Visit to Sanyu Baby Home June 6

Hedda, Me and Tanya
Andrew waiting patiently under a baby bed

Hedda feeding her baby
Isaiah found a teddy Bear and thought it was interesting

Me feeding John
Feeding all the babies at Sanyu
Maggie and Isaiah- Isaiah is such a goof ball
Feeding all the toddlers
Isaiah joined right in to eat with the other

Me holding John
Hedda has Her baby Hillary, I have John and Tanya has Irene
A worker and one of the babies
First seeing each other. I am holding the other Isaiah

June 6, 2009 sat.
Today, Maggie and all the kids and I headed to Sanyu baby home to see my friends Hedda whom I met in China and Tanya who lives only an hour away from me and whom I met through blogging.
Our driver Charles picked us up and we found Sanyu pretty much with no problem. It took us about 40 minutes to get there. We arrived to find a team leaving and many toddlers crying and trying to follow them. I saw Tanya first and then Hedda, but wasn’t quite sure if it was her or not because I hadn’t seen her in over 2 years. But it was. It was a great reunion. Isaiah was enthralled with all the kids and joined right in playing with them. Allenni and Andrew headed down to the playground and played a while. Maggie helped keep an eye on Isaiah while I visited with Hedda and Tanya. It was only a few minutes before I had a baby in my arms. It seems this other little boy named Isaiah took to me and wouldn’t be happy until I finally picked him up and held him. I tried to put him down several times but he didn’t like that. In fact it made him mad that he hit Tanya sitting beside me. Poor baby. I was happy to hear that he would be having a family come and get him. I then got to hold Hedda’s Samuel , who is so small and so cute and so we three girls got to visit a while. Irene who is Tanya’s little girl, is so cute. Just a doll.
Very soon though it was lunch time and so I followed Hedda into the home. Looking around for Isaiah and not seeing him, Hedda said, I bet he got herded into the lunch room with the other kids. Sure enough, there he was sitting in a high chair, (which was low on the ground and should be called a low chair) being fed! He was acting like he had no clue how to feed himself! The stinker. A few minutes later we heard, from the mama dishing the mush, “I am short one bowl, Why am I short one bowl?” Hedda and I just looked at each other and smiled. Well, I wasn’t get into trouble!. They quickly found another bowl for the hungry child and all was well. As soon as Isaiah saw me he quickly dished the food and wanted mama. He didn’t wanna be fed with a bunch of other kids. Somehow he knew, “this wasn’t right”.
I followed Hedda to the baby room where a tray of bottles filled with porridge waited for the babies. A handful of women showed up and each took a baby to feed him. I asked Hedda if I could help and she gave me John whom I had met earlier. He was about 4-5 months old and downed his porridge like he was starving. About halfway through the bottle, I propped him up to burp him and got a smile form Hedda that seemed to say, “You crazy American woman” John didn’t cry but looked at me as if to say, “Hey, I’m not finished, what are you doing?” Hedda then told me, “You are probably the first to ever burp him.”
John seemed glad when I stuck the bottle back in his mouth. After he finished it off and since he already had been changed, I laid him in his crib and talked to him while rubbing his back. He just smiled and cooed. I quietly prayed over him which he seemed to enjoy as well. Hedda had told me his story and my heart went out to this baby boy.
After I got John settled down and it looked like he was going to go off to sleep, I looked to see if there were any more babies that needed feeding. It seemed they were all taken care of except this one baby, whom I had noticed earlier. He looked to be about 8 months old. I went to his crib and at first I thought he was asleep but he wasn’t. His eyes were open but he was staring into space and his legs and arms were not in their proper position, so I knew something must be wrong. He needed a major diaper change but I was afraid to pick him up, not knowing what was wrong with him. I bent down over his crib and talked to him. He did not respond at all. I then gently took the back of my hand and rubbed it across his face. He tried to turn his head but couldn’t really. I continued doing this and rubbing him on his belly as well. At the same time, I felt something well up inside me that I can only explain as knowing God’s heart for this child. God was seeing this child in this moment and I knew it. I felt it in my spirit. I prayed over this child with no words that could be uttered, but my heart and spirit poured out to God for him. He was forgotten by man, but God had not forgotten. He knew his name. And I was there to let that little one feel it in human form.
I felt God’s love flow through me in a way that I cannot properly explain. It was sweet, so full of love and compassionate yet sorrowful. Hedda must have seen me over by his crib and she told me that he had cerebral palsy and she was trying to find a place for him where they could handle his special needs. They just were too busy here to give him much attention. I definitely was not left untouched by this experience. It touched me in the deepest places.

After all the kids got fed, Hedda, Tanya, the kids and I went into town to have lunch and I got a wonderful dish called Chicken Tikki Masala. It was yummy.
They hadn’t been out since they had been in Uganda and it was great to catch up with Hedda and get to know Tanya in person.
The kids were great and seemed to thoroughly enjoy their dishes. Even Isaiah was pretty good. We then went to the National Theatre where they sell crafts and etc. because they hadn’t been. I informed my children, “I AM NOT buying you anything. Do not even ask.” Of course, like any other child around the world, that still didn’t stop them. They whined and begged and I ignored. I did find Isaiah a cute little African shirt. I had already gotten Allenni and Andrew an outfit.
Isaiah was like a little bullet and was checking out everything. Of course he was getting lots of attention from the shop owners. I kept getting thanked for taking these kids as my own.
Finished there, we headed back to Sanyu and then the kids and I headed back home.
I am hoping to get back together with them next week to go to an African Dance Performance at the theatre.
My driver then tried to talk me into paying him upfront for the rest of the times he was going to drive me because he needed to renew his license, so I differed to Scott, the missionary because I wasn’t sure that I would need him that much more.
The rest of the evening we relaxed, and packed our bags for Jinja as we leave in the morning for 4 days. I went to bed a little early because I was coughing my head off. Having a cold, dust, diesel fuel, and burning trash all work against breathing well here!