JOY

Recently a little girl came to us abandoned at a local landmark, she was scared, wouldn’t take milk or solids, and began to loose weight quickly. She wanted to sleep all the time and seemed to have little desire to fight for herself.
Nicole and Annie recommended carrying her for a few days to see if that helped… so for 3-4 days I carried her in a pouch everywhere I went at work, and even a few times when I went out.
It was so much fun, that I probably got more out of it than she did.
She was running high temperatures, and we were worries she had TB, but after a few trips to the doctor, and some cold medication, she’s picked up and doing well.
She’s started smiling, taking milk and even a few mouthfuls of solids.

I’ve stopped carrying her (as much) but I miss her cuddles and now the nannies call me Joy’s Mummy when they can’t remember my name (They call me Freaky when they can remember my name because that is how they pronounce Flick…)

This is Joy looking very happy...

Eli, The Village and Afternoon Baths

Because I said I would - here are some random photos.

First is ELI - he came to us weighing ONE KILO... He was so tiny, but at least a month has passed and he is doing well, but here's what he looked like when he arrived..

Also I promised photos from my visits to the village to see the toddlers who moved on... so here goes...

Below - Laura and her bare bottomed boys.... no nappies like at the babies home

Below: John still loves to steal my glasses and he still loves me...

Dorica and I with the houses in the background

Below: Innocent and Scottie with me. The mummy made me a Chai tea, and if you know me you know I can't stomach milk, particularly hot milk.... but I did it, eeeek

Below Is Julian with his new mummy - she is wonerful and he loves her - hes just not impressed that Laura - the other love of his life is leaving.

Below: Innocent and I - having cuddles.

Now for the cutest thing - afternoon baths on a hot day.... photos speak for themselves.

Peace out.

Muzungu baby

To be honest with all these gorgeous African babies, I was beginning to think I would never find a Muzungu (White) baby cute ever again… however I was wrong.

I turned up to work the other day and got the shock of my life… in amongst the African babies sat what appeared to be a mostly white baby. First I assumed that he belonged to a visitor, but when all the nannies starting getting excited and asking me if I met the Muzungu baby I realized he was here to stay.

His name is Craig and at a guess he is just under 12 months. His Grandma is a very light African, his mother is darker, and works as a prostitute in Kampala, the father is either Indian, Arab or Caucasian. The mother has tried abandoning him numerous times and has been in trouble with the police for it. This last time they intervened and placed Craig with us.

He spent the first few days like most of the new ones, in shock tears and with lots of cuddles. As he seemed to be settling and smiling a lot more, his mother came for a visit, and watching her spend 10 minutes with him and then leave him crying and screaming, broke my heart.

In most cases I think it’s best for a child to reunited with their parents if at all possible, but I am unsure about Craig, it’s hard to know what really is best for him.

He is still doing well, though he needs lots of cuddles, they are never in short supply… everyone loves him.

meet Craig......

Swimming

Sorry for the delay in updating this, my weeks have been both hectic and devoid of internet access.

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to take some of the toddlers (Peter, Arnold, Solomon and Abdul) swimming with Gloria, a volunteer from Australia who is also an amazing swimming teacher

For many Ugandans swimming is not something they learn growing up and subsequently many fear the water. So we were hoping that this early introduction into swimming would help to curb that for these 4 youngsters.

Initially they were all afraid, but Gloria did a beautiful job calming them and distracting them into enjoying themselves. Arnold was a surprise hit, he tends to be the grumpiest child of the lot, and he would try so hard to keep his grumpy face on, but a smile kept creeping on his face and in the end he was laughing and cried upon return to the Babies home.

It was so much fun to swim with these guys and watch them learn.

Even though Gloria has returned home now, we hope to continue taking them.

Enjoy the pictures.

Below is Arnold getting dressed to go swimming

Below is the four of them in their ugly looking but very cool pusher...

Below is me looking strange but Abdul looking gorgeous..... man he hung on tight.
Below is Arnold waiting for his turn...

Below is Gloria wih Solomon

Below is Peter and Elizabeth....

Below is Peter and Arnold drying off

Below is Gloria and Peter

Baby Jonathan

Last week was my first week working in the clinic with the premature babies. We are able to help the premature babies better than the local hospital and usually the nurses work in this room and keep the ridiculously small and sick babies alive.
This week I worked in there, and all the babies are doing well. The two smallest are in the incubators, one being Eli who came about 2 weeks ago weighing just under 1kg. He's a strong little fella with lots of fight, and he loves getting taken out for cuddles.

Anyway the other night a baby came in at just before 6pm. He was WHITE which is apparantly not that abnormal for African babies, but it looked a little like those strange cats with no fur. Quite a scary sight.
His mother was with him, and the story goes that she had tried to abort him at 36 weeks (as most of you know this is not far of birth) this induced labour and she then gave birth to a live baby. She tried to abandom him but was seen and brought to us. So baby Jonathan was born in the morning and arrived with us in the evening. He was cold and sickly looking. His mother had not even cleaned up from the birth.

