Two months ago, two family members came to Amecet with a newborn baby. Hellen's mother had passed away after Hellen was born via a Caesarean operation. She lost too much blood, the father was in shock, he couldn't come to bring his daughter himself. Hellen picked up fast, she drank well and gained weight and her father came to visit her many times... You could see that he loved his baby girl. And here he is, picking her from Amecet to take her home to his family. His sister will help caring for her. He was so happy, it is such a joy to us, to give her back to her family when you know she will be so loved!!! We prepared a bag with some clothes, a mosquito net, a drinking cup and we clothed her and put a blanket around her for the journey. This blanket is knitted with love by Dutch ladies who live in Spain during the winters.... A blessing for many baby's.....

Every month we have a meeting with all the staff, there is communication, we ask their opinion for certain things, they can bring up things they want to change or bring into a discussion. We also have every time some teaching, some of the subjects were Fever, Diarrhea, potty training, HIV, burping after drinking etc. This time we were talking about swaddling the baby. On internet there are very nice little teaching films and I had collected all the dolls in Amecet and we were practicing.. We had a lot of fun....

This morning we got a phone call from a village, it was from a police post. There was a newborn baby, born early in the morning, and the mother has a mental sickness and had walked away.. If we could help??  After some discussion, we decided to go and pick the baby, they were trying to find transport to bring the baby to Soroti, that would then be by a motor cycle and we felt that it would not be good for this newborn baby, the baby was not been fed either. So we decided that we should go by car and bring a bottle milk with us. It was  just over 1 hour drive, the roads were not so bad and we met the policemen and the Community Development Officer. We first fed the baby and we heard the sad story.

The mother was known by the people there, last night, she had contractions and a good Samaritan took her inside her house around midnight. At around 3 am, she got real pains, the lady who took her  in, checked and saw the head of the baby already. She went outside to get help and in that time the baby was born. The nurse who was called, cut the cord and early  in the morning they brought them to the health centre to  be checked by the doctor. But the mother decided to ran away... We also got the story that this baby was the second born, the first baby didn't make it because of mishandling by the mother.  The baby was a little boy, very cute and together we gave him the name Joshua. Andrew and I went on our way, back to Soroti and the Policemen and the CDO promised to try to find the relatives of the mother.

On the way back, I  tried to give some more milk, the baby had not drank anything after he was born..

On Thursday I received a phone call from a mission hospital in the village. There was a young mother of 17 years old who was brought into the hospital with a small baby. The mother was tested HIV+ and was started on ARV medication. The father was not seen, and the grandmother tried to care for her daughter and her grandson. The baby is called Richard and he is almost 5 months old, and his weight was only 1.9 kg. His mother had no breast feeding and the baby is now severely malnourished. The mother was also sick and very weak.

We (Andrew, Pius and me) drove the next day to the village to see the baby and to talk with the mother and the grandmother. I took a bottle with formula milk with me and tried to feed the baby. He was hungry, but it was hard for him to suckle. The mother agreed to give her baby to me and we drove back to Soroti. I had called from the village to the children HIV clinic if I still could come for a blood test (it was Friday) and we went straight to Soroti hospital. There they took blood and promised to bring it directly to the lab and to call me with the result. In Amecet we gave him a bath, dressed him and fed him. We feed him baby formula every two hours, day and night.. A couple of hours later they called me from the hospital that Richard was HIV-. That was so good, we were very happy with that result. We had taken Richard to the Doctor next door and they prescribed IV medication, but also IV fluids, because Richard was dehydrated. It was not easy to find a vein, he was so tiny, and the veins rolled away when you pricked in them. But our nurse succeeded and he went on drip..

After 3 days, we decided that we would give him a NG tube, because he wants to drink, but he is too weak to drink enough milk. So we first feed him by mouth and when he stops, we give the rest by NG tube. We want him to develop his sucking reflex..

Today we found our first eggs, from our new chickens...... This is a good thing, we got  chickens before in our other house, but in the beginning of the year we reorganized our farm and we decided to bring the chickens there. We dismantled the chicken house and build a new one at the farm. 

We have been struggling with little Peter, almost from day 1. The last 19 days , he has been on the Oxygen machine. We fed him every 2 hours via the NG tube and it was stressful... Our oxygen machine stopped working, and Peter couldn't be without the help of the oxygen machine. We could borrow the machine from the clinic next door, but you can imagine what a stress that gave, and of course those things happen during the night.... We are very thankful for the help from Doctor Engulu, our neighbour. He has been coming to see Peter several times and we also had the paediatrician coming to Amecet to examine him. She found a congenital heart defect, this might the reason why he was born so much smaller than his brother and still didn't grow much in spite of the feeding we gave him. On Wednesday 26th of July, it was tense, several times we saw his saturation coming down, but then it went up again. The doctor came to see him, but we did all we could do.... We just made sure that there was someone with him all the time, holding him, praying for him, talking to him. So, he didn't die alone, he was loved and at 2.45 pm we could lay him in the arms of Jesus.  His struggle was over.

