Here is Laki from 4 months ago.
And here he is today. An amazing improvement, thanks to your support.
And here he is today. An amazing improvement, thanks to your support.
An Update on Laki and David
LakiA healthier happier boy. The hair is coming back and his legs are stronger.
David and EsperanceDavid is sitting alone and trying to stand.
Thank you for prayers and gifts sent for both of our baby boys and for all the children connected to Urukundo. We shared some of the dolls, marbles and stuffed animals with our neighbors. This was a special day for them because of the gifts you sent. Thank you
Our 40th Child Joins Urukundo Village
On November 18th, we were blessed with a new baby boy. He arrived to us with no last name, no birth date, no history. He is an abandoned baby.
His name is Laki (pronounced Lucky). He is a real cutie. We think he is about 1 year, 8 months old. (We are judging this by his teeth development.) He is a dear little boy but needs a lot of love and care and special feeding as malnutrition has done some damage. The strange hair and puffy face are signs of malnutrition. Check back next month for a picture that should hopefully see a great improvement. David, our first abandoned baby, now has a playmate, and Laki now has a family.
His name is Laki (pronounced Lucky). He is a real cutie. We think he is about 1 year, 8 months old. (We are judging this by his teeth development.) He is a dear little boy but needs a lot of love and care and special feeding as malnutrition has done some damage. The strange hair and puffy face are signs of malnutrition. Check back next month for a picture that should hopefully see a great improvement. David, our first abandoned baby, now has a playmate, and Laki now has a family.
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We are expecting an abandoned two-month-old girl next week. After that, we will be able to accept one more baby, boy or girl. We must limit the babies we can help to four until we know we have the resources to care for more. Please donate if you can. Your prayers and hopes are appreciated.
David at 4 Months Old
David is now 4 months old. His eyes are bright and he now weight 14 lbs. When he was found he only weighed 7 lbs so it's wonderful to see he has doubled his weight in only 2 months. He loves to be talked to and responds with baby noises. He is not yet learned to sit on his own.
Davids bed was a gift from Linda Wise. We purchased it here and it is Rwandan. He will soon out grow out of it, but we will use it for other babies yet to come.
David's Motor Car
Crossing the lines.David is no longer on Pascazee’s back but has transportation of his own. He loves the new found freedom and so do those who no longer have to work with this big boy on their backs. He is pushing it with his feet and getting all kinds of help from his brothers and sisters.
Kids at Play
Our boys surprised us with a project of their own. Holiday from school has started and the boys are working on the farm, playing soccer and basketball and are building a house.
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The construction tells us they are learning a lot from watching the girls house being built. We will have one of our technicians work with the boys and teach them some techniques. We will one day have our own builders. Their house is of mud bricks with mud as cement. It sure beats a fort made of snow and will not go away when the sun shines, but will only get stronger.
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The construction tells us they are learning a lot from watching the girls house being built. We will have one of our technicians work with the boys and teach them some techniques. We will one day have our own builders. Their house is of mud bricks with mud as cement. It sure beats a fort made of snow and will not go away when the sun shines, but will only get stronger.
An Update on David, Our Beautiful Baby
You may remember that last month a baby was found by the side of a road and was brought to us for help.
Well, we're happy to tell you all that at three months old, David is growing strong. He is lifting his head and focusing his eyes. He is responding when talked to and putting his body weight on his legs.
This is a different culture and many of the beliefs in Rwanda are quite different from what I practiced in raising my own children in the United States.
Babies are generally kept on their mothers backs and do not learn to look around, sit up, or use their legs until much later in their development. They are never put on the floor or laid on their stomachs and so do not learn to crawl or to roll over. Mothers even carry their babies tied to their backs at all times. Can you imagine working in a field for hours with one of our very active 6 month old children tied to your back? (With a cover over their heads to protect them from the sun of course.)
The mamas here are shocked because I encourage David to grab my hands and pull, sit up and stand with my help. They say David is too young for such things, but I know that David is strong because of my ways. Changes may come slowly for mothers and babies, but as things get better in Rwanda, parents will hopefully not have to completely care for their babies and do hard labor at the same time. Our David will be part of both our cultures, and will a stronger person for it.
David being held by Divine (Our Visitor to America)
How do you say no when God sends a baby?
Surprises come every day here at Urukundo Home for Children and in the month of July we were presented with a great challenge.
This baby was thrown away. No father, no mother, and no name. Just a child of God. He was found in the bush and brought to us by the police asking us to care for this two-month-old baby.
He is very special as he now has a family of 38 brothers and sisters, a mama (me) and a papa (John) who love him very much. We are not set up for a two-month-old child, but we have the most important thing a child needs: lots of love. Keep us in your hopes and prayers as we take on another challenge in the children God places in our lives.
