Well - today was a good day! My little Mary is back at home! I went to visit this morning as usual and the Doctor said he was discharging her. I honestly thought he was joking as just 2 days before he wasn't sure she would survive?

She has finished her antibiotics and the Doctors were unable to put another IV line in....so the only thing she was actually getting in hospital was food which we can provide at home.

So she is now with us - still very tiny and fragile but drinking milk well.

She is at the Baby Home right now - but with so many children there now - I am not happy she'll get the one to one attention she needs....so I am just convincing Ben, my husband, that we should bring her to our house until she is stronger.....

The Baby Home is also very noisy now and she needs peace and quiet.

I am slightly concerned that she has received some brain damage due to lack of oxygen whilst she was sick? She does not seem to focus anymore and her eyes keep crossing. She did not used to do this....
Maybe she is just tired. I hope so. This is one adorable little girl. And a true fighter.
Thank you for all your well wishes and prayers - I think she heard them all.

The Volunteers are all busy sorting the new rooms - putting up mosquito nets and unpacking our old store into the new ones. It is a BIG job and the place is very messy - but the big kids seem to be having fun finding new toys and clothes scattered around the place and think they are 'helping' us!!

The Baby Home is now feeling busy and at 7pm, after the 'big kids' go to bed - my staff seem to be doing a juggling act trying to feed and soothe so many tiny ones!!

Well it has been a busy weekend at the Baby Home for everyone as we have been trying to sort out the 'after extension chaos' and get the place back to normal.

The Volunteers have done an AMAZING job of painting murals on the walls of all the new rooms and (as of about 3 hours ago) all the beds and mosquito nets are now in place! The children are all sleeping in their own beds, in the correct rooms tonight and the place is looking GREAT!

THANK YOU to everyone who helped to build, pay for, paint and sort out the new extension.....it is amazing!

I have been visiting Mary 3 times every day and she looks quite a lot better this evening. She is tolerating her milk well and is not needing oxygen so much anymore. I hope all of your prayers are working and she will be coming home with us one day soon.....her bed is empty and waiting for her.


And now a favour.....I am hoping someone, somewhere reading this can help us?


We have generously had donated showboxes full of Christmas Gifts for the Forever Angels children.....and quite a few extra which we hope to give to other orphans and street children in Mwanza this Christmas.

DHL have been WONDERFUL to Forever Angels and have supported us by shipping goods out to the Baby Home in Tanzania free of charge. We always knew that this would have to stop....and we have recently been informed that they will be reducing the amount of free shipments they can now send for us in the future. To DHL - we are TRULY greatful for your generosity and support over the past year...THANK YOU.


It does come at a bad time though - as these Christmas Gifts have already been collected and are currently sitting in our UK Trustees house in Cheshire in the UK.

If ANYONE knows ANYONE who works for a shipping company, or an airline, or is just remarkably generous and would like to help us to pay to ship these toys out....we would LOVE to hear from you.Please rack your brains so that these wonderfully deserving children can have a gift this Christmas.....Thank you

Today has been another exhausting day.

Mary is stable but still in a critical condition. She is tolerating more milk now, but she still needs a lot of oxygen and we are still not sure if she can pull through. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers - this is a very loved little girl. I am spending many hours each day with her and she is definately more 'calm' now which is a good thing.

The other baby in Intensive Care (Maybe I mentioned her a few days ago? Her Mum died and she was due to come to Forever Angels when she got better? I had named her Isabelle?) She died in my arms a few hours ago. She had severe jaundice and anemia and she was rapidly going down hill. Her heart had almost given up and so I asked if I could hold her as she died. This little girl knew only suffering in her 2 short weeks of life but she is now at peace with her Mum.

During our many trips to the hopsital today - Social Welfare called to ask me to go to collect a new baby.....and then there were 30!
Juma is a 4 week old little boy. His Mum sadly died a few days ago and his father is unable to care for Juma until he is older. He appears to be very healthy and had been well cared for and he is currently sleeping in his cot in the corridor whilst we wait for the paint to dry on the walls of the new baby bedroom! He doesn't seem to mind one bit!

....and then there were 29......!

