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...

As Amecet, we not work only with baby's. We still follow a group of vulnerable children (HIV/AIDS and Orphans) even when they go to secondary school. They all have been living in Amecet when they were young and Amecet has helped them through the primary school, when they were living with their relatives and even in secondary school. There is a group of 5 girls in a secondary school in Soroti, they are in boarding and yesterday was the visitation day. There is one visitation day per term (3 months). So families come to school and everywhere people sit in little groups and eat together. Simon's son and daughter are also in the same school, so we were in a big group!

Maybe you remember the picture (left) from 17 days ago, 2 crying miserable little boys. They were weak and malnourished. Today I made the picture above. And we are all amazed about the difference we see in the two boys. They are smiling and playing and Francis, (at the left) is walking everywhere. They are eating good and they love to drink milk, which helps a lot when you are malnourished!!

These two little baby's do have their mothers, but they are not able to care for their daughters. Both mothers have a mental problem and the baby's are not safe with them. That is sad, because the mother would be the one to care and protect the baby....

Today is International Women's Day!! In Uganda it is a Public Holiday, all the school are closed.. But not for us, the women of Amecet, for us it is a normal workday,

Frances (left) and David are two new toddlers, brought to Amecet. They are both malnourished. David was brought to Amecet by his mother. She wanted to leave him with us, she came without any papers and we felt it was too risky to take him in, even he needed help. The mother was separated from her husband and had gone back to her own home. We talked with the mother and explained that she should come back with the letter from the local leader and a relative. She did and we talked and decided to take him into Amecet.  Yesterday, Frances was brought by the Police. His story is sad, his parents also separated and the mother left, Frances was left with the father and a new stepmother, who had abused him. He is also malnourished and has wounds on his body.