So if you have yet to read my story from last week of the street boy I brought home with me you can find it here.
So the next day ...and let me assure you it was a LONG day. I woke up early to take Ivan to the hospital. I brought him in for a check up of his general health. The pediatrician was a very sweet lady and she went through everything with Ivan asking him questions about how he feels and about his overall health, weighing him, taking his temperature, and checking him all over for signs of illness. She was very impressed with his overall health. She has seen a lot of street children brought in by the Tiger Club who are in very bad condition, but she was very impressed by the state Ivan seemed to be in.
Thank you Jesus! I prayed the night before and all morning that he would have a clean chart and no serious illness.
He did however seem to be suffering from parasites and worms from drinking and bathing in dirty water. She wrote me out his prescription and told me all he needs is a little bit of love and care. Before leaving I bought him some good parasite and deworming medicine that he now has been taking daily. After leaving the hospital we had about a 45 minute walk back to the house, on the way I bought Ivan a small water gun I saw him eyeing. We bartered and It cost me about 60 cents :p. We stopped for lunch on the way at a little Ugandan restaurant (which I was majorly regretting the next 2 days.. food poisoning is not fun... but Simon and Ivan were fine, they obviously have years of Ugandan immunities built up that I just don't have.) ANYWAY won't be eating there again.
When we finally arrived back at the house we took a quick water break and rested a little bit before making the long journey by Ugandan taxi and boda to Senga village. Ivan laid on the front porch playing with his new squirt gun. Its very rare to see children in Uganda with any kind of toy, let alone a street child having a toy.
It was his first chance to relax and be a kid for a second.
After a few long Ugandan taxi rides and a couple bodas we arrived to Senga and met with Lutaaya, one of the head directors of African Hearts. He met Ivan and asked him a few questions about his story. One of the things i've learned is you don't ask a street child, "Do you want to go home?" or "Do you want to go back to school?" because they may only tell you what you want to hear. Street children are rough and rebellious and often most of them don't know anything other than the streets and drugs. So when you ask them questions like that they will only tell you what they know YOU want to hear, even though they may not mean it.
Fortunately for me, it has proved to be that Ivan has either not been on the streets for long or he is just one of the lucky ones with unwavering character. Because it is very clear that the streets haven't stolen his innocences yet and we will see to it that it never happens. Everyone that meets Ivan is so surprised by his timid and innocent nature, that is very rare to come by in a street boy. We also learned that Ivan does not huff fuel like the rest of the boys. EXTREMELY RARE. I actually think he is the only street boy I have met in this slum that is not on drugs. Again understand the children huff the paint to curb their hunger pains.
We are very proud of Ivan and because he has so much potential he should be easy to place.
So instead of Lutaaya asking questions that puts words in his mouth, he asked Ivan, what are the 4 things you want the most right now?
Ivan's reply was this:
1. I want to see my mom.
2. I want to go back to school.
3. I want to study really hard.
4. I want to make my mom proud.
Ivan is 10 years old. He wants to be loved and he wants to go home.
From there he continued with asking for the full story from Ivan about how he ended up on the streets.
Ivan's Story:
Ivan told us he is from Mbale. I have been to Mbale before for a few days to take a little boy to surgery. It is about 3 or 4 hour drive from Kampala (where we are now).
He told us one day his mom sent him to the market to get a few things. When arriving at the market he ran into a neighborhood friend who started telling him stories about the city, with tall buildings and bright lights. He told him stories about the presidents house and the president having a huge yard that they could run and play in. There was a bus leaving for Kampala. So what did the boys do? They snuck on the bus and headed for the city. When they arrived however, it wasn't quite the fairy tale they had dreamed up in their heads and Ivan has been living on the streets since, he's not sure how long.
Pretty crazy the kind of trouble two little boys can get themselves in isn't it? The streets of Africa are a cruel place. Witchcraft and child molesters are lurking everywhere, he is really lucky he has made it this far.
Ironically enough, I was looking up the name Ivan to find out the biblical meaning of the name. Guess what the name Ivan means?
God is gracious.
And God has been very gracious to Ivan. He is so lucky that God chose me to pick him up and take him home with me that day.
Now Ivan needs your prayers. It is very clear God is working in Ivans life and he has plans for this little boy. Because Simon, my friend who has been with me through all of Ivan's story just so happens to be from Mbale, he even speaks Ivan's native language. (Seriously!? God planned this all so perfectly).
I sent Simon this week to Mbale to look for Ivan's mother. Ivan's father he told us passed away when he was young. We gathered lots more information before Simon left, but he was unsuccessful on finding Ivan's mother. We have to first meet the mother before taking Ivan home because often times families who have children run away here don't want the children back or anything to do with them. We have to first make sure it is a safe and healthy environment to bring Ivan back to. We also have to first make sure Ivan's story is true. He is a little boy and I imagine he has been through a lot of trauma in his short little life. And there are still lots of questions, like why would he run away to the city in the first place? So it is very important for us to first find his family and assess the situation before bringing Ivan to Mbale and making things anymore traumatic for him.
Please pray for Ivan and God's plan for his life.
Right now things are very much up in the air and all I can do is pray.
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