Then, the hospital called and told us that Nayomi's Mum was well and could be discharged and that she wanted to take Nayomi home. Social Welfare had apparently bought her a bus ticket and arranged for her family to meet her off the bus. We were very happy about this and so took Nayomi to meet her Mum. Unfortunately, the Psychiatric Ward had decided to give her one last 'dose' of medication before she left and so when we saw her - she had no idea who she was, where she was going or where she lived!? She was very drugged up and was in no way able to care for Nayomi!

We tried to come up with another plan - but really, it was out of our hands by this point? We arranged for a nurse to care for them both until her Mum was more 'lucid' and the situation could be resolved.
I am not entirely happy with the resolution as I was unable to see her Mum lucid because I was with Mary - but apparently the drugs wore off after a few hours, she remembered where she was going and she took Nayomi and went?
I guess we have to hope that she got on the right bus and Nayomi is now back in her village with her Mum and relatives.
There is nothing more we could really have done in this situation - her Mum was declared well enough to leave the Psychiatric Ward and she wanted to take her daughter.....at this point - I am in no position to stop her.
I wish Nayomi and her Mum well and hope they will be ok.

The other children are well. We have a few colds and diaoreah bugs going round but generally everyone is fine. We seem to be overrun with babies right now - but it just feels busy as the workmen are still putting finishing touches in the 2 new bedrooms! By tomorrow they will be done.

I have looked forward to sorting out the new store rooms for months now - and it is a job that REALLY needs doing - but with Mary being sick - I can't envisage me having time to do it in the near furture. So the Volunteers are all going to do it tomorrow.
I guess I still get to be 'Amy' about it as I have already printed off the labels ready for each shelf!!!

And now - bed.

Mary is still critical with no real change. Her HB was very low today meaning she is severely aneamic so they were giving her a blood transfusion as I left her just now. We just have to hope and pray she can get stronger.

Nayomi WAS going to go home with her Mum tonight - but that has become a very long and complicated story which I will leave for another, less busy, day!

Today has been another exhausting day!

Mary is still hanging on in Intensive Care. I took a dummy in for her today and she is a lot calmer with that. Before she was rooting to feed all the time and crying a lot. With the dummy, she is much more content, so at least we can be greatful for that.
The Doctors have stopped feeding her through her NG tube as there was blood in her stomach. She is just on fluids for 24 hours - but her veins are just so tiny she has to have a new one inserted every few hours.
She is no better, but also no worse. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Haji is great - I took him some shoes in this morning so now he is running full pelt up and down the hospital corridors. He will come home on Wednesday when he has finished his antibiotics - but he really is fine!!

While I was at the hospital this morning - I got a call from Social Welfare to ask me to go to collect a 2 week old baby girl! Her Mum died and her father has 4 other children (aged 4 to 12 years) and he is unable to care for her until she is older. I went to collect the baby, took her for a medical examination (she is very healthy and feeding well) and then took her to the Baby Home to Chloe, before dashing back to Mary.
Poor Chloe is supposed to take Monday afternoons off (she works about 12 hours a day, every day, at the Baby Home and never takes time off!) - but with the Volunteers all off on Safari - I had to ask her to work this afternoon so I could return to the hospital.

Meanwhile - there was no electricity at the Baby Home and for some reason - the water mains sprung a leak and water was flying everywhere!

Mary was still content in the afternoon so I left her sleeping and went back to the Baby Home to sort out the extension. The boys' bedroom was finished today so Chloe and I hauled all the boys beds and cots into their new bedroom and put up mosquito nets (all in the dark as we still had no power!) We then emptied the baby bedroom (and the babies are now 'camping in the corridor' as the Workmen are coming tomorrow morning to knock through the final wall!)
We finished all this just in time for bedtime....and the boys were all very happy to be sleeping in their new room. I would have taken some photos but there was no power so it was too dark! Tomorrow......

Meanwhile - Ben was trying to fix the water leak and showing round some Workmen to get a quote on solar panels now we have our new roof. We are applying for a Grant to pay for this - but only found out about it on Saturday and the closing date is on Wednesday - so we have very little time!

I got home just after 7pm to find Max Church in my (dark!) living room. Max and his wife Davona founded Cradle of Love Orphanage in Arusha and they cared for my middle daughter Tia until we fostered her. We fell in love with Cradle of Love and based Forever Angels on their idea. Davona and I chat every week and compare notes about running a Baby Home. It was lovely to catch up with him briefly....but it was also the first time I had sat down and had a drink all day. I hope he will come for dinner tomorrow so we can catch up properly.

