Sometimes people ask me, "how do you get the chilldren in Amecet"? On very different ways, 3 days ago, I got a phone call from the Hosptial in Soroti. There was a preterm baby born and the mother was very critical sick. The baby was in the Neonatal ward and the family was so busy with caring for the mother, if we could help??? Of course we could, I went to the hospital with our nurse and talked with the family, did the intake and we left with the baby in our arms. The baby is called James and we feed him with a NG tube every two hours. He is too weak to drink himself. But he is doing well. His weight is 1.4 kg.
Yesterday, Simon, our Social Worker, got a phone call from a Probation Officer (childprotection ) in a neighbouring District, about two abandoned children in his District. They were very concerned about the situation and asked if we could help. They were willing to organizing it even that same afternoon, we answered that it was good and they could bring them. The Probation Officer send the picture from the 2 children, how he found them in the village. That is the picture above.
At 5.30 pm. they arrived in a car given to use by the govenrment, 3 of the people were government officials, including the Probation Officer himself. and an uncle of the 2 children. They looked very misarable and dirty. They told us that the oldest is a girl of 7 years and the smallest an boy of 3 years.. Both of them were too weak to stand and they had no emotional expression.. Two of our staff took the children inside to bath and Pius (our Social Worker) and me sat down with them to do the intake. The uncle didn't know much about the background, the short version is that the mother abandoned the family more than 1 year ago, leaving her 2 children and her husband. Two months ago the father also left, leaving the 2 children alone in the hut. The grandmother than came and took the 2 children, but it was hard for her. I think the children must have been already in a bad state and the grandmother couldn't do much to change that situation. The authorities were informed and felt to take action to save the 2 children. And that is how they are now staying with us in Amecet!!
After the intake, I showed them around, it was for them the first time to come to Amecet. We had children from their District before, but they had never come themself to Amecet. They didn't recognise the two children, after their bath, sitting at the table.... I watched the oldest girl, Keiziah, she had her eyes on the plates at the middle of the table, one of the staff was serving the food on the plates for all the toddlers. Then she started to scream, only eyes on the plates with food and after they gave her a plate, she dug in!!! Fully concentrated on the food, with her hands.... It was really so sad to see, my heart went out for this little girl. She must have starved... The little boy was almost the same, he had to be fed, too weak to do it himself, but it couldn't go fast enough for him...
Today we took them to the doctor in the clinic next door, we are waiting on the results from all the medical tests they took. The greatest need is food, and we already work on that, but we have to be careful, not giving too much at the time, other wise their stomachs can't tolerate it.
Then the third new child of yesterday, it is not really a new child, but a child we took in for the second time, which is really sad... Samuel was brought to Amecet earlier this year. He was a baby who was not safe with the mother, who had a mental problem and could be really agressive at times. He did well in Amecet and grew, so after 3 months he went back to the family. We had been there, talking with them and they said they would care for the boy and not let the mother get him again. And that was exactly what happened, Samuel got sick, an aunti brought him to the hospital, went back home again and than he was taken to another clinic. It did not go well, he was again malnourished and we were asked to come to pick him and help him.
Yesterday we brought him back to Amecet, I expected him to be worse, he had lost weight again and had malaria, but when he saw me, he looked and looked again and then a big smile broke out on his face. As if he felt that he was welcome and we loved him. He is eating his porridge and drinking his milk as if he never left.... but we have a lot of work to do with his family.... Pius and Simon will go there and get them together, a good place must have been found for him. A place where he can be safe and grow up in peace.. For now he is doing good and he is happy.
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