Today we had to say goodbye to Brian, we have struggled for 2 weeks, but today he left us.....We took his twin sister close to him, to let her say goodbye to her brother. What a difference in those two small baby's... Brian did a good fight, it amazes that this little boy can fight so long... he was on the oxygen machine throughout and got several IV. medications.. A tribute to the staff, who stood with him so closely, during the 2 weeks he was with us. It is sad to let him go, but we know, he will be loved in Heaven. Our Social Workers are now busy to get permission for burying him in the burial ground of Soroti Municipality, we have not found relatives and the mother has ran away.. Normally a child will be buried at the family/clan home, but with Brian it is not possible.

We got a phone call, on 7/8 about twins from a health centre in the village.. Simon went there the next morning, the mother of the twins had given birth at the side of the road. Nobody knows the mother, she was alone and she is mentally retarded. Someone helped her and brought her to the health centre, but she refused to breastfeed and than we were called. The baby's are very small, their weight is 1.7 kg and 1.4 kg. We brought them to the Doctor and they were put on IV antibiotics. The second day, Brian got breathing problems, because they are premature born, their lungs were not ready yet for the world, so he is put on special medicines and on the oxygen. We feed both baby's every two hours via the NG tube. Today they are 5 days old, we do all we can, they are in a special warm room and we pray they both make it.... Every day is one day of more feeding and strength!! We have pictures of the mother, and we have several stories of her, we want to know where she is from, so we can contact her relatives, she is not able to care for the baby's,  It is another tragedy.....

On 26th of July my youngest daughter Catherine passed away...  only 7 weeks since her sister Sarah died... My heart is aching, my eyes are tearing... Cathy was 9 years old, a very active and fun loving girl, she loved to go to school and to play with her friends...

I live in Uganda for more than 20 years, I have seen quite a lot, but sometimes I am still shocked and I don't understand what is going on... I wrote  before that it was so quiet in Amecet, and it was, but now.... one baby after the other is coming and the stories, they make you cry...

It was a bit quiet in Amecet, a number of children went home and one went to his new foster family. Three new baby's were brought, they all lost their mum after the delivery!! Mostly it is overbleeding or the placenta doesn't want to come out. Still many of the children are born at home, in the village. When I ask them why they didn't go to the healthcentre, they answered that the baby came at night.... On the picture at the left is Michael, he is the oldest, he was born on 15/6/2019 and he was brought to Amecet that same day, in the middle, the little lady Veronika, born on 21/6/2019, she was brought 3 days later and at the right little Innocent, he was born on 3 days ago and 5 hours later, we received him in Amecet. At the moment Michael is not drinking so well, so the doctor suggested that we give him a NG tube for now, until he starts drinking better

This is a pictures of 31 Ugandan families, who all are fostering 1 or 2 children via Amecet. It is so exciting, read this story below and meet some of the children....  For quite some years we try to find Ugandan foster families, who want to take in a child without any relatives, and are willing to adopt that child in the future. The process is all done via the Probation Officer (Child protection), there are forms to fill, interviews done and their home is inspected by the Probation Officer. At the end the Magistrate of the Court grant the family a Care order to foster the child and the Probation Officer comes to Amecet to hand the child officially to their  new family. This is such a joyous moment, a child that was abandoned or rejected by their own relatives has hope of a future and they belong to a family and they are wanted!!

You have not been able to read our Blog for almost 2 months, my excuses for this. I also do not use this blog to write about my own family, but today I will. In the beginning of May, I left with my 4 adopted, Ugandan daughters to the Netherlands. We were invited by the Stichting de Figurant, to join them for their 20st anniversary with a benefit concert for Amecet. De Figurant has helped Amecet a lot and we were all very excited to go and see family and friends.  I also used that time to go with my second daughter Sarah for a second opinion to a cardiologist, because she was not doing well, health wise. While being in Holland, Sarah went worse, she was confused at times, was very tired, could not walk much and I became very worried. I was able to see a neurologist and he advised me do go for a MRI and a lumbar punction. Because of the short time, it was not possible to do this all the Netherlands, but I was able to set an appointment in Kampala for the day after we arrived back in Uganda. You understand that this visit went very different then we had expected.

The 13 Karomajong girls, I wrote about in the last blog, are still in Amecet. They are from a District, North of Soroti and were being transported to Soroti, to work in people's homes, gardens and kitchens. The Police found them in a check point and brought them to Amecet for safe keeping, meanwhile they sorted everything out, We have been getting visitors from Kampala, from their District, from Soroti government, Police, Probation Office etc. But they are still with us and it is not easy. Their ages are 5-15, they want to go and work themselves as well and now they sit in Amecet. Especially the older girls are tough!! Only one of them can read and write, the rest never went to school. But we found out that they like the game Memory..... And now they play Memory everywhere... And they love it. They also play on the trampoline, the swing, but Memory is the favorite!! It is busy, having those 13 girls around, we are not the best place for them, there is not much to do for them. But until the authorities are still talking and sorting them out, at least they are in a safe place. They didn't like to sleep on the beds, they were too soft, and they are so surprised that they get so much food, like 3 times a day....

You might ask what is the connection between children traffic and Good Friday ?  Today we remember Good Friday together as staff and we got a group of 13 girls on our doorstep, they were rescued by the Police, they were being trafficked for child labour....

Dear, Dear Raphael,

Christine was brought in Amecet on 7th of Feb. 2019, only just 2 months ago, very weak, sick and malnourished. The mother passed after excessive bleeding after the delivery. Christine was very small, her weight was only 2 kg. In the beginning,  I was afraid that she was not going to live...... But she did!!!!!  We had to feed her by NG tube, she was on IV medication and IV fluids, but she fought and we could give back to the father and the grandmother, a lovely smiling baby, weighing almost 4 kg!!

Last week we were able to bring Faith back to her family, together with her 6  weeks old baby!! We love to help and take children in our home, but we even love it more to bring them back to their families!!!!  Faith was brought via the Police, she is 15 years old  and she was 5 months pregnant. She had not been living at home, with her family, for a while.. There were many issues to deal with and our social workers have been visiting the family several times, to prepare them for taking Faith back in. Last week was the big day, we were able to make a packet with some practical items, for her. Having now a little baby of 6 weeks old, to care for, makes a her extra vulnerable. Her uncle and his family welcomed her back in.. When we bring a child back to the village, we bring her back to the community... As soon as we arrived, a small crowd gathered and the baby went from hand to hand. It is the community that has to welcome her back as well.  We will visit her from time to time...