Anyhow - check out the photos of our new baby later this evening and keep my angel Mary in your thoughts.....

Haji was quickly admitted to hospital and treated for pneumonia - he is doing fine. In fact - he is causing all sorts of trouble on Children's Ward by running up and down the corridors and going into other people's rooms!! This time last year - pneumonia nearly killed him he was so weak - but now, to see Haji, you would not even know he was ill!! He always has been and always will be our little miracle boy.
I hope he will be discharged tomorrow.

Mary is a different story. I have spent most of the last 48 hours with her and more than anything in the world right now, I wish I could change places with her.
She has had about 25 IV lines inserted in the last 2 days - but they keep tissuing. She is not really tolerating any milk, even with an NG tube and I personally think that all the stress of being in ICU and having so many painful procedures is becomming too much for her?
She is not sleeping well as she coughs so much and keeps getting woken up to have new IV's put in. This is very painful for her and her screaming is just wearing her out. She barely has the energy to keep breathing - let alone cope with such traumas. I just want to grab her and run away with her and be ill in her place.

We still do not know what is wrong really. I think she has pneumonia as she has a dreadful cough now.....but it could of course be TB from her Mum.....and the Doctors are still saying Malaria (even though 2 tests have come back negative and she has spent the last 6 weeks of her life under a mosquito net).....and a stomach infection is also being mentioned?

Whatever it is - she is fighting hard and I pray she has a little more fight left in her.....although, I couldn't blame her if she decided this was all too much.

She is such a precious little thing and my heart is breaking to see her so sick. She has lost so much weight already and without a drip she can't get her medication or the fluids she needs.
Please keep this little angel in your thoughts.

In the bed next to Mary, is a 6 day old (full term) baby girl - as yet, with no name (although I have named her Isabelle in my head). Her Mum died in childbirth and her father is too sick to care for her. She is small (about 2kg) and has some stomach problems - but it seems she will be coming to Forever Angels if she makes a recovery.

Alex, Orla, Olwyn and Gemma have spent the day today painting murials on the new boys bedroom wall. I think they left this evening a little intoxicated with all the fumes - but the room looks great - with a 'transport' theme. We hope that on Tuesday the boys will move into their new room.
The Volunteers are going on a well deserved 'Safari' tomorrow - but they will retun on Thursday to paint the girls bedroom.

Everything else is fine at the Baby Home - although with children being ill this past week and in hospital - I have not spent an awful lot of time there.
Esther has been sick but seems to be recovering.

Oh - and I drove out to Bethany on Saturday morning to visit Lucia. She is settling in nicely and sharing a room with an older girl who is taking care of her. It is a wonderful place for children to grow up and they are happy kids and clearly loved.

Just a very quick one today.

Mary has taken a turn for the worse and is now on Intensive Care. She is not looking good. Please keep my little girl in your thoughts.

At midnight last night my staff called me to say that Haji was struggling to breathe. He has had fever for just 24 hours and no other symptoms. We rushed him to hospital in the middle of the night he was admitted with pneumonia. Haji was such a sick little boy when we first got him - but he has not been ill since January.....
We have caught this quickly and hopefully, with a dose of antibiotics he will be fine.

In a normal life - catching a cold is just a pain - but for children who are HIV positive like Haji and Davey - it can and often does, develop into pneumonia so quickly.

I am off to the hospital now to visit Haji and Mary, and to try to get Lucia discharged and to Bethany Orphanage.....then I am supposed to be interviewing for more staff at lunch time. After being up all night (oh yes, my own 2 girls decided to wake at 3am and stay awake!!) and worrying about Mary - it is the last thing I need.

Please keep our angels in your thoughts and prayers today.

Davey was discharged from hospital today - still with pneumonia, but now on a stronger antibiotic to try to cure it. This poor little boy has suffered with a bad chest since he was born....lets hope this does the trick.

Mary'sDoctor ignored my request not to put her on Quinnine until they knew for sure she had malaria (I didn't believe for one minute that she had malaria - she spends her entire life under a mosqito net!).....anyhow - when I arrived this morning, she was on a quinnine drip....and then the malaria results came back - negative!