It left us all very sad, but also released, we had been very busy with him for 26 days and it didn't go better. He might have had more problems than we knew, and God took him Home to let him rest and where he is now, there is no sickness, and no more injections and oxygen tubes...

We bought a small coffin, and we brought the small body back to his relatives in the village. A bed was waiting outside and we placed the little coffin on it. The people sat down around it and I had to give a report what had happened with Peter. people could ask questions and they thanked us for caring for him. We left the family to do the burial and we went back to Amecet.

Elijah and his sister Divine are eating their first meal in Amecet. They are 2 years and 9 months old. They were referred by the Nutritional Unit in Soroti Hospital. Last week their mother came with them, we talked , but she was scared to leave them in Amecet, so we let them go. This week they came back, she was now ready to leave them with us for 2 months. We encouraged her to come and visit them and we could ensure her that the twins will come back to her.. In the meantime, she has to look for a better place to live.. They are malnourished, their weight is 6.5 kg (Divine) and 8 kg (Elijah). They love to eat, do not cry too much and they are already playing and smiling. 

One kg. is not so much, but if you only weighs 1.2 kg. and the you twin brother (who was born after you) weighs  2.3 kg. then is it another story..... Yesterday two little twin brothers, Peter and Simon, were brought to Amecet. They were born that same day and their mother died only 2 hours after the delivery.. The first born baby was very small and the second born baby was much bigger. we put them in our medical room, because especially the little one, needs lots of extra care. This morning we took them to the doctor and the doctor started them both on IV medication. We also give them Nevirapine, it is a drug for baby's whose mother was HIV+. This is not really sure, but we didn't have all the medical papers, just to be sure... Peter is the little one, he is not drinking much, but we will give him some time, we feed every 2 hours, if he will not do better, we will start feeding him through a NG tube. Pls. pray for these two precious boys, 1.2 kg. is not very much and they are both very vulnerable.

In the beginning of March, a lady came to Amecet, carrying a small boy. he was weak, malnourished, looked very pale and could not talk or walk. She asked help, she told us that she was his aunt and that there were no parents to care for him. We looked at his medical papers and saw that he was not referred to us, but to the main hospital in Soroti (they came from the village). Because of the state he was in, we also felt that he would be better helped in the hospital, there are doctors and he might have to have several tests done. We explained to the lady and send her on to the hospital. Two weeks later I got a phone call from the Nutritional ward in the hospital. If we were able to do the after care for a little boy, who was out of his serious phase, but needed more help. I went to the hospital to see the situation and found that it was Aron, the same boy who came 2 weeks earlier with his aunt to Amecet.

On 21/1/2022 the Probation Officer (child protection) brought a small boy to Amecet, we thought he was around 2 years old. He was found, alone, in a half finished building without a roof, early in the morning. We don't know if he has been there all night or if he has been put there just early that morning.

He was malnourished, scared and his eyes were so dull and sad,, You could just see that this boy had suffered much. I wanted to put my hand on his head and he stepped back, as if he expected me to slap him....

...leaving behind 3 precious new born baby's.....

It is not an easy thing in Uganda, to deliver a baby, many times there are complications, many times they reaching the Health centre or the Hospital too late and many times the baby is born at home.... We have had baby's in Amecet, whereby the baby was born on the way, or the the mother did it herself, because she was home alone..... and many times the mother didn't make it through the whole process and the baby looses his or her mother...

We said goodbye to 4 children, all those 4 children lost their mother after birth. The families had heard about Amecet and asked us to help them. When someone dies, there is so much going on. The burial is often the next day, sometimes after 2 days. Many people come to join the burial, there is a meal for everybody and family travels to be part of this. Also the neighbours, people from he church are attending the burial. It is not a good place for a new born baby to be there, even during the week after the burial, many people come to visit and they sit around to talk. Sometimes they forget the baby.....

When someone calls us to ask if we can help in such a situation, we say ves and if  possible,  bring the baby directly. They get the papers, sometimes from the hospital where the mother gave birth and died, they get the referral letter form the Local leader of their area and they bring the baby to Amecet.

