The children are our priority, they were in 2019 and they will be in 2020!

Today , we celebrated Christmas as Amecet family, we were with 39 people!! Also the guys who work in the farm, the extra holiday staff and all the caretakers, the Kitchen staff, the guys who work in the compound, the laundry ladies, the whole family!! It was really fun, we had all gotten a name and we prepared a gift for that person. One by one we gave our gift to that person on the beat of African music.

We have had a great week, there were around 42 children, the youngest was 10 and the oldest was 19. Our theme this year was from John 15:15, "I am a friend of God". We had our focus on Friendship, how do you make friends? Do I have friends? Am I a friend to others? We had teachings about relationships, family life, HIV/AIDS and taking ARV's every day, Openness and acceptance of HIV+ status. Personal Hygiene and Education. Every afternoon we went into 4 groups, to talk more in depth about the teachings of the morning and these groups were than in age groups. In every group was a lot of talking and they had really picked up from the teachings. Even the young ones of 10 and 11 years could come with such a good questions. 

Every year we remember on World Aids Day, the children we lost in that year. Every year it is an emotional event!! This year we remembered 10 children, they didn't all passed away in Amecet, 5 of them died at home or in Hospital, but we do include them in our remembrance. This year we had the Amunweek  starting the day before, it had even a deeper meaning, because three of their friends were among the children who had passed away..

On Wednesday I was at the graduation of our Harmony Pre-school. It was quite a party, 38 children were leaving the nursery school to go to Primary school. During the celebration, I got a phone call from our Social Worker, Simon. Please come to the Police station, there is a stolen baby, can you come to pick her? I was there with Helen, my daughter, so I asked her to come with me, to hold the baby, as I was driving. At the Police station, we found a young lady (maybe 25 ?) holding a small baby of around 6, 7 weeks. She was brought to the police by her land lord, because she suddenly came with a baby home and had not been pregnant and her stories were strange. The Police made a report and asked me to take the baby for safekeeping to Amecet. The lady had a very strange story, that someone had given her the baby, because the mother died and that she was to take care of her. But she didn't know names had no documentation. The Police put her in the cells and the next day, Simon and the Police  drove with her to the area where she said they gave her the baby.. Helen and I took the baby to Amecet, we gave her the name baby Helen, because Helen had carried her..

We have 3 Daniels at the moment and all of them do really good! We call them Daniel 1, 2 and 3. This blog goes about Daniel 1 and 2. They are almost the same age. On this picture Daniel 1 is sitting in the middle. Daniel 2 is the second from left.

This morning (Sunday) my phone went at 6.30 am. It was Amecet, there was a mother at the door, her son passed away in Soroti Hospital and she had no transport to take the body... It was the mother of Emmanuel Adaun (left on this picture). I telephoned Simon, who knows the family  very well and Simon jumped in the car and drove to Soroti Hospital. he found the body, outside on the veranda of the hospital and he brought the body to their home. later he got a coffin and also brought that to their home. 

In the blog of June 26, 2019, you could read about the process of the adoption by local, Ugandan families. I wrote there about a meeting with the lawyer. For many Ugandan families it is very hard to take the last step for the completion of the adoption. They need a lawyer and they go to High Court. for the final adoption ruling. It is for the future  of the child very important that the adoption is finished and legal, so the child will be safe in his/her Forever family! Today the first group came to sign all their papers and to finalize with the lawyer. The next step is the filing of all the papers in the Court and a date is given. On that date the Judge will say the final word about the adoption.

Today we had our monthly team meeting, where we meet with the whole staff.  Due to some circumstances, we missed  two meetings, but normally, we have them every month.  We meet with everybody, the caretakers of the children, the kitchen staff, the laundry ladies, the medical staff., the social workers and also the garden staff and the staff who is working in the farm. It is a time of communication and sharing. We have an update on the children, we share if there are short term workers coming and staff changes. It is also a time of discussion, we talk about some issues which are not going too well and we try together to get solutions for some of the problems we have. 

In the blog of September 18, you could read about the making of the tank for the Bio gas. How they digged and build the underground tank. We are serious looking into ways to reduce on our budget and one of the ways is to use Bio gas, to cut back on the money we use for charcoal and gas (in bottles). Today we had a lesson from the man who build the system, and Elias, who was the organizer behind it. We needed a separate stove, So in the kitchen, we need still some modification, but it works!!!!!

The end of May 2019, the Police from a neighboring District brought a little baby girl of one month old.. They had given her the name Betty and the story was that a woman had stolen the baby. She had told people that it was her own daughter, but the people had never seen her pregnant. She didn't give breastfeeding, so they reported her to the Police. There was a doctor's investigation, which also confirmed that she was not the biologic mother. She kept saying that she is the mother and her husband is a soldier who is at present in Somalia. Betty was brought to Amecet, while in the meantime, investigations were done. Everybody loves Betty, she is a little cute girl, ready to smile to everyone... The "mother" even came to Amecet to visit Betty. The husband came back home for a time of leave, they were summoned by the Police to do a DNA investigation, we offered to help with that testing, but they never kept any appointment. They kept dodging the Police, and also us. We heard that the lady worked as a witch doctor. the last story is that the lady, at the end, told the Police that she bought the baby, from someone.....  From the Police and Probation office we got the green light to put the picture of Betty in the Local newspaper and when nobody reacted, to find a family for Betty, to foster  and to adopt her later on.

Imagine, a child of 6 or 4 years old, and he doesn't know his name....just because nobody ever calls him by his name!!! Is that not terribly sad??