She is still vomiting and diaoreahing so they have also put her back on an NG feeding tube. My staff who are at the hospital, were very scared about this - but I had to leave her with them this time as I am not able to be at the hospital 24 hours a day. I hope the vomiting will soon stop and she can be discharged....it doens't seem like they are doing any other investigations on her?

The Baby Home extensions are looking great. Two out of three walls have been knocked through and the tiling has started. There is dust everywhere and the children are still 'camping in the corridor'.....but it is only temporary!!

Chloe went to visit Zawadi, Esther and Nayomi's Mum's in Psychiatric Ward today. It seems that there is very little chance of Zawadi or Esther's Mum ever being well enough to care for their children.....but Nayomi's Mum simply has depression and we think she will soon be well enough to be discharged and take Nayomi home which is great news.

The other children are all well. Esther was quiet today and has fever but she is recovering from malaria so it is to be expected. Adamu has gained weight already which is fabulous.

The Director of Bethany is going to meet me on Friday morning and we will go together to meet Lucia. Hopefully, she will be discharged by then and she will be able to go to live at the Bethany Family Orphanage. She will live with girls the same age as her, have the chance to go to school and get 3 good meals a day.....she is very exctied about this.

Well it has been another busy day taking the three new children to clinic for their medicals. All of them have malaria and are now on treatment. They are all settling in well and are lovely!

Yesterday I noticed that Mary had not been drinking as well as she usually does, and she was the same today. She also appeared quite lethargic. At 5pm she had a fever of 38, so Gemma and I whisked her straight to hospital.....I was just not happy about her.

In Hospital she got worse and started vomiting. She has been admitted in the same room as Davey and the Doctor was coming to put her on fluids and antibiotics just as I left at 8pm. They are suspecting malaria (as they always do here in Tanzania) - but it would be a miracle if she had malaria as she lives under a net, day in day out! They are also going to test for a UTI.....please have her in your thoughts - she is still too tiny to have to fight anything serious.

And I am very tired so going to try to write a staff rota to care for Mary and Davey at the Hospital and then I am going to have an early night.

One of the things I love about my job, is that I never know what each day will bring. When I was a teacher - I could pretty much predict my day, minute by minute until the bell rang at 3pm.....nowadays I have no idea what I will be doing each day to the next - and todays events were unexpected to say the least!!

I went to hopsital this morning (as I do twice a day to take flasks of hot water to make bottles for Davey) and I came home with 3 new babies....none of them Davey!

We brought home Adamu (the baby with the 14 year old Mother) as I had hoped to.....although didn't believe it would happen this quickly! When we first met him - he was sharing a cot with a 1 year old girl called Esther whose Mum is admitted to the Psychiatric Unit and who has no one else to care for her.
I did wonder if one day we would end up with this little girl too.....but I didn't think it would happen today!

Yesterday I moved Adamu and Esther into Davey's private room in the Hospital so my staff could care for all 3 babies together. So when the Social Worker came to see Adamu this morning, Esther was there also!

Mamma Kujuju, the Social Worker at the Hospital was great - and she hurried the Doctors into discharging both babies to us. Whilst they were sorting paperwork, the Sister on the ward came to me with a baby, handed her to me and said 'Thank you for taking our baby'.

I was a little perplexed! It appears that another little girl - Naomi - has been on Children's ward for about a month - being cared for by the mothers of the sick children in the ward! Usually orphaned children are kept in the nurses office where I can find them - but for some reason, she wasn't and so didn't come to anyones attention!
She is about 10 months old and her Mother is also on the Psychiatric Unit. Mamma Kujuju told me to take this baby too and said to the staff - "She is better off being cared for by Mamma Amy than here. If the mother is discharged or wants her baby back - we all know where to find her. Amy, take her home and God bless you."

To say I was shocked is an understatement!! I have been trying to get this message across for 12 months and finally I think it has sunk in? I think Social Welfare are finally understanding that I do not 'want' these babies.....I simply 'want' them to be cared for until their Mum's (or someone else) can care for them. Leaving a baby in a cot in a nurses office and occasionally remembering to feed them - is not acceptable - especially when Forever Angels can do a MUCH better job of caring for these children in the interim.

