Just Lovin'

I took in my first kid at the end of September 1995.  His name is David.  He had just turned five that month and is now going on 22 years in September and attending McKerere University.  He is studying computer science and information technology.  David was living with a Grandmother named Mary.  He was tending cows everyday and had a lot of malnutrition.  He looked really tattered in his only set of clothes, but had eyes that would melt any mother's heart, and a great smile to go with it (still has to this day).   I remember him trying to teach me language and trying to learn English from me.  He had never gone to school as yet, but was wanting to learn to communicate with me.  He cried the first day as he did not know what was happening to him.  He would teach me the Lugwere word for frog and I would tell him the English, then a cup, then a pan, etc.  Through love we communicated and have so many wonderful memories.

This is David at five in the beginning, then six, then 18 and above at 21.

The second child I took into my home is Bumba.  He was seven when I first met him and eight when I took him in.  Julius lost both parents by the time he was seven years to the terrible AIDS virus that has claimed so many lives in Africa and all over the world now.  He had made his way to Kamonkoli to look for his relatives and was not sure how to find them.  He had come a long ways to get there on foot.  He finally decided to curl up in the church and sleep in a corner.  That is where he was found and then connected to his Aunt Esther.  His Aunt had just retired that year from teaching primary school and had no income.  Retirement does not come on time or when it is needed and she had little to look after him with.  A woman from Colorado named Shelly came to stay with me a month and do work in missions and fell for Bumba and wanted to take him with her.  She asked me to take him in and I did and have loved him like a son ever since and Shelly has sponsored him monthly ever since.  Today he is 24 years old and studies in his last semester at Ncumba University in Entebbe.  He will have his Bachelor's degree in Business Administration/accounting very soon.  He too is a wonderful young man that is looking forward to working and starting his life.

Altogether I have had 24 children pass through my home, and 20 are there still and I love each of them and thank God for the chance I have had in making a difference for them together with their sponsors.    One child at a time someone told me - love them one child at a time.  we do have 191 children sponsored today and 28 in the orphanage altogether between two homes.  Give thanks to God with a grateful heart for all He does and His great love for us all.  Amen!