So I have a story to share with all of you. This Friday I spent a good portion of my day at the babies home because there wasn't much help due to it being Good Friday. I have gotten to know the staff at sanyu very well and there is one mama whom I often wash bottles and dishes with and we enjoy talking together as we work. She told me of a baby whose mother had died giving birth and the baby was now left and how she has been doing the best to help the baby with the few dollars that she has. Ugandan English is sometimes very broken and hard to put things together and she kept calling him "baby dear" and honestly I thought she ment a baby deer! Lol I even asked her several times, this is a baby deer, like the animal deer??? Because I've never heard of a deer in Uganda, and she kept saying yes a baby deer. She also told me about the cemetery where the babies who have passed away at sanyu are buried. I knew a few babies that I had came and cared for but then after returning home I had later gotten news that they didnt make it so I asked her to take me to see the cemetery and this "baby deer" she had been caring for. So we hopped on a Boda and rode up to the graveyard and we walked through the cemetery which is quite the experience but that is a whole other post.
We walked down the long dirt path and through piles and piles of garbage that a few street children were digging through to find plastic bottles to trade in. I even had a team of street children following close behind me giggling and whispering things about the "mzungu" (white person). Soon we reached a small village with rows of small one room shacks and lots of children running around, everywhere! Margret brought me directly to the "baby deer" and said here he is!!! It was no baby deer it was the sweetest "human" baby boy. His name is Daniel. His mother died in childbirth. His father is now doing his best to care for the baby and 2 other older siblings. They were so welcoming (as most ugandans are), they immediately invited me in their little home, grabbed me an old chair and insisted "you sit!" When the father arrived home he was so happy to have a visitor he grabbed some change from his pocket and sent his oldest daughter up the road to buy me a soda. Understand this mans living is to carry heavy baskets up steep hills everyday and he only makes about 50 cents for each trip, Margaret told me he usually is only able to bring home a few dollars a day. Yet he insisted I have something special to drink. We spoke and he showed me pictures of the babies mother. It was clear that he truly loved her and misses her, it was so hard to think that he has been here alone with this little baby and 2 other small children. However, it is also so encouraging to see that he has not given up and is trusting in the Lord to provide for him and his children and doing all that he can to make sure they grow up strong and happy. I was able to leave them with some money to buy a nice Easter meal, which he was VERY excited about. Next Sunday they are taking baby daniel to be baptized and I am so honored that they invited me along with them. If anyone feels led to give specifically to meet this families needs please speak with Kim for any donation purposes.