The car loaded with goats, Ground nuts, Maize and Beans moving to the village........ We had planned to revise our list with grandma's and needy families, all relatives from children who have been some time with us in Amecet. We were waiting for the the rains, so that the people could plant the maize, beans and ground nuts. And then, suddenly, the rains were there...... We tried to finish the list and called all the people on it, we wanted to ask what they wanted to plant in their gardens and if they were still living where we knew they lived before. The last time we brought seeds was long before Corona.. the calling was not easy, many of the older people don't have telephones, so we searched in our files to any numbers connected with the child.. Most of the people reacted surprised and happy and they wanted Maize, Beans and ground nuts, so we went ahead and bought many kilos of them. We had enough money to also buy two hoes (kind of spade) and a female goat for every family..... We grouped the families by area and in  5 trips, all the families (who are living quite apart from each other) received their gifts: 1 goat, 2 hoes, 10 kg Maize, 10 kg Beans and 10 kg, Ground nuts. 

I let the following pictures tell the rest of the story.....

We went for a day fieldwork, Andrew (who was driving), Pius (the new social worker) and me. We left around 9.30 in the morning. We were going to 3 different villages. We first stopped by the Probation Office in Soroti, one of the representatives of the office was going with us. We also had a 12 year old girl, Margret, with us (left in the the picture), we were going to bring her back home, but the problem was that she was not sure where her home was.....

We first drove to Amuria, we were going to talk with a man who brought a baby to Amecet. He found the baby on his veranda, but there were so many loopholes, that was one of the reasons we had someone from the Probation office with us. We needed answers about this child..

The roads are very bumpy, dry and dusty. It is not really nice to drive to the village at this time.. When we arrived in Amuria, we found out that the man we were going to meet wasn't there. He was sick and was in a far away village, we would not be able to reach it today. That was a pity, but we have to postpone it to another visit... 

In the last blog I wrote about the many Goodbye's, but this time I write about the many hello's to the new children we received in the last 2 weeks.

The picture above is from Aron, he is a little boy of 3,5 years and he is very sad and malnourished. We got a phone call from the hospital. Aron was there in the nutrition ward and if we could help. We have to do exercises with him,  because he can not walk, he has one hand and leg very stiff. He has gained already 2 kg. in two weeks!! He loves music and he loves eating!!

He can say a few words like " give me" in his language and he talks in himself in his own language!! But as you can see on the second picture, he looks more happy and healthy already.

We have said a lot of goodbyes in the last weeks.... several children, who have been with us for quite some time, went home!!! This picture is from Deborah, she is a real miracle child. She was brought to Amecet in September 2022. (read the blog of 20/9/2022). A little sad girl of 15 months old, unable to stand or walk.  She was sick, fevers, didn't want to eat. We took her to the doctor, tests were done, but nothing came out of that, more tests were done and then they found TB. It was not really very clear, but the doctor decided that we started her on the anti TB medicines. And in two weeks we saw a different!!!She started to eat, to gain, to play (a bit) and to smile (a bit).. We had patience, she had to take those anti TB medicines for 6 months... But it was so beautiful to see her getting better and stronger and she started to walk and talk. It was a joy to have her with us and such an encouragement!!!

We have had a busy week....  We got 5 small babies from different places, They all had one sad thing in common, they lost their mother...

It has been a long time, since I wrote the last blog.............but here we are again, we have been around, we have been busy , but sorry we have not been writing... The picture above is from the same boy from the last blog ..Jovan is still with us and we have seen a very big difference and progress!! ITo remind you, I show the picture from November 22 and the picture from January 23.

Jovan was brought to Amecet by a NGO, which works in the village. He arrived yesterday evening. Jovan is 12 years old and he weighs 15 kg. If I believe the pictures, made by the NGO 10 days ago, his weight has increased a lot!!

Ivan was abused by his father and his stepmom. He hardly got food, was beaten and he had to sleep with the chickens, they told me. Jovan was taken to the hospital, where he was treated for malaria and malnutrition. He was discharged yesterday, but the NGO didn't dare to bring him back home. So they came to Amecet asking for help.

When I saw the little boy, I felt for him, this boy has lived through so much suffering... His eyesight is almost gone and he lost ability in his right arm and right leg. They told me that he was normal when he was around 5 years old and in the hospital they said that this is all the result of severe malnutrition. Because of the feeding in the nutrition unit, his eyesight is already better, we hope and pray that it will continue to improve. We have to do exercises with the right arm, hand and leg and we have to bring him for review to the Physio therapy in the hospital, next week. Jovan is a sweet boy, he talks and he loves to eat!!! Which helps us in helping him!!!

This month, October, we already got 4 small new born baby's, brought to Amecet. Four sad stories and we are thankful that we can help those little one's. The first two, were Doreen and Emmanuel. They were both born on the same day, both lost their mother after the delivery.

