God's Fingerprints

Welcome to God's Fingerprints part 2! My last post included pictures and stories of some of the little boys in our village. This post will display a handful of little girls from our village.  

Walking home from a church event! The path to church cuts through people's garden and the bush. Walking with friends is great quality time and is always so much fun!

Meet baby Corrie! When we got back to Uganda in July, Corrie was only one month old! She is named after another missionary kid in the village. Makai loves babies, but doesn't always know how to interact with them (Pictured below). 

Machu (front) and Vivian (back) are step sisters. Machu loves her mom and goes everywhere with her! Vivian's mom was killed in a motorcycle accident a few years ago. She was pregnant for her second child. She was rushed to the hospital with hopes to get the baby out, but it was too late; the baby had died. Because her husband had not paid dowary, her clan was expected to come and loot our village. However, that never happened and everything settled peacefully. When Vivian's dad got a new wife, Vivian was forced to do much of the house work at a young age. To avoid punishment and work, Vivian moved in with her great-grandma. 

     

Vivian a couple years ago after her mom died. She was around 3 years old.

This is Giftie!!! She is about 18 months. Her mom, Kevin, is not married and moved in with her sister, whose family lives in our village. Giftie is a quiet little girl and is very docile. She just sits and watches as life happens around her. 

Makai and Giftie! Makai loves Giftie and will give her a hug whenever he sees her. 

Meet Louis! This is Emalai's bestie. Louis and her older sister, Kevin (not Giftie's mom), moved to our village a few years ago. Their dad was killed and left his wife with nine children. Because their mom could not care for all nine kids, Louis and Kevin moved in with their aunt and uncle who live in our village. Their other seven siblings live with their grandma. This situation is quite common in Uganda, and, if there are no relatives, is one of the primary reasons children become street kids. 

                                                            Kevin, Emalai, and Louis. 

Cathleen's mom got pregnant as a teenager. In order to provide for her little girl, Cathleen's mom moved away to find work and left Cathleen at her parents' house. Cathleen has many aunts and uncles, some of them being close to her age. Cathleen follows her aunts everywhere they go and loves to play. 

Genevieve has 7 sisters (some are pictured below), 1 brother and several step-siblings. Her dad has three wives but works hard to take care of and provide for all his kids. Genevieve and her siblings are some of the smartest kids in the village. This is most likely because they have a secure home. Their dad always has money for them to go to school and they eat three meals a day. I love spending time with all the girls; they are so sweet and always make me laugh!

Mercy and Katu.

Girls are very hard working here and some days it's difficult to find someone to hang out with. They are very dedicated and simply accept the work load of being a part of the family. From washing clothes, to fetching water, to cooking, to taking care of kids, to working in the garden, to cleaning the compound... they never get a break! Somedays it's nice to take the girls out and give them a chance to have fun. 

The little girl in the pink shirt and boy in the blue and yellow shirt recently moved to our village. Their mom had a strange and rather gross disease and could not find help. They came to our village to look for help (from relatives) and within a week she died, leaving behind 8 kids, one of them being a baby. These two, Faith and Moses, moved here to live with relatives. Neither of them speak English. Faith lives with Vivian with her great-grandma and Moses lives at a home with lots of other boys his age. They are such happy kids despite the fact that they lost their mother less than three months ago.