Return Village Visit

Today was a return visit to the village with the Amani social worker and director to talk to the family that I blogged about over a month ago.  There is a little boy at Amani that needs a place to go because his family will not take him back.  It is a complicated story, but basically, nobody wants him because of who the father is.  The mother was 14 years old and was raped.  She did not want the child either or maybe she ran away out of fear.  Whatever the reasons, this little boy is lost in the system and this makes my heart cry.  There are children like this that are not adoptable and yet finding someone to foster them in this country can sometimes be very difficult.  We sat in the small brick hut that had newspapers to cover the holes and when we asked the grandfather's brother (the grandfather passed away and he is the one that said he could not return or he would be killed) what they wanted to do,  He very respectfully said that he had no place back in the tribe and nobody wanted to be responsible for him. Several of his family members met with us and they agreed to sign over the rights for this particular child to live with a family or institution in Uganda.  As I Iooked outside, I couldn't help but smile at all the children that could possibly be his family.

Tears welled up in my eyes thinking about how wonderful this child is.  How bright he is and how loving he is.  He has changed my way of thinking in helping Ugandans.  He has stolen my heart and tonight, I am grieving for him.  He will wonder one day what tribe he was supposed to belong to and he will wonder why they do not want him.  He will be told the truth one day when he is old enough and he will probably grieve for his young mother.  I'm praying that God will provide the right person for him and that God will provide this quickly.  Time is running out.  He is approaching the age that he must leave Amani because he is too old.  He is not HIV positive so he cannot go to any of the HIV orphanages.  He cannot go to a few of the really good orphanages that Amani has a relationship with because they are full.

Please pray for the people in authority and for Amani Baby Cottage as they make very tough choices.  Amani has NEVER had to turn away a child and they have NEVER faced this problem of not knowing where to turn.  They have always reunited the children with their families OR had families adopt those without famlies.  This night, it is extremely painful because this is a child that everyone loves automatically.  He is not mentioned by name for his own protection.  He IS a beautiful child of God and his love will forever remain in my heart.  If you are reading this, please pray for the little boy that stole my heart.

"I have come to realize more and more that the greatest disease and the greatest suffering is to be unwanted, unloved, uncared for, to be shunned by everybody, to be just nobody (to no one)."
Mother Teresa