Normally, I am very excited when children go back home, but this time I am worried and sad... Anna was brought by the Police  to Amecet in October 2021. She was malnourished, had a lot of scars and was not happy. Can you imagine, how would you feel when you mother puts both of your hands in the fire, only because you were hungry and took some sunflower seeds without asking first.... She was already treated and the wounds were almost closed.

We treated the wounds further and we fed her and we loved her... She was 5 or 6 years old and her weight was 13 kg. We could see at her behavior that she was not used to correction by talking to her. She was not used to play and she had never hold a pencil in her hand...

She soaked in our attention and care, trying to please us, but she could also cry very loud if something went different as she wanted. She could also be very closed and refusing to say or do anything. 

After she was stable and more used to the environment of Amecet, things went much better. Her hands were completely healed and there was a little scar left, but it didn't effect her movements. She was gaining and we decided that it would be good for her to go to Top class from Harmony preschool.

Deborah was brought to Amecet on 2/9/'22. She was brought by her uncle and a staff of a healthcare centre in the village. Again a sad story, Deborah's mother is HIV+ and she has a mental problem. Nobody knows who is the father of Deborah. The uncle, (he is a cousin of her mother) tries to care for the mother and also for Deborah. Deborah is 15 months old, she can't walk, not even stand by her self. She is malnourished (her weight is 6.2 kg.) she is weak and she is aneamic. She is a sad little girl, very quiet, she doesn't cry and she doesn't laugh... she is just there.....  It took a lot of work to get a smile from her, she is really a child that touches your heart.

She was sick when she came, fever and no appetite. We took her to the doctor for check up, she had malaria and an infection, so she went on treatment. After the treatment, we tested her again, still malaria, again (another) treatment and also again antibiotic for an  urine tract infection. After that she was still not fine, we took her back to the doctor and he asked us to go and make a X-ray of the chest, maybe the fever, the lack of appetite and the weakness, could point to primary TB. We went to a centre which makes X-rays and after the X-ray, I was called, the X-ray didn't look good at all and the heart was also enlarged, the doctor there, suggested that we should make also an echo of the heart. He called our doctor and we all agreed that we should also make a heart scan. 

The first baby was brought on Tuesday, by Simon, our social worker. He got a phone call from the Police, to come to the hospital to get a baby who was in danger. The mother of this little girl has a mental problem and was trying to strangle the baby. People around her took the child, but she was wild and the Police was called. The mother ran away and the baby was brought to Amecet.. She is a big baby, her weight is 8 kg. and we think that she is 3 or 4 months old. Feeding was not easy, she was used to breastfeeding, we think. The next day Simon tried to get more details about the mother, but she was not admitted in the hospital, the police had brought her there to be admitted in the mental unit, but she escaped before they could take her details.. Then he got a phone call that the mother was spotted somewhere in Soroti, together with the Police he went to see her. And they found her.... she was wild again, but could answer questions, she told him that the baby's name was Immaculate and that she was 3 months old. She could also tell them, where she came from and after some discussion, Simon and the Police decided to bring her home (1 hour drive) on this way, they could also meet her relatives, which is important to know when the mother disappears again and the baby will have a family.. Immaculate is drinking well now and smiling a lot. We wait and see what is going to happen with the mother, who also needs help. Please pray for the relatives, that they will take care of the mother and that she will be able to pick up and care for her little girl.

Regularly, the police brings children to Amcet. The children are found somewhere, left behind by their relatives, somewhere...... In December 2021, a little girl was brought. She was left behind in a village church... We gave her the name Esther.  Our Social workers did all they could. They traveled to the church, talked with the people there, hang Posters with the picture of Esther, we made radio announcements, we put her picture in the local newspaper twice..... But nobody reacted, no relative, no neighbour, nobody...... In the meantime Esther was growing, started to play, reacted to the aunties and started to walk...... She is a little naughty, adorable girl, who really needed a family where she belongs...

In Amecet, we do the best we can, but children need to live in a family, where they belong. When a child is abandoned and we can't find any relatives, there is a process..... The Police gives, after some months, a clearance to find a family for her, the Probation Office is involved, a foster family will be found, forms have to be filled, interviews are done, the house is inspected and the new care order is issued by the Court. Then the day comes that we can hand over the child to the new family!!! (after several visits to bond first). 

It was a good day, today we brought Hellen back home. She was brought to Amecet in February, very severe malnourished. She had oedema in her legs, arms and face. They told us that she had never walked, she was called "the lame of the village". Water oozed out of the legs, she was very irritated and had a lot of pain. Of course we took Hellen to the doctor,  she had infection, needed blood transfusion and a protein rich diet. She didn't talk (yet) and was not easy to please...

