Maria? who's Maria? I haven't ever posted about her. She's a baby at Watoto that we work with on Mondays and Wednesdays.
Maria went home on Wednesday. Not home with a family that adopted her. Home to her family here in Gulu who love her very much but couldn't take care of her during her first months of life.
On Wednesday, I talked a lot with one of the mamas that we work with each week. I asked her about the babies in the nursery unit. Who had families? Who were total orphans? I was so excited to learn that of the 20-30 babies we work with, only 2 are total orphans (no parents or other relatives that can raise them). The other babies were all placed at Watoto for a few months, or a couple of years, until the family can take care of them.
Maybe the mama died and the father or other relatives can't take care of a newborn baby. Maybe the family is trying to get on their feet financially and can't take care of the baby. It may not sound ideal to someone living in America....to put your child in an orphanage for several months....but to these families it means that the child has regular meals, medical care, etc that they aren't able to provide for a time.
Ideally, the goal is to keep Ugandan children in Uganda. That doesn't always happen...or can't always happen. But it's so awesome when a child can go home and grow up with their Ugandan family!!
Also....I wanted to add that Miriam is sick again. Sick enough that they had to take her to the hospital on Wednesday. I'm not sure what's going on....but appreciate your prayers! I promise to update when I know something!
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