Taylor arrives

Taylor arrives

Thank you, James and Bonnie for the gift of allowing Taylor to be with us.

Also, thank you so much for the baby sleepers, toys, medicines…that accompanied Taylor!

Immediately, Taylor put himself to work! There is no need to ask this boy to work!

He gets up from his first night of sleep and calls Molly and Timmy to come walking with him! In the afternoon, we headed to Siabalumbi for our tutoring of the grade 6 class! The kids love him!

Last night he met some of the kids in the compound nearby. They will become his youth group gang.

This morning he accompanied Jackson to the neighbouring farm to collect some vegetables as we’ve had moths raid ours! This afternoon, Roy Moono one of our 2010 grade 12 graduates, will come by and for a few weeks to a few months will become Taylor’s mentor and translator of language and culture. Roy will stay with us as his schedule permits. He grew up at Siabalumbi, just a few km. away.

Passmore returns to his family

We believe, as God says, that the babies belong with their families - and while we realize that a family may need temporary help by keeping the baby in orphan care - the family is the best and ONLY place for an infant.

We've been praying for each of our babies - that families will discuss together the plans they have for the baby as soon as possible after leaving the baby with us - and amazing things are happening. Family discussions are taking place - here and even during the funeral time.

On Saturday, all of these family members of our new baby, Passmore arrived to announce that they'd made a decision at the funeral of Passmore's mom (the 18 year old mom who died a few days ago - described in the blog a few days ago). After some minutes with us they announced that Passmore was coming home with Francis, the Grandpa who lives in Lusaka. Francis has very good english and while the family was obviously still grieving - they were strong in the matter of looking after the wee one! Praise God for families such as this. Before they left we spent time in prayer - for healing for the family - as feelings were still extremely raw and for the life of Passmore as he grows up. Francis says soon Passmore will be on the phone to me - telling me what a good boy he is. (Passmore is only 6 months old!)

Home visits

Home Visits (picture not able to be sent, tried 3 times!)

Once a child has been placed at Kasensa by family members, an agreement is made for the family to visit monthly. Indeed, even this can be a hardship as transport fees can be difficult to find.

On Wednesday, we took a 12 km. trip off the main road from Livingstone near Sinde mission to visit with Rozina’s father and extended family to do discharge planning.

As we sat, other family members gathered until there were about a dozen or more altogether.

Rozina has 2 siblings that the grannies are caring for. The father is grieving – as it’s only been a few weeks since his wife died. She was HIV positive and he likely is as well.

At first, the father thought we’d care for Rozina for about a year and a half or even 2 years. We explained that residential (institutional) care should ever only be for a very short time – only as long as it takes for the family to re-organize themselves, as the family is the most important source of love, attention, emotional support and moral guidance. We said the most important thing that we can do is to ensure that every child has a family that is able to provide the nurturing care that every child needs.

We’d brought along Rozina’s aunt and uncle. The uncle, Joseph – is a lawyer in Kalomo. He has great English and very much understands the concepts that we are promoting. After a few minutes of discussion – the family seemed to understand and said they’ll come with a discharge plan when they visit in November.

No doubt, this family is financially strapped. They fit the definition of poverty – no reliable income – only subsistence farmers. School fees, seed, fertilizer….will be a constant struggle for them. I offered to keep Rozina on the milk program until she’s just over a year old – as she’s very tiny.

I encouraged their church to consider having a second offering each Sunday for orphans and as well to plant a field that can be used to assist orphans. Each family could bring a handful of seed at maize planting time that could collectively be sown together!

Rozy’s aunty concluded out time in prayer and then the family gave us gifts of appreciation – i.e. one live chicken and a bag of mawee! (a hard covered fruit – the insides are juicy and sweet and look like brains!)

Welcome Passmore

October 21

Kasensa is almost at capacity! We now have 11 babies which mean we have 10 families to work with!


Meet our newest wee one! This handsome boy is 6 month old Passmore. On October 19, his mom – age 18 years woke up and complained that her “stomach” was unwell. She was transported the 88 km from her village in the Siachatema area (near Kafue Park) and died en route to Kalomo hospital.

We will never know what the cause of death was and more sadly, neither will Passmore. He is a healthy boy – and at this time, due to grieving, needs lots of affection and attention. So…he’s getting it!

I will phone the family after the funeral and some additional time to grieve to set up a family meeting at Kasensa where we’ll talk discharge plans. The plan is for Kasensa to keep the child for only a short time, as the best place for the child is in the family as God says in Psalms 68:6.

Please be praying for Passmore as he grieves – and also for the family as they grieve and discuss how Passmore will be cared for within the family unit.