It was a process and we saw more and more the real Hellen. She is 4 years old.

She started to eat better, to play, to smile and to talk, mostly when they were suppose to sleep, then we could hear her talk, shout and sing to the other children. She started to move on her buttocks and then she started to walk!!!

John was brought to Amecet in October 2022. Again a sad story, his father died before John was born and his mother died 2 weeks after the delivery. He was a total orphan. He had lost weight in those two weeks and had an infection. The doctor started  him on I.V. medication. He didn't want to drink, vomited a lot and had a bad cough. We struggled from the beginning with his health. John hardly gained and was very skinny and weak. We took him to several doctors, a lot of tests were done, HIV, sickle cell, a brain scan was done and a chest X-ray. We went to two paediatricians in Soroti, but all those tests came back negative. We didn't get a real cause for his "failure to thrive".

Everybody loved John, he could smile at you, with his beautiful big eyes and everybody wanted to do all they could, to help him. The relation with the family was not close. We called several times to the family, asking them to come for a visit, but they didn't come. John has been with us longer than normal, we knew that bringing him home in this  state, would not be good. The family could not handle him, the uncle and his wife had a big family themselves and also the care for John's brothers and sisters...

On April 4 I wrote a blog about some children who were abandoned by their mothers, we have some good news about two of them and I start with the baby on the picture. He is around 5 months old, we gave him the name Peter and he was left behind in the hospital, with a not. You can read the note in the previous blog.  Our Social workers have worked hard on this  case. We made posters and hang them in the hospital. We did announcements over the local radio and we placed a message in the local newspaper.

Reactions came!!!!!! We got several calls from people who thought that the baby was their grandchild. Three of them sounded very real, we talked with them and then one of them, we felt that this could be the grandmother of Peter. Which means that there are still two other baby's lost...

At  this moment we have 8 children in Amecet, who are abandoned, most by their mother, but some also by their families, after the mother was taken into Police custody (for child abuse) or when the mother passed away.. Our social workers try to find the relatives or search among the relatives for a safe home to resettle the child. If that is not working out, the Probation Officer and the Police will ask us to find a local foster family who want to adopt the child in the future. Recently it seems that we have more abandoned children and I was thinking about this, why is a mother abandoning her baby, the baby she carried for 9 months and who she fed and cared for?? 

It was for us in Amecet, a very special day........ We were able to give the final adoption orders from the Court, to 25 families!!!

In total there are 55 children adopted into local, Ugandan families. This are all children who could not go back to their own families, some were abandoned, and we were not able to locate their relatives, others were in danger to stay with their mother, some mothers had a mental illness and were just "on the road", others lost their mother and the relatives were not able to care for the children. Today, we saw 25 of them and it really touched me. Knowing, where the children came from and now seeing them, nicely dressed, loved and cared for, I am so thankful for these parents, who were willing to take them into their family and care for them as their own!!!!!

A special thanks goes to a Dutch organization; Metterdaad. They supported us financially. After the families had fostered the children for some years, the final adoption process had to start, but the families didn't have the money to start this long process. Metterdaad gave the finances and our social workers, Elias and Simon worked on the process, together with the Probation officer and the lawyer. Without the help of Metterdaad, we would not have the party today!!! 

Today, new twins were brought to Amecet. A boy and a girl... This brings the sets of twins to 3 in Amecet... And all 3 sets are boy/girl.......

The babies of today are 10 days old, left is Opio Silver and right is Adongo Benna, who smiled in her sleep, when I took this picture. They were born by caesarean operation, everything looked good, but after 4 days, the mother got problems with high blood pressure and she died. It is hard for the family to suddenly have to care for 2 small infants, so they asked Amecet for help. We are happy to help and the family can organize themselves and they will be ready in 2 months, to take over the care for them again.

Maybe you heard that the schools were closed in Uganda for almost 2 years..... January 2022 all the schools opened again and Elias, one of our two social workers , has been very busy to help the students we sponsor. With the help of a study support of the foundation The Figurant from the Netherlands, we are able to sponsor a number of students with their secondary school or life skill course. We focus mostly on the children living with HIV/AIDS and who are orphans. To give them a chance to be able to get a living after their school or course.

Elias is the person to help them to choose what to do, which school or which course. Someone may want to become a lawyer, but you need to have the ability to become a lawyer or a teacher. Elias sits down with them to counsel and to hear what they want. Elias is also the one to connect them with the school or course and to pay the school fees. All of them are in boarding schools and we are sure that they have a bed and meals during the day. There are many requirements for the student to bring to school, we have some students who have to bring all a bag cement when they come on the first day.... The school is still building classrooms and the cement helps with the building...