If it is for an hour, a day, a week, a month, a year, or 5 years - we will love, feed and care for these babies until they have somewhere else to go. I hate seeing babies lying alone in a cot in hopsital.....waiting for a peice of paper to be signed. Hopefully, we wont have to see this much more as the Nurses, Doctors and Social Welfare are starting to realise that Forever Angels can actually help these children and ease their workload at the same time.....

Anyhow - thankfully I had Olwyn (a Volunteer) with me, and Chloe was at the hospital with Mathias's father and siblings having HIV tests....so I didn't have to struggle home alone with 3 babies!

All three have settled in wonderfully.....although the Baby Home is in disarray today! The 'knocking through' of the extension has begun so we have had to empty and close 2 rooms and the boys are now 'squished' in with the girls at night, or in the corridor......! I thought the children would go crazy at the 'change' - but they think it is one big adventure...and seem to like 'camping out' in the corridor!
Hopefully it will just be for 2 or 3 days and then they can move into their new bedrooms! I can't wait!
The place is so dusty though - so the sooner the better in my opinion to get all the workmen out!

Davey is waiting for another chest x-ray to see if his pneumoina has cleared. I hope he will be discharged in the morning.

I am still visiting Lucia (and taking the whole TB ward chips every evening!!) and she is such a lovely girl. She is so pleased that Adamu is living at Forever Angels and wants to come too! I am trying to get her a place at the Bethany Orphanage and she seemed very happy with that idea so lets hope it all works out.

Another busy (crazy!) day! I am hoping for a quiet one tomorrow......

Well it has been another long week at Forever Angels...but thankfully our Volunteers share the burden. We now have Chloe, Gemma, Orla, Olwyn and Alex volunteering with us and they are all amazing.

Davey is still in hospital with pneumonia but he is doing a little better now and we should be able to bring him home on Tuesday.
He gives me a smile every time I go in to see him and my staff are all being wonderful and visiting him on their days off.

The 'weird fever' bug is still sweeping the Baby Home but none of the children actually seem to notice they are ill!!

Olwyn is doing a wonderful job with Katy and the staff look on, very intrigued at what she is doing. Next week we will start some training.

The roof is now complete and the extension will be knocked through on Monday - a week of chaos and dust here we come!!

I ended the last entry on a note about a new baby. On Thursday morning I visited him and his mother and have been to Bugando Hospital twice or three times a day ever since. Every day we see poverty here and everyone has a heartbreaking story to tell....this one particularly is just so sad and I feel compelled to help.....and can't stop thinking about this family.

Lucia is a 14 year old girl who is very sick in hospital with TB. She is HIV positive and probably in the later stages of AIDS. Lucia is an orphan and has no known family except an Uncle who she was living with and who beats her.

Lucia gave birth to a baby boy in July and she named him Adamu. For 2 months she tried to breast feed him, but she is very malnourished and her milk was not coming. Two months ago she stopped breast feeding him and since then, he has survived on water only.
Adamu weighs 2.9kg and is terribly malnourished. He is 4 months old and yet the size of a tiny new born. The has no fat on his little body at all and is so gaunt. It is a miracle this little boy is alive - but - he is alert and he smiles often!

Lucia was sick and went to a HIV care centre last week who referred her to hospital. She took Adamu with her to hospital - but because she has TB (and malaria), they have been separated in hospital. Lucia is on the TB ward and Adamu in in the nurses office in Children's ward.
The nurses try their best to care for him - but they have no time or budget to really help. We have brought him clothes and milk and nappies and blankets and I visit twice a day to cuddle him....but this little boy desperately needs very regular feeding which he is not getting. He has not yet gained any weight at all.

I am going to try to get him moved into the private room where Davey is - at least then, our Baby Home carers will be able to feed him properly and he will be cared for 24 hours a day. I tried this today but didn't get very far - so will try again in the morning!

I have also been visiting Lucia (his Mum) twice a day and bringing her food. She is such a sweet little girl and has the most wonderful smile. She asks constantly about Adamu and today I took a photograph of him for her which she was thrilled about.

She loves her little boy - but is not able to care for herself, let alone him and she probably has a very short life expectancy. She is happy for us to take him to Forever Angels to care for him there. I am just waiting for Social Welfare to process the paperwork - hopefully Monday or Tuesday next week.

