love the villages
I went out with the Pregnancy Crisis Center to the village of Nyenga to meet with 16 young ladies that are in the weekly program. Now, quite honestly, the young ladies are committed because of the bags of food they receive each week. They receive beans, rice, oil, eggs, tomatoes and flour. In order to receive the food, they must attend the bible study and counseling. They are being fed physically and spiritually.
Most of the young ladies have accepted Christ! Nyenga is a small village just past Buziika (where the Canaan Children's Home is located). It is out in the villages where the most needs are. It is there where you can discover situations that would not otherwise be discovered.
That is how we found a 14 year old girl taking care of her sister's baby. Her sister abandoned the baby and the 14 year old girl was taking care of this baby less than a year old and her brother who is about 7. We started asking where the parents were and we walked with the social worker to her home. It is there where we discovered that the 14 year old girl had been abandoned by her own parents. This 14 year old child was the head of the household. She changed her story a couple of times and we think it is because she has become attached to the baby. After much translation and conversation, the social worker called her father. The father has a shop in Kampala and Jinja and wanted the baby to go to a home. The sweet little 14 year old girl (whose name I could not get or understand) asked to keep her until she starts school on Monday. She showed us the bed where all three children sleep. The social worker will now contact the authorities and get the probation officer to sign off a release for the baby to possibly go to Amani Baby Cottage. Carolyn (the director of the Pregnancy Crisis Center) explained to the 14 year old girl that it is not permanent and that she can visit her. And so, that is one story of how an orphanage receives a child. Amani is the perfect place for this sweet baby because they work to put families back together. This story will hopefully end with a 14 year old girl finishing high school and getting her niece back. She is a very special young lady that has a sensitive heart and loves the two she is taking care of.
We walked back to the group and finished a Bible Study with the other ladies and their babies. A new pregnant teenager joined the group today. We do not know her story yet but she looked very young. The social worker will gather all the information and find out where she lives. She was very nervous and her hands were shaking when Carolyn talked to her and gave her food to eat. She asked her to come back next week. She is an example of a young girl joining the group for the first time. She was sad, scared and lonely.