They all need uniforms, every school is different, many big notebooks, reading books and with the covid time, they all need to bring a big bottle of hand disinfectant, Vim and 10 rolls of  toilet paper. Then every student needs a matrass, soap, a metal box to keep his belongings safe and many other things. Elias is busy to provide all these things for each student.   

This week, our social worker Elias,  brought  Ocen back to his relatives in the village. When he was brought to Amecet, a couple of months ago, he was not sick or malnourished, he was a bit dull and sad, but that is completely over..... I made this picture some days ago, when they suppose to have their nap. He was standing in his bed, shouting to the other toddlers, to do the same and to make as much noise as possible.. His story is sad, as many stories of the children we get in Amecet. Ocen was brought by two gentlemen and a police officer, one of the two gentlemen said he was the former boyfriend of Ocen's mother. The mother had disappeared. We took Ocen in Amecet and our social workers started to trace for the mother.  It should be also the work of the police, but most of the times it is Amecet who is doing this work. Our two social workers, Simon and Elias, are the one's who trace for the relatives of the children in Amecet who are abandoned. Later came out, that the former boyfriend is the real father and the other gentleman is the real grandfather. In a situation like that, we can not just bring Ocen back to his father, knowing that he doesn't want him and might neglect him. We need to bring the child back to his relatives, but it has to be safe!! The social workers found where the mother came from, they traveled to her village and found the grandmother there and uncles and aunties. It was still a process working towards the day that Elias brought him there. The local authorities were involved and at the end Ocen was welcome. The mother was not at home, she is wandering around, but at least there is a home with a grandmother.

Last week we got a phone call from a health centre in the village, if we could help a 2 years old girl, who was severely malnourished. The mother had a mental problem, so the father had brought her to the health centre. We agreed and the next day, a nurse brought the little girl and her father. We did an intake, but the father didn't know much, he didn't know the date of birth of his daughter and he did not many answers on our questions. One thing was very clear: this child needed help!!! When we saw her, we knew that she might be at least 3 years old, she had her teeth, but the upper front teeth were already rotten. She was very swollen and had oedema all over her body. Rashes on the legs, she was in a bad shape. Severe protein deficiency....

As we had only one toddler, a month ago, at the moment we have 5 toddlers and they run or crawl everywhere. Only last week we got 4 new children in Amecet. It makes the whole atmosphere different, because they run, they fall and they fight.... you need eyes everywhere..

One of the first children was Nathan. His mother is HIV+ and we have to go with Nathan to the hospital to do some tests. We have given him the baby ARV, because it is not sure if he was on it or if they have tested him before. So that is one of the goals for having him in Amecet, I have strong hopes that he will be negative, he looks like a cute healthy baby. His mother is struggling with her health at the moment, she is single and young, so in this time she can focus on herself and be strong when she will receive Nathan back .

The new year started with the coming of this little baby, on the first of January at 9 am, the Police brought this little baby girl. They gave her the name Rose, the Police lady who brought her to us, is called Rose. The story is that a girl of around 13 years, was in the hospital with the baby, she asked a lady to hold the baby for a minute, because she was needed in the ward, where her sister was admitted. The lady took the baby, willing to help, but the girl didn't come back..... The baby was reported to the nurses, who on their turn, reported the baby to the police. and so ended the baby in Amecet.

I took the baby to the doctor, she must be around one week old. Her cord was infected, her eyes were infected, and she has malaria. So we started medication and feeding of course.  She is drinking very well and she is a beautiful baby!!! 

The police lady told me that she spoke on the local radio last week and that she mentioned that mothers should never throw their baby in the pit latrine or strangle their baby, but if there is no other way, bring your baby to a safe place where she will be found. like the hospital... so I hope we will not get more baby's in the coming weeks......

This is Proscovia, she is not born on Christmas, but she came this week in Amecet. Again a very sad story. She was born 10 days ago. Her mother gave birth in a hospital,  but there were complications, they referred them to another, bigger hospital. From there, they couldn't handle the situation either, so they referred them to Soroti Hospital. The mother was sick, she had a lot of pain and she started to swell ( according to the father, who brought the baby). She died in Soroti hospital, 6 days after she had given birth to Proscovia.  They went home to bury the mother, and that was the reason that they came to Amecet when Proscovia was already 10 days old. 

And all that time Proscovia had not been fed, only some water with glucose........ We heard that her birth weight was 2.6 kg. At arrival in Amecet, her weight was 1.9 kg. She was small, weak and a bit swollen (as you can see at the eyes and the hand). Both parents were HIV+, so Proscovia was started at the medicins which might keep her from being HIV+.

