Too Many....

Today was an amazing day. Let me preface it with a little background information...

Meredith has become a friend of ours because she was planning to adopt a baby girl from Cradle of Love. However, Helena was one of the ones who we took to the clinic to be tested for HIV. (Please see post "Dream Maker"). Well, we got the tests back and all FOUR babies tested positive for the virus. It was a heart-breaking day at COL and Meredith was of course devastated. A couple of weeks later, we took them all back for a follow-up visit, and a different doctor told us that we may have been misinformed about the kind of test they were given. Turns out that three of the babies viral loads (Bahati, Clinton, and Helena) were so low that it led the doctor to believe that it was simply infected anti-bodies received from their mothers, and there is still a chance they could be virus free! 

So we immediately contact Meredith to tell her that there is a glimmer of hope that she could still take Helena home. Only Meredith who thinks Helena is no longer an option, informs us that her social worker has discovered that there is another pregnant woman with AIDS who has agreed to relinquish her baby to Meredith. In addition to that, the social worker also introduced her to two orphaned children 3 and 6 who are living with their 90 year grandmother in a mud hut that may fall down if there is one more storm. 

Ok this brings us up to date with where we are today. Meredith, Hallie, and I took Ema (6), Opportuna (3), and Helena (4 months) to all get tested for AIDS. It is extremely difficult to bring home to America an AIDS baby, so Meredith just wanted to know what she was up against. Helena's mother was infected, delivered vaginally, and breastfed which gives her a 40% chance of contracting the disease. We do not know as much about Ema and Opportuna but they are cousins. Ema's mother died when he was only 7 days old and they never knew who the father was. His grandmother is the only relative he has left. Opportuna's mother and father are both still living but the father is in his seventies and unemployed and the mother left her with her grandmother never to be seen again.

We pick up the social worker and the three of us drive out on horribly bumpy roads until we reach the sticks and mud "house" where the family lives. The grandmother sits in a chair peeling greens surrounded by neighbors and the two precious children. Ema is eager to come with us, but Opportuna is a little more cautious. We explain that we are going to get them both tested at the clinic and then we will bring them home. 

We all pile in Meredith's tiny Rav 4  with each of us a baby on our lap. When it was our turn to see the doctor, I felt terrible as I held Opportuna while they pricked her finger and squeezed the blood onto a test kit. She was crying probably wondering why these white strangers have come and taken her away from all she knows to hurt her. We bought them lollie pops as we waited for their results. About 10 minutes later they come and inform us that baby Helena is still testing positive, but she is still so young that there is hope she will end up being healthy. And as for Ema and Opportuna, they are both NEGATIVE. We were so excited.

I have to tell you a little bit about each of these children. Ema is a very special little boy, I was with him for only a couple of hours today but I can just tell there is something different about him. You know he is bright and he is longing to be loved. He smiles and snuggles and would have gone home with any of us. You can tell he is ready for more. For six years he has lived in a tiny mud hut never having any parents...can you imagine it? He has this special spirit that just makes you want to be near him. I wondered how I could already love someone so much that I had literally just met.....

Opportuna is younger and a lot more unsure of her surroundings with us. She would not smile, she simply observed cautiously. But she is beautiful and with a little love and attention I know she would blossom into a bubbly little girl. She has grown up not being held, never rocked, hardly touched, you can understand why she seems so distant and emotionless. 

Because of Tanzanian law, Meredith can only take two. She feels committed to the new born and if Helena turns out negative she will most likely take her as well. But she wants to help Ema and Opportuna because their situation is desperate. She is looking into orphanages for them...but that is not enough!! They need a mama and a daddy. Or atleast one. Tears stream down my face as I write this because sadly this is the situation of so many children here. The social worker knows many many more children in USA River (where we live) living with elderly grandparents who are just too old to properly care for them and will most likely pass away before they even hit their teens. I think about all the children in just this village who live this way, and then I think of how many there are in all of Tanzania. It's too overwhelming to even think about the numbers on the whole continent. And in a way these children are worse off than even those in orphanages because as their grandparents pass away they will just disappear into who knows what...street life, prostitution, deeper poverty, etc. 

My life is better today because of meeting these two children because it reaffirms why God has called me here. To be a voice for these children, to be a light for them, for them to be a light to me. Between the three of us, we are going to in some way help Ema and Opportuna, but for all the others I hope and pray for a more promising future....

Ema, Opportuna, Helena all with the 90 year old grandmother

At the clinic, after we discovered they were negative! 

Ema and I in the waiting room...He would sit with me and hold my hand. At one point I put my arm around him and he scooted closer to me. I just wanted to scoop him up and keep him forever. He is so dear!! 

The mud hut where Ema and Opportuna are currently living with their grandmother.