If you are considering donating to orphan care at Kasensa considering donating to the program in general so that not only the needs of a specific baby is met but so we can minister to the needs of the families who present to us. We spend much time and money on driving to the village to meet the family members and to also actually see with our eyes how the family is coping in terms of resources. More on that in the next blog!

welcome Potius

Potius

Another baby arrived on October 18! His name is Potius. Yes, Potius! When I asked the granny the name at first she said “Potiphar”. I thought – “okay, that’s a bit unusual, but fine – hello Potiphar!” Then she shook her head and said “no, Potius!” Okay, That is unusual! When I brought him home the aunties said “Potius???”

Potius is 6 months old. His mom died a week ago; she was HIV positive.

He came to us with oral thrush. We have all our babies tested for HIV and until we get results we keep them on Septra. We can test after 6 months if the first test is negative, then we retest at about 1 year. Results are not always accurate for a few reasons.

At first, Potius would not take a bottle as he had just come off of breastfeeding a few weeks ago and wasn’t used to it. But now, he’s eating very well.

Please pray for Potius and his family as they grieve and as they discuss how they will re-organize so they can care for him!

Joy's family

It seems some photos are making it through! It takes at least 8 or 9 minutes to download.
Joy - now 10 months old is visited by family, an aunty monthly. The aunt and uncle live at Mawaya compound in Kalomo. They have 4 children and the last one - an 8 month old boy is in a cast to try to repair what looks like club foot. Eunice, the aunt sells vegetables at times and the uncle, Rick - sells clothes in the market. Their neighbourhood is very poor and I'd have to guess that most adults never completed high school. They have very few resources, but family is family. Eunice and Rick are organizing a family meeting that will include the granny from Livingstone. The meeting is set for october 22.

Please be praying for Joy and her family that someone will make a plan to take her home where she needs to be!

Abraham

Abraham's family and planning for discharge

Hi all
For the past 2 weeks zamtel has had very poor service, either being no service or a weak connection. Pictures just will not send - neither will large documents of any kind.

This past week we had a couple of days in Lusaka doing business. Lusaka is such a busy city, these days. Much traffic!

Our orphan count is still at 9. Having 9 orphans means working with 9 families - but in this case its 8 families because of our set of twins, Molly and Timmy.

We do home visits regularly to keep assessing the needs of the family and the readiness of them being able to take their wee one home. This afternoon, Sunday, we visited Abraham's family and fortunately, Geoffrey's 3 sisters from Livingstone were visiting so we could have a short family meeting. Geoffrey and Josephine are Abraham's parents and they have 5 children, Abraham being the youngest. We've had Abraham for a few weeks and now the family need to talk about who will care for Abraham. It seems the the relatives on Josephine's are not interested in helping the family, for reasons that are not coming to the surface. Both of Abraham's parents have HIV and that may be the reason. Geoffrey's 3 sisters return today to L'stone but they will discuss between them who can/will care for Abraham and I'm suggesting that he return to a family member in a few weeks. The 3 sisters are all financially able and capable of caring for Abraham. I fear that Josephine's life is coming to an end - so this discussion needs to take place now and I would think that it may be a comfort to Josephine to know that her precious last born is placed with family.

Will keep you posted on how this rolls out.

ZMF-C brochure for families when baby arrives at Kasensa

Hi all,
This blog is the brochure that families can receive when they leave a baby with us at Kasensa. We want families to know and understand that the best place for their baby is with their own family and that we are so willing to help the family to get the baby back as soon as they can. We can assist by putting baby on milk program or by supplying mealie meal or ....I've been trying to post photos, but due to our slow connection, they are not uploading. Will keep trying!


God places the lonely in families - Psalm 68:6
ZMF-C recognizes the stress that your family is
experiencing at this time and we pray for your healing. We desire to be sensitive to the needs of your family
and want to assist you with the wisdom that only God can provide.
Kasensa staff recognizes that sometimes residential
orphan care is needed as a temporary response for infants who have no other means of support.
The goal of the temporary, emergency orphan care at Kasensa, is to care for the infant only for a short
period of time while the family prepares itself for the baby to return home.
ZMF-C believes that it is in the best interest of the infant’s development to be raised in the most natural, nurturing environment - the family. Research has
proven that infants raised in family environments develop better emotionally, socially and physically compared to those who stay for extended time in orphan care homes.
ZMF-C desires the best for the infant and the family. Therefore, ZMF-C policy requires that all families visit their “baby” monthly and that discharge planning be discussed at each visit.
ZMF-C will do at least one home visit. We encourage family members to visit their baby overnight from time to time to assist with
family-baby bonding.
At time of discharge at least one family member must be prepared to spend 3 nights at Kasensa to assist with bonding.
ZMF-C is open to discussing other ways to assist families so that baby can return to live with family as soon as possible.
　
　
Please read ZMF-C vision, mission and values as well as Kasensa orphan care program description.
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　

Joy, Timmy, Abigail, Molly, Alex and Michael

Meet Rozina

Rozina - 6 months old. Her mom died 2 weeks ago. Rozina is small - about 1/2 the weight of our 3 month old, Michael. She is about as sweet as they come and is a real squirmer. She reminds me of Erin Kareen Ulrich when she was very small - except Erin was a bit lighter skinned!