It is good to know that we can help Adamu - but watching poor Lucia is heartbreaking. This is a child - a sick and dying child who has no one in the world to care for her. Every day I am bringing her food and tea and you should see her face light up when we arrive - it is like we are giving her the world.
In fact, today - I took enough chips for the whole ward and all ten ladies in the ward were grinning madly and eating chips as I left them about an hour ago! It doesn't take a lot to get a smile in this country.

Whilst visiting Lucia - I also bumped into Robbi (Mary - our premature baby's Mum). She is still alive and actually looking a lot better. I took her some photos of Mary and she was amazed at how big and healthy she now looks.
We also visited Zawadi's Mum in the Psychiatric ward. She is still not well and unable to be discharged as she has no one to care for her in the community. I am trying to get Social Welafre to trace family - but this could take months and in the mean time, she is drugged up to her eye balls and living in squalor in what the Nurses and Doctors call 'the Mental Ward'.

Anyhow - now I am racking my brains (and every social contact I have here in Mwanza) to find somewhere for Lucia to go when, (if) she is discharged. She does not want to go back to her Uncle and she really has no where else? For a 14 year old to live alone is bad enough....but to die alone....it is just heartbreaking.

As I have said before on this diary - there is no hospice care in Mwanza and it is SO greatly needed. I will find a solution and will help Lucia somehow.....but there are so many Lucia's in this country and sometimes it is a really hard lesson to learn that we just can not help them all? But if I don't.....how can I walk away knowing that no one else will?

Just to end on a nice note - the volunteers and my family have just taken Joseph, Sarah, Bahati and Katy to the beach for dinner....they all had a lovely time playing in the sand and they all came home exhausted and full of rice and fish fingers and soda!

We have got some excellent volunteers here at the moment. Gemma has been here a month already and is an old hand around the place.....falling in love very quickly with the children - I think she may be another volunteer I will have to check doesn't try to smuggle a baby home in her bag!!

Olwyn has now settled in nicely and has been doing some wonderful art and craft with the children. They have really loved getting gluey and covered in paint and their art work is now adorning the walls which they are very proud about.
She has brought some great toys and ideas for working with Katy and will soon start doing some training courses with the staff on how to massage, feed and play with Katy (and any future child with Special Needs)

And today, our newest volunteer - Orla Gavin arrived. Orla has done some AMAZING fundraising in Ireland and has managed to raise £10,500 for the Baby Home! We are so greatful for this and the money is being used to part-pay for the new extension and roof. Orla is staying at the Baby Home for two months and has already been thrown in at the 'deep end' as it were by helping at bath time tonight.....always a very wet experience for all concerned!

The roof is coming on nicely. The structure is now complete and today the metal sheeting arrived and the workmen amazed me at how quickly they fixed it in place. It was VERY loud inside the Baby Home today with lots of hammering and banging - but they managed to complete about a quarter of the roof sheeting in just one day! I hope that they will be finished by the end of the week and then they can get the extension knocked through and finished.

Orla, Gemma and Olwyn are very keen to paint the new rooms with big, colourful pictures....me and Chloe (un-artistic) are not so enthusiastic - but we can paint big sections of colour without too much trouble!!
I am looking forward to my 2 new store rooms! One is going to be for clothes, and the other for toys and other bits and bobs. I am a VERY organised person, but the current storage space in the Baby Home does not allow for that! I have already printed off my labels ready to label and sort all the clothes out on shelves....I can't wait!

The children are generally well. We have had a lot of families visit this week. Sarah's Grandmother came and is still desperate for work. I agreed to give her £100 to buy a plot of land and some rice and maize so she can start her own farm. She believe that the money she makes will be enough to support her family (and then she will be able to take Sarah home) I guess this is a bit of a 'risk' - but it is one that I think we can take in order for her to support Sarah and Yohana (2 of our Forever Angels Children) in the future.

Seba and Omari's sister and brother came yesterday and played with them for the afternoon. And today, their father came for the afternoon and evening. He was very impressed to see Omari crawling (and Seba so close!) and to see how well that have grown.

