, so the mother could use all her energy to get better herself. Our plan worked, the mother got stronger and after 4 months Gloria went back to her mother. We kept contact with them, but sadly the mother got suddenly very sick and passed away in September 2009. The auntie took Gloria and her three sibblings in her home. We kept contact and helped to pay schoolfees for the two older children. In August 2010 we took Gloria and her aunti to a hospital in Kumi for splints to strech the legs of Gloria. Her legs were crooked, she could not stand on her legs. We did some follow up, but because of all the sickness in Amecet in Oktober and November, I did not check on them. This week we went to see them and we saw that they do not use the splints, the legs are very stiff and if nothing would be done, Gloria will never be able to walk.

We discussed the situation with the auntie and we could understand that it was all a lot of work for her. We offered to take Gloria back in Amecet, just to work on the legs! She was very happy and agreed.

So today we drove out to Kumi (1 hour drive) and visited the othopaedic workshop again. It is a great place, what they can do there with such a simple methods and instruments.

They first made a moulding out of plaster from the legs of Gloria.

Simon is holding Gloria, while the man is making the moulding of the legs.

All the time Gloria holds thight the mouse she adopted as her friend!

In the corner of the room you could see a big pile of all kind of big and small legs and feet!!

After taking the moulding, they send us outside and we sat in the grass and went for a soda, after a couple of hours we had to come back and they fitted the splints!

Still the mouse is hold tight!

And Gloria could stand straight!! (with ofcourse the mouse in the hand!)

Next week we have to come back to pick the wooden walker which they are going to make on Gloria's size.

It will not be easy, it will hurt Gloria, she will cry, but it is all worth doing when it will make her possible to walk!!!

So........ we go for it!!!

Out in the field again...

When we brought in December the Christmas blessings to the grandma's in the villages, we got the report back that it was not going well with Mary in Otuboi. She had lost a lot of weight and was sick all the time. We were concern and decided that she would be priority when everything would be normal after the holidays.

Today we drove to Otuboi, it is an one hour drive. We saw Mary and asked her if she wanted to come to Amecet for a while (she was in Amecet in 2004) . Mary is an orphan and also HIV+, she started her ARV's last year. She is 15 years old and her weight is only 25 kg. She is such a sweet girl, when we asked her, she just smiled and said yes! Her grandmother agreed as well and also her brother thought it would be a good idea. Such decisions are always done in the community, the auntie tells her opinion and also the neighbour has her views on the matter. But we got all the medical papers and her medicins and we left.

We decided to check on Charles, he lived only 30 minutes drive from Mary. We brought Charles back home in December and I was anxious to see how he was doing. We found the hut, over all kind of small paths, and they were home. I was so happy to see him, but he was not happy to see us!! He only wanted his mom and he looked very angry at me, maybe he thought I was coming to pick him??

He looked very good and I was happy to see him bonding to his mother so much. When we brought him back and gave him to his mother, he cried. So we drove back to Amecet with the good feeling that Charles is fine.

Mary will be staying in Amecet for a while, we will monitoring her and take her to the doctor for a good check up and treatment.

Only 35 hours long......

Yesterday a little premature baby came in Amecet, today, after an intense battle for her life, she passed away. Her life was only 35 hours long. She was loved by her family.

Ninke, our new nurse, stayed the night with her. There were a couple of intense moments, but she was stable, we had hope for her. Her mother came to visit her and was happy to hold her and cuddle her. But in the morning the problems started, I called the doctor (her grandfather) he came and called with a colleague, we gave some injections, a IV drip was started. But it went worse, every time the breathing stopped, even she was on oxygen, her lungs were just not ready for it. Both of her parents came, the doctor came again, and then she just stopped, her breathing and her heart beat stopped. The doctor worked on her for two hours, but all in vain.

My heart went out to the mother, who was seeing this uneven battle for life. She loved her little girl so much. I feel a kind of empty, it was a difficult start of this new year, but still His faithful love endures forever.

A new Year, a new Baby and a new Nurse!

We had a nice time ending the year 2010 together. All the children from Amun came to Amecet and we had several snacks to eat. The girls had helped so much in preparing everything.

We shared a Bible verse together and thanked God for the things He had done in and for us in 2010 and knowing that His faithfull Love endures forever, we are not scared for all that might happen in 2011!

We waited untill 12 o'clock and wished everybody a happy new year, after that we climbed in two cars and drove to the centre of Soroti, because of the coming presidential elections, one of the party's had promised fireworks from the Rock!! It was nice and colorful but not so long. All the children enjoyed it, out at the back of the car in the middle of the night and shout Happy new year to everyone!

We expected our first volunteer nurse, but she was delayed and celebrated New Year in the bus, somewhere between Mbale and Kumi. I am very happy with medical help, so Ninke is very welcome! She arrived at 1 am this morning.

I was on night duty last night and at 6.30 am I got a phone call from the doctor from the clinic next door, he needed help for a premature baby! I went directly to the neighbours and came back with the baby and the doctor. The baby was a little girl weighing less than a kilo and she was born 2 months premature (and she is the granddaughter of the doctor). We placed her in our incubator and on oxygen. She is doing fair, but doesn't drink yet. I am glad with the help of Ninke, who is used to work with premature babies. We pray this little girl will grow!

Celebrating.....

We celebrated together the birth of Christ, starting with a celebration on Christmas eve, at 10.30 pm on our veranda. We sang together some Christmas songs, read the story about the birth of Jesus and then Ton shared a beautiful story with us, together with very nice illustration via PowerPoint. For the children it was exciting to be out so late and we had a good time together. On Christmas day we had a meal as a family. We had asked the children what would they want to eat and they all said " goat!", so goat it would be.

We had only the half of our team working, but everything went so relax and smooth. Elias bought the goat on the market and he stayed (alive) with us in the garden for 2 days. Then Simon and Elias slaughtered it, under the observing eyes of the children and the camera of Ton! We ate the goat for Christmas and it tasted wonderful.

We have not had much sickness these days, some malaria, some tonsillitis, but no serious things and I am so thankful to God that He gave us a break. We didn't get new babies or children in, there was a phone call from someone in the village about a four month old baby, whose mother had passed away from AIDS, but nobody came with the child.

Yesterday we went with all the older girls to town. We wanted to surprise them as a appreciation for their BIG help in Amecet. And we wanted them to all choose a material and we asked the tailor to come and measure them for making them each an outfit. They were very exciting and they all found a nice material. The tailor brought pictures from outfits and this morning they were all looking and making their choice! It is so nice to see their happiness and their excitement about getting new clothes. When the clothes are ready, I promise to make pictures and show them to you!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Cooling down and warming up....

As I wrote yesterday, that the children are quite active during their school holidays. The older girls are helping with the babies, but the next generation has very different businesses.

They are busy with cooling down........... and warming up!!!!!