Baby Michael #2

Baby Michael - 3 months old! He's a big one! 15 lbs! His mom has TB and Dad has a job working 6 days a week at a tobacco farm. There are a few sibs and one granny is not well enough to care for baby and the other one looks after the sibs. We'll keep Michael only until mom is feeling better.
As long as he has a bottle always ready, he's happy!

kasensa sept 2011

Kasensa - October 2011


Greetings from Joy, Timmy, Abigail, Molly, Alex and Michael (pictured above) and Jack, Twaambo and Aggie and our new wee ones – Rozina and Michael.

Richard and I returned to Zambia at the start of September. Kasensa was well cared for in June and July by Wes and Doreen Mann and then until we returned by Albert and Marianne and their adult children and spouses. Great work everyone!

Kasensa’s number of children was reduced at the end of 2010 during the transition time of the Calders family leaving but is now starting to creep up. Last week 2 babies were added: Rozina and Mikey #2. As well, one more – Abraham - is possibly coming today. The mom is HIV +ve and very physically depleted. Her cd4 count is extremely low and she’s on antibiotics for some opportunistic infections.

Jack and Twaambo have been preparing for their big exams – grade 7 for Jack and grade 9 for Twaambo. Twaambo is very serious about his performance and Richard has been tutoring him and his friend Colin some afternoons in mathematics.

Aggie – being the teenage girl she is loves to spend lots of time with her girlfriends. She is quite helpful in the Sunday school program and helps in the kitchen here on Saturdays.

Joy has started crawling and she is a joy. She has the best smile! Abigail keeps us busy trying to keep her skin in tact. She was the worst case of eczema that I’ve seen. We slather eucerin on her many times a day and also apply hydrocortisone 1% . If anyone knows of better ways to treat extreme eczema please send us additional information. She’s been tested twice for HIV and so far is negative. But…we shall test again when she’s over a year old. She baby talks in a raspy voice! A doctor visited us last week and he said likely she’ll become asthmatic as time goes on. He couldn’t think of anything we could add to her slathering regime.

Molly and Timmy are now 3 years and 3 months. I’ve seen their parents many times now and they are very incapable of caring for them. Other family members have also failed to take responsibility for them. So…what to do? We are praying for a Zambian family to open their arms very wide for these 2!

Michael needs to have hernia surgery soon – so maybe we can get that scheduled yet for October or early November. Alex is a busy 15 month old boy! He has a sweet smile – but he is tricky! He keeps the aunties hopping. When music is put on he jumps to action and starts dancing. We have discharge planning meetings set up with family in two weeks time with Alex’s family and as well, Joy’s family.

Rozina came to us last week. She’s 6 ½ months old, but is so tiny! She’s a spry and very alert wee one. Her mom died 2 weeks ago and the family just do not have the capacity to look after her. I spoke with an uncle today – a lawyer. He and his wife have raised 12 children and they also now care for several of the grandchildren. He was at the funeral for Rozina’s mom and assessed that if Rozina stayed with the family she would be neglected and likely also die soon. The uncle plans to accompany me to the family village in about 3 weeks.

Michael (2) is 31/2 months old and he’s quite opposite of Rozina. He’s a brick! He’s already 15 lbs. Both parents are alive – but mom is very sick with TB and cannot seem to get her strength back as they also have a set of 2 year old twins and a 4 year old. The dad works full time for a tobacco farmer, which means 6 days a week of long hours. The grannies are not strong enough to care for the twins, the 4 year old and the new baby.

Prayer

Thank you Lord for these precious ones! Each one is uniquely created by you!

We grieve with the ones whose mom’s have died and for those who are separated from their families because of sickness. We pray Lord that we can help ease their loneliness and that we can be the best substitute parents that we can possibly be.

Also, God we pray for the families of all of these wee ones. We pray that each family can be preparing to receive them home and that we can have much wisdom as we work with each family. We pray for wisdom to know how to best help in each situation.

Thank you God for your protection and for your guidance!

Lovingly,
Kasensa staff