Mathias's father visited yesterday. He has another 4 children under 9 and he has learning difficulties. Mathia's Mother dies from AIDS and Mathias tested positive for the antibodies when he was first born - but thankfully he does not have the virus. However - I have a feeling his 2 youngest children do. Whenever he comes to visit Mathias, he tells me they are sick and have high fevers. Yesterday he begged me to give him 20p so that he could buy some oral rehydration solution for them?! I gave him plenty of money for food and medicine for a week and made him promise me to bring these 2 children to the Baby Home on Monday so that I can take them to clinic and get them tested for HIV and, if positive, put onto medication which could help them. I am hoping he turns up and that it is not too late for these children. They are just 2 and 4 years old, and despite being a very loving man - he does not really have any idea about childcare.

Maggie's sisters continue to visit every weekend and her Father works for us so sees her every day. They are such a wonderful family.

The lady and baby we helped last month (Adadiya and Jonas) are doing very well. She comes to work on time each day and takes pride in her work. Jonas is a well cared for baby and she is slowly gaining confidence and making friends with the other staff. I have every faith that this will continue.

The other children are all ok......apart from this lingering 'bug' which gives fever and not much else!?
Salum is getting over his Sickle Cell Crisis now and is doing much better.

Davey is still not very well but he is tolerating his ARV medication so I hope it will soon kick in. Sammy is getting stronger and doing fine right now.

Mary is now 2.25 kg and doing great. Despite being kept away from all the children and handled minimumly - she has still managed to catch a cold and was a bit snotty today. She is 'due' to be born next week (age 10 weeks!) which still seems crazy - so once she reaches 2.5kg - we will handle her more and let her be with the other babies.

Anyhow - that's all for now.....I am going to go and unpack some more DHL boxes.
To everyone who has donated items recently for the Baby Home and sent them to Cheshire or Twekesbury - we have now received them.....so THANK YOU SO MUCH!

I thought I would just add a few photos of the roof as it currently looks....the building work is one week delayed (not bad for Mwanza) - so we expect the roof to be completed by next weekend and then it should only be one more week of knocking through the extension and tiling and painting.

Today was a good day.....Beth's adoption became official and she is now known as Bethany Asha Topley! Michael

Danny....and Yunisi.

Salum is not well at the moment as he is having a Sickle Cell Crisis. He is in a lot of pain and his arms and joints have swollen. He could be hospitalised, but they will only do for him what we can do at the Baby Home, so for now, he is staying at home. We are giving him painkillers, plenty of fluids and rest and keeping him warm.
Crises like this can last up to two weeks, sometimes even longer - but hopefully Salum will feel better sooner than that.
This is the first time he has had a crisis since his initial illness when we first met him. Generally he is a happy and healthy little boy and you wouldn't know he was sick.

Sophia, Omari and Dotto are now crawling and Maggie and Seba are almost there - so our 'easy' group of 6 to 9 month old babies are now hard work and continuously escaping!! It is SUCH a cute age though - I love it!

Sammy and Davey are both tolerating their ARV's reasonably well and although it feels like the cruelest thing ever to force such large amounts of medicine into them twice a day - it does seem to be helping. Sammy is definately stronger and has put on weight for the last three weeks which is unusual for him....and Davey's chest is finally sounding a little clearer.

Mary is now 2.04kg and doing so well. She is an adorable little thing. Now she has reached 2kg we need to take her for her immunisations but we have been advised not to give the BCG are she has been exposed to HIV and TB from her mother.

Jack is growing so big and he looks huge compared to little Mary! His hair is still the softest I have ever known.

Beth (previously known as Asha - who was fostered in December) is due to go to court tomorrow for her adoption hearing. We wish her and Mark and Jo (her wonderful Mum and Dad) all the luck in the world. They don't actually need luck - there is no doubt that the adoption will be granted - they just need the lawyer, judge, social worker and adoption file to all turn up at the correct time. You'd think that would be easy woudn't you? No adoption in Tanzania is ever complete without at least one of these (usually ALL of them at some point) going missing!
We REALLY hope that it all goes smoothly tomorrow and that Beth becomes 'Beth Topley'. She is a wonderful little girl (best friends with my baby Molly in fact) and has the most loving and fun parents we could ever have wished for. GOOD LUCK GUYS!

Yesterday, while Salum was so sick, I glanced over at him and jumped up so fast - as his face was totally green.....! It took me a few seconds to realise that the volunteers had been facepainting with all the toddlers and Salum, despite being ill, didn't want to be left out! It was a huge relief to put it mildly!

Toddler Facepainting:

Pictures to appear very soon when my connection is a bit faster!