Old Posts that didn't "post" about Blessings

2/22 - One of the things I am learning while here in Malawi is that nothing is ever a “done deal” and I need to not be so impulsive about assuming the outcome.  Simply put, I need to keep my mouth shut!  Today Andy was planning to go to Blessing’s village and talk to the family about his being adopted as his mother had given her permission for him to be adopted.  When he arrived at DSWO, the mother and aunt were there and they had decided against adoption as they didn’t previously understand that adoption meant forever.  Once they realized that he was no longer theirs with no ties to them they decided against it.  This is the same aunt that last week said she couldn’t care for him because she had no money to feed him.  She was now saying that she would take him.

Instead of going to visit the family, Andy rushed home so we could take Blessings for a visit with his mother and aunt.  As you can imagine Blessings wouldn’t go to them and would scream whenever we tried to give him to his aunt.  His mother didn’t even try to hold him and was very detached from him.  The aunt then expressed her concern over having to come into town for weekly visits as she is busy with gardening and also the expense of transport and she wanted to take him home right then.  After further discussion we decided that he would scream no matter what day we handed him over so with much anguish we agreed to let them take him.  We returned home to gather clothes and a blanket and Andy dashed back to transport the whole family back to their home.  One of our nannies went with them so she would know the location of the home as we intend to make follow up visits.

Our nannies are very concerned as apparently the nanny that went along says they have no maize for the family and no porridge for Blessings.  Because of this we will be returning, Lord willing, on Wednesday to bring some maize (corn flour) for the family and porridge for Blessings and the aunt’s baby.  We are hoping that if we provide food for the whole family they will feed Blessings also.  We have put our trust in Him who knows all things and we know that we can trust God for Blessing’s future. 

 

            2/24 – On Thursday we (Andy, I, 3 nannies and a translator) returned to Blessing’s village with porridge, maize, sugar and soap.  It was quite a drive down very bumpy roads that would be treacherous if it had rained.  We got to where the car could go no further and proceeded to walk about a mile or so through corn fields, a gulley and then up a hill to his aunt’s home.  When we came to the gulley we met the aunt and she had Blessings on her back.  He looked very confused and then only wanted me then wanted Andy.  Andy carried him the rest of the way to the “house.”  Even though the family is very poor we were very encouraged by our visit as the aunt seems to be very caring and also the husband.  My nannies were very happy to see how well he had been taken care of and so were we.  He appeared dazed but fell asleep on my lap where he stayed for most of the visit. 

We will continue to monitor his situation by returning with supplies that the family needs.  We want to encourage families to care for these orphans as it is difficult to feed another mouth as most are already overloaded.  We feel that this is another direction that the Lord is taking us.  Instead of always taking older babies into the nursery we can provide assistance to the families so they can care for the children at home.  One of the reasons we feel this is important is because once they are in our care a lot of the families don’t want to take them back due to the strain of caring for another child.  By doing this we can make sure that the nursery has the babies that truly need our care and yet ensure that other babies survive within their family structure.

 

            Lisa