Realizing the Need and Stepping up to the Challenge
It is clear to us now that this will not be the last thrown-away child that will come to us. So we will need to plan for the future of a nursery with a mama and those things needed to care for infants. Most of the things we need, like diapers, cribs, blankets and clothes, can be purchased here. I guess the bottom line is that we need the money to buy the things that all babies need and to build a home to care for them.
We can give these babies a future. I am praying someone or a group of someones will want to help us build the house for babies thrown away because a mother can't take care of them and survival is the key.
Please pray for this child's mother. She must have struggled for two months to care for her baby and could not. I do not know her circumstances, so I do not judge her. I just know how heartbreaking it must be to know that if you keep your child, it will die, and to throw it away may give it a chance for a better life.
I am thinking that this is another reason why God has been so faithful to the work of Hope Made Real. We serve in mission and serve children.
We have named him David Chad Kayitare. Yes, John and Hope have shared their last Name with him.
With this child's arrival comes another: we have found a young woman who is an orphan of the genocide and needs a home and some little money to live. She is now the mama for David as she will be caring for our new child, bringing two together and helping restore the families and communities of Rwanda.
God gives us so much and expects much in return. Join us in celebrating this new child in our midst.
This baby was thrown away. No father, no mother, and no name. Just a child of God. He was found in the bush and brought to us by the police asking us to care for this two-month-old baby.
He is very special as he now has a family of 38 brothers and sisters, a mama (me) and a papa (John) who love him very much. We are not set up for a two-month-old child, but we have the most important thing a child needs: lots of love. Keep us in your hopes and prayers as we take on another challenge in the children God places in our lives.
Realizing the Need and Stepping up to the Challenge
It is clear to us now that this will not be the last thrown-away child that will come to us. So we will need to plan for the future of a nursery with a mama and those things needed to care for infants. Most of the things we need, like diapers, cribs, blankets and clothes, can be purchased here. I guess the bottom line is that we need the money to buy the things that all babies need and to build a home to care for them.
We can give these babies a future. I am praying someone or a group of someones will want to help us build the house for babies thrown away because a mother can't take care of them and survival is the key.
Please pray for this child's mother. She must have struggled for two months to care for her baby and could not. I do not know her circumstances, so I do not judge her. I just know how heartbreaking it must be to know that if you keep your child, it will die, and to throw it away may give it a chance for a better life.
I am thinking that this is another reason why God has been so faithful to the work of Hope Made Real. We serve in mission and serve children.
We have named him David Chad Kayitare. Yes, John and Hope have shared their last Name with him.
With this child's arrival comes another: we have found a young woman who is an orphan of the genocide and needs a home and some little money to live. She is now the mama for David as she will be caring for our new child, bringing two together and helping restore the families and communities of Rwanda.
God gives us so much and expects much in return. Join us in celebrating this new child in our midst.
Meet Jean Paul Nziyumanganya
We have a new boy, bringing our total number of boys to fourteen.
Jean Paul Nziyumanganya is fourteen years old. He is in Primary 5 and a handsome young man. His voice is currently changing. I can hear it when he takes part in the song before meals and I smile. I remember my boys during this time in their struggles to become men.
His father is unknown. His mother abandoned him when he was 2 years old. His caretaker was an uncle or neighbor who can no longer care for this boy. He came to me on our road and spoke in a broken English “I am orphan. I want to live with you.” He was brave to do that and that kind of faith needs rewarding. We have gone through the process and now we have legal custody and he is ours and has a home and a family who love him. He is showing leadership ability with the younger kids and our little girls think he is the perfect big brother. His goal is “to become a doctor for children.” He is a happy boy and a very positive addition to our family.
Divine
Hello, I am Divine, one of Mama Arlene's children of The Urukundo Home for Children in Muhanga District, Rwanda. I am Mama Arlene's "first born". No, I am not the youngest. But I was the first girl-child to come to live under Mama Arlene's roof. Now thirty-five others have come. All of us are fully housed, cared for and given an education. And, an additional 245 children from the region join us at the community school with sponsored scholarships from Hope Made Real's Scholarship Program.I came because I could no longer live in my family home. Others come as orphans because all of their living relatives have died of AIDS or malaria. Still other older children are survivors of the genocide.
Each of us now has our own bed. The girls are housed in apartments with bunk beds with a house-mother. The boys live in a house with four bedrooms and four bunk beds in each room with a house-mother. Because of kind people I am most fortunate to now have food, bedding, clothing, school supplies, a mosquito net, lodging, education, medical insurance and basic medical care, utilities, transportation, and, of course, water.
Mama Arlene rents the houses we currently live in, but we recently acquired land and are building the first of five cottages. The plan is to have ten children and a mama or parents in each cottage. This means our little home will grow so that soon I will have fifty brothers and sisters.