Today it is Christmas eve, and the reason that I call her our Christmas baby is that she didn't do so well today and after we went back to the doctor with her, she was started on IV medication, IV fluids and an NG tube to help her getting enough milk. Proscovia doesn't know how to suck, she never was fed properly, so it is hard to get the right amount of milk in her. We do start with the bottle, she had to get used to sucking, but we do the extra feeding with the NG tube. Frequently, because the doctor said she is malnourished, lack of protein, that might also be the cause of the swelling.  She is our special need baby during this Christmas time...

Pls. pray for her, that she will pick up and that her little body can handle the feedings which she needs so badly.....

Merry Christmas to you all!!

Today we had again a party!!! The Christmas party for our staff... Every year we divide our staff in two groups. One group is free with Christmas and the other group is free with New Year.. To make the rota for those two weeks is a challenge!!!  Todays we had our party with all the staff, and tomorrow the first group is free.  We all got a name of another staff member and we bought a gift for that person 

It is so amazing that Helen Raby (from UK) and I moved into Amecet, on 15 December 20 years ago..... We could only use half of the house, in the other half of the house was still a lot of work to do. My room was our living room until the big living room was finished. Three days later we picked Sarah from the village. Sarah was the inspiration for Amecet. I met  her in the village and she touched my heart. She was so sick and so weak. I promised her that she would be the first child in Amecet, and there were times that I didn't know if she would make it..

Sarah was the first child, many would follow her, today 1089 children have lived in Amecet. Many went back to their relatives, quite a number went to live in foster families and were adopted. And for a number of children, Amecet was a doorway to Heaven, they are now with their Heavenly Father...... 

Today we could bring 4 children back to their families!!! Left is Samuel, he was not so happy,because normally it was his nap time, he didn't understand what was going on. Then we get the three brothers: Emmanuel, Dennis and Edmond. 

Today was again a day with a miracle... we brought Messach back to his mother in the village!!!

This is James, he is a miracle baby!!! On this picture, he is 3 months old and we are rejoicing, because he is going back to his family!! He is a very cute baby, smiles a lot and everybody loves him.... But if you have time to read our blog of 26 th of August, you would not believe that this is the same baby!!

This picture above, brings good news!!!!! It is a test result of a HIV test of one of our children. We still get children who are at risk, their parents are HIV+ and we don't know their status. Every child which come to Amecet and we know that the parents are HIV+, needs too be tested for HIV. Also children who are found or who were abandoned, need to be tested, because we don't know the HIV status of the parents. Every time there is that tension, when I go for the results. I know what it will mean to the child if the result is positive...  The child will be started on triple HIV treatment and that is for life!!!! Some children come from a difficult background en we are not sure if the parents manage to give the child every day their ARV medication. When the child was abandoned, and we can't find the relatives of the child, it will be very difficult to find a foster family who wants to adopt the child..... So it is a tense moment when I get the results from the nurse......

Yesterday I went for two results and I also took two baby's to get the test done. One baby, her parents were both HIV+, the mother had died after the delivery, but she had always faithfully swallowed her ARV's. The second child, about him we got the information, that his father was HIV positive, but he was killed some months ago and the mother was HIV negative. So the baby should be negative too. But there was so much confusion among the relatives, we don't know if this information was right, the baby is not really doing very well, so we felt we should test him to know the truth. In about one month we will know the truth!!

But........ now the good news comes.....

This is the same baby as on our last blog: Messach!! We did shave his hair, but there is another big change........... Messach knows now how to smile!!! This is so important that children smile, it shows that they feel content, happy and safe. I think we can't let a child go back home when the child doesn't smile! It is good to work on the malnutrition, the medical problems, but we also need to think about the psychological problems. We have had children who were very rigid and always  you felt their tension when you carry them, we need to find a way that we can help the child to unwind and to relax and to feel happiness.....

I realize that there are several children, where I asked prayers for, who are doing now very well, so I think it is also good to share our thanksgiving with you and one of them is Messach. He weighed 1 kg. when he came to Amecet and now he is 3 kg. On this picture he cries, he has quite a temper, you can hear his cries from far, very high pitch. And he is not smiling much... But he is such a cute little man, you can read his story in the blog of  23/7, we have tested him and he is HIV-. We have to go back to the hospital with him at the end of the month, after that he will go back to his mother!!

We went to two burials, yesterday, we went to the burial of Emmanuel and today to the burial of Joshua. It goes so very different than in the West. As you can see on the picture, in the middle is the bed, with the coffin on it and everybody sits around it. When you arrive, someone of the family brings you to the coffin and you can see the person through a window, or the coffin is open. This is very emotional for many people, they cry and shout and sometimes fall on the floor. After seeing the person, they escort you to the place where you can sit. This picture is of Joshua's burial, there were many big  mango trees, so there is a lot of shade. When there are not so many trees, they hang big cloths, where people sit under in the shade. there is a lot of noise and a lot of introduction of relatives and special people.