While we warmed the incubator and cleaned it (having just kicked out another baby who didn't need to be in the incubator as much as this one did) Rachel held him to warm him.

He was placed in the incubator and we watched him for a while, wondering how he was going to do.

At 7pm we finished out shift.

At 8pm Nicola went to feed him and noticed his heartrate dropping dramatically, she rushed him to hospital but he died.

Today we have his funeral.

It breaks me heart that his mother did this to him, that she thought it was her only way, it makes me cry that he was not wanted, yet many couples go childless and would have given anything to have this baby. If the mother waited and gave birth naturally and then abandoned him safely, then even that would have been better for this poor boy.

Now Jonathan is gone. He lived a day. It was so hard, I just wish there could have been another way.

So Its been a sad few days. I am not used to this death thing.

Bye for now

The Village

I visited the village today where the children who are 2- 18+ live.

Unfortunatly I only filmed it instead of photos (my digital camera is broken because I put it in my pocket to pick someone up and little hands grabbed it and dropped it)

The homes have all been built by volunteer teams from around the world, some come in families, church groups or organise random groups online. The bricks are made on site and the teams build with Ugandan builders to create a home.

The Homes have a kitchen, dining/lounge area and 3 bedrooms, 2 for the children (they sleep 4 in each room) and 1 room for the Mum. There is also a proper bathroom with running water.

The employ the Mums who are mostly widows or grandmas and they live in the houses until the kids are old enough to move out, at which time the the Mum can retire to a retirement village provided by Watoto.

The Villages have many homes set in clusters to create a community feel, and they have kindergartens, Primary Schools and High Schools. They also have a church on site. In the future they hope to build things like sports grounds, a pool, a medical clinic etc.

The concept is brilliant and they hope to eventually be self-sufficient (not relying soley on international donations) They hope to set up farms and grow and produce and farm their own food, as well as supplying the neighbouring communities. They also hope to expand their small production facilities that currently make the furniture and clothing to be able to run like businesses not only supplying their own needs but to sell to the community.

The model is proving a massively successful way for Africa to cope with its orphaned children problem, and many churches and groups from across to continent are being encouraged to replicate the model in their own countries and settings.

I was in awe at the village and I got to see my newly moved toddlers (who I mentioned moved from the Babies home into their new home in the village with a new Mum) and they are all settling in well. Eventually they will have new brothers and sisters join them until there are 8 per house (right now they are starting each new Mum with 3 new toddlers so as not to be too overwhelming) - it was so exciting to see them in their new homes but I will miss them a lot.

I will post photos of the villages next time i visit.

As for everyday life, I am struggling to live on their diet of CARBS, CARBS and more CARBS, every meal is rice, potatos, breads, mushy banana stuff that tastes gross and usually some kind of bean or meat. So I am buying my own fruit and veg which is not cheap.
The pineapple here tastes divine though!!!

Anyway I will write again soon

From Felicity

Things I would do differently...

So things are going well - but here is what I would have done different:

* I would have changed my name from Felicity to something simple like Kate or Jane, because the people here cannot say my name at all, I get everything from Feliss, Felicia, Fricks, Fely, etc..... even Flick is not good because they have trouble pronouncing Ls.

* I would have worn a fake wedding ring to avoid many many many conversation with overly eager men who want to marry a white woman to solve all their problems. My friends have had so many proposals, and its kind of bizarre.

* I would have brought clothing that I didn't mind having 20 babies vomit on, put their food covered hands all over, and leak out of their nappies onto

Hmm that's it for now, the rest has been marvellous!

The toddlers had a party to say goodbye as they move into houses with their new Mummys - it will be sad to see them go, on the other hand it will free up beds for the many new babies we recieve each week.....

Here are some more photos: First is me and Emmanuel, he is from Gulu a war torn area in the North of Uganda, and in the 4 weeks I have been here - he has not put on weight. He's been plagued by vomitting and diaroah (which I can't spell) - and has constantly been sick. He loves cuddles. He origianly tested positive for HIV, but a DNA test showed he's all clear. This week he started to get better. We're praying this continues. HE IS MY FAVOURITE!

This is Abdul wearing my hat - I may have talked about him earlier. His parents are in jail for attempting to murder him. Their last attempt being to tip acid down his throat. He is covered in cuts and burns and scars. He struggles to eat and crys a lot, but he is very cuddly and has a beautiful smile. This photo I call HOMEBOY ABDUL - I tried to get him to say YO YO YO.

This is a group photos of Nannies (employed Ugandan women who look after the children) and all the children! 86 something crying babies on the grass - was lots of fun

That's all for now. :)