In Uganda, there is a law that the childrens’ homes (orphanages) should empty out over Christmas holiday. That means that the social workers work very hard at finding a relative to take each child during the holiday. For some children, this serves as a trial run to see if that living situation might become later a permanent one. The social worker will make an assessment visit to see how the child is doing. If the relatives show a real interest in the child and the child does well, eventually that child might be “relocated” to the relatives. To date, this has been one of the highest priorities from the government regarding the placement of children. This has been especially pertinent in the years immediately following the war when many of the children in orphanages were actually displaced and not orphaned. It took a long time to find the scattered families and reunite them. For other children, perhaps they were ill and very young and the extended family was not equipped to care for a particularly vulnerable child.
So, this year at Home of Love, all but 3 children were able to join a family member for the holidays. The oldest boy is a street boy with significant issues and was not suitable to stay with us and our young children. The other two are the two boys that we currently are hosting. We are hosting them so that the Mamas at Home of Love can have a break. They are TIRED and they spend a lot of time away from their own families to care for our Home of Love children.
It has been an adventure, to say the least!
This is the first “mzungu” home that the children have ever seen, let alone stayed in. So, we had to explained through everything: electricity, outlets, gas stove (my worst fear with all the kids!!), mzungu toilets, bathtub, what water is safe to drink, don’t open the fridge (our poor fridge really serves as a cooler so we open it as little as possible)… The boys have actually done great with all those new things.
What they are struggling with most (or am I?) is orphanage behavior that is not appropriate in a home and a family. Grabbing for things, hoarding, throwing food on the floor, manipulative behavior…
And of course, there’s the language barrier. My Acoli has really taken off in the last two days! But I do feel bad for the boys who can’t communicate effectively with us. Our teenaged Acoli helpers have been around but I do long to communicate directly with the boys.
Pray with us that they would feel the love of Christ despite limited communication! Pray that I would be patient and tolerate chaos J! Pray that everyone would be safe (two injuries in two days so far…)!
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