There are also a lot of speeches and some people use this time to have political speeches. I was also asked to say something on both burials. I used the opportunity to talk about HIV/AIDS, that people should be more open and take their medicines every day, I talked to the youth that they should be careful and really if Emmanuel and Joshua had taken their medicines daily these burials would probably not be there. I also tried to ask people not to be hostile to HIV+ people, but to encourage them and be kind to them.

These introductions  speeches go on for hours, then the church takes over with a small service, singing, praying and preaching and then they carry the coffin to the grave that they were digging behind the hut. A small prayer and a song and the coffin is lowered in the grave. Everybody goes back to sit and a meal is served. A meal is cooked for hundreds of people. then some men work at the grave to close it.

As I was getting ready to have breakfast and to leave to Amecet, we are going to the burial of Emma, I got a phone call from Simon. Josh died yesterday evening.......... Josh is also one of the boys we had living with us in Amecet in 2003. After living with us for a while, we re-settled him back with his relatives, his grandmother and his uncles. He died in the same hospital, here in Soroti....

This is too much, it is a bit the same story as Emma, not taking the ARV's right and not accepting his HIV+ status. It is so painful when you see that the youth is not seeing that they are as smart as others, that they have talents and opportunities, that HIV does not mean that they are worthless. We tried hard to let them know that they are so valuable, that they can dream about their future, but now two great guys, just dying a day after each other...

I know that they suffer because of stigma, but they all got opportunities, if they would just believe in themselves.....

Simon went to the hospital to help with a coffin and cement for the grave. We are going to lay Emma to rest today and tomorrow we are going to lay Josh to rest........

Pls. pray for the youth

It is not easy to be a teenager and being HIV+. There is a lot of sensitization in Uganda about HIV, but there is still such a stigma.   We get stories from the children about living with an uncle or auntie (often their parents have already died of AIDS),. They have stories that they only can eat from a special plate or are not allowed to play with their cousins or other children. We try to counsel the relatives, but they still suffer.  This picture of Emmanuel (Emma) is taken during one of our Amun weeks, where they meet their pals and we talk a lot about stigma and how to react on it. But it is hard when you are a teenager, you start dating, you don't want your friends to know that you take ARV's and that you are HIV+, out of fear for rejection. 

Emma was not a baby, when he came into Amecet. We were asked by his sister, if we could help. He was sick and malnourished. We took him to the doctor, he was tested and found HIV+, this was not a surprise, because his parents died of AIDS. He was started on ARV medication. This is not a cure, but is slows down the growth of the virus. It is really working well if you take the medication twice a day. It is almost making the virus to sleep.... He did well and after some months, we brought him back to his sister, where he was welcome.....

Emma struggled a lot. He felt it is not cool to take those ARV's every day.... He hung out with some wrong friends and dropped out of school. Several times the sister called to Amecet asking for help and then one of our social workers, Simon or Elias, went to talk with Emma and with his sister, trying to mediate. He did came to our Amun weeks and had a lot of fun there, Emma was a nice guy, he just struggled with life. We heard that he was sick, he was admitted in the health centre in his area. We helped with medication, he got blood transfusion, but still he didn't pick up. They transferred him to the hospital in Soroti, we heard that he had meningitis, we went to see him. He was very sick, and last night he passed away..... He can rest now..... no more ARV's and no more medicines.. He will be missed......  Tomorrow we will go to hi village and Emma will be laid to rest..... He was only 21 years old.

It is hard to see the older children struggle with their status of being HIV+, many want to stop taking the ARV's, especially when they go to boarding school. They do not want their friends to know that they are HIV+. When they stop taking those medicines, they get sick and I have seen some of them die, because the virus started to multiply.... We can talk and talk, but when they don't accept their status, things will go very difficult. Pls. pray for the teenagers and even the young adults as they built up their life and have to find a way to live with their HIV status.

Yesterday I wrote about the new twins we had in Amecet and how the little boy, Simon Peter, was fighting for his life. Sadly I have to tell that he lost his fight... In the evening at around 9.30 his saturation (oxygen level in the blood), didn't come up anymore and his little heart stopped beating... The whole day, yesterday, we struggled, every time his saturation went down, but  came back up, the doctor came several times to see him, he was on oxygen and several IV medications and IV fluids. But God decided to take him HOME, he is now with his mother.

We got a small coffin this morning and we are going to bring him back to his relatives in the village. They buried his mother yesterday and today they will bury her little son next to her.