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 next day we got a telephone call from the Probation Officer (child protection) There was found a small boy ( of maybe 1,5 years old). he was found in an empty, half build house, he was laying there under a sheet, all alone... The Police brought him later and we gave him the name Amos (after the Probation Officer). He was small, skinny, but he could walk and he smiled when we gave him food and milk.
When we get a child like that, we bathe them, close them and feed them, after all that we take them to the doctor in the clinic next door. They do several tests on them, he was big enough for the normal HIV test, then they test for malaria, his HB, a blood test to see if there any infections going on, his urine will be tested and then he can play with the other children. Amos was careful, he is a bit weak on his legs, so when Ocen wanted to hug him, he fell down under the power of the hug.., But he is happy and during the last days, I see him smiling more and playing more, although he is a bit careful with Ocen. Our work starts now, The Police does some investigations, but most is done by our social workers. They go to the house where he was found, asking around and they will hang posters with Amos 'picture. We will put an announcement, with picture, in the local newspaper, and radio messages. We hope and pray that someone can recognize Amos, so we can go and talk with his relatives. This process takes some months. If nobody shows up, the Probation Office will ask us to look for a foster family, who wants to adopt him later. But we are not there yet, for now we hope that we can find his relatives..
Two days ago, we got a call, if we could help 2 twin baby's. They were 8 months old, their mother has been sick for the last 3 months and she died last Friday. The mother had been in hospitals for those months and the grandmother cared at home, in the village, for the two baby's. But now the mother had died, she couldn't handle that and she lost all hope. So the family asked if the baby's could be in Amecet, while the grandmother recovered from her shock. The twins are a girl and a boy, they are big, able to eat and to crawl. But when we saw the immunization card with the weight from some months back, we realized that the baby's
hardly gained in the last 3 months. One of them is anemic and they are weak. They are malnourished, we heard that the grandmother gave them porridge (made with water) and biscuits to eat. Sometimes, when there was some money, they bought some milk. The good thing is that they love to drink milk, so I think they will be fine soon. After a couple of months they will go back to father and the aunties and uncles. They have now the time to work thru the death of the mother without the worries about the two baby's.
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