Forever Angels : Amy's Diary

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Recent Posts

Friday, February 27, 2009- BIRTHDAYS....and then there was 48!

Last week we celebrated quite a few children's birthdays at Forever Angels. We used to celebrate each child's birthday individually - but now, with 48 children it is not really possible....so we have a birthday party every month with cake and balloons and gifts for the children.

Have a look at these photos of our children enjoying the birthday party last week.....

This first photo is of our beautiful (but troublesome!) twins - Seba and Omari - when they first arrived at Forever Angels Baby Home 2 years ago....and the next photo is Seba and Omari last week at their 2nd birthday party!

Here is Maggie also celebrating her 2nd birthday last week. Maggie is one of the most beautiful children I have ever met.....but also one of the most cheeky! We hope that Maggie is going to return home to live with her Father and sisters in the very near future. They are such a wonderful family and clearly adore Maggie.

The birthday cakes......rather blue!!

....and Liwida after finishing her cake!

This is Alfie - looking SO much more healthy and 'chubby' than when he arrived just a few months ago. He had a great time playing with the balloons.

And then there was 48......

Today we received a new little boy. Ernest is about 2 years old and is severely malnourished. His Mother has died and his Father's whereabouts is not known. His Grandmother is not able to care for him but we hope that once Ernest if stronger and older she may be able to. Ernest does not like 'Mzungu's' (white people) and really did not like my camera either! I am sure in a few days he will be running around and laughing with the other 47....

Posted @ 7:55 PM

Sunday, February 22, 2009- Visiting 'Flown' children....

We have recently been seeing quite a lot of some of our 'flown children' which is always wonderful....

A few weeks ago Amos came back to visit us with his Mum. He was clearly very attached to her and happy to be back with his Mum - and she was just thrilled and couldn't stop smiling.

Amos with his Mum

Then last week we drove out to visit Sarah in her family. Sarah went home to live with her Grandmother a few months ago. She is also doing very well. She is happy and healthy and was very pleased with the lollipops we brought for her!

A cheeky 'lollipop' smile from Sarah

We have been helping Sarah's Grandmother to build a house as the one she currently lives in (with Sarah and 9 other people) is absolutely tiny and falling down. We were really pleased to see the house she is building is almost finished and just needs a roof!

Sarah's new house on the left and current house on the right

We also nipped in to visit Pascal. He went home to live with his Father and Stepmother a few months ago and he is also doing brilliantly! He is very happy to be living with his family and he appeared to be very well cared for and healthy.

My one wish for all of the 46 children in our care is that they can be returned to their families - or that we can find new families for them where this is not possible. Sometimes the children who leave Forever Angels go back to very poor conditions - but every child who I have seen this happen to, settles in quickly and is very happy in their new home. Children need love.....and we are very happy that these 3 Forever Angels 'leavers' clearly have that.

Pascal with Chloe

Posted @ 9:14 PM

Sunday, February 08, 2009- Fundraisers

Please take a look at our new 'Fundraisers' page on our website.....

If anyone has done a Fundraiser in the past for Forever Angels and would like us to mention it on this page - please send me a photo and short description of what you did.

I would like to be able to thank ALL of our donors and supporters - but it just isn't possible since there are so many wonderfully generous people out there suporting the children at Forever Angels....but we would like to share some of your amazing efforts to raise money/goods for our children - so please send me a quick email if you would like your event posted on our new page.

Posted @ 6:50 PM

Tuesday, February 03, 2009- How they have all grown...

I was sat watching the children today and even though I see these children every day - it still amazes me how resiliant they all are! They often arrive at Forever Angels as malnourished and very sick infants - but they all soon turn into energetic, happy and fun loving children!

This is Adamu when he first arrived at Forever Angels:

And this is Adamu now - with his young Mum, Lucia, who we also helped to place in an Orphanage and who is now going to school and learning how to read and write - and who clearly loves her son.

And this is Mwita when he first came to Forever Angels....

And this 'big friendly giant' - is Mwita now!

Thank you to everyone who supports us - you are a huge part of giving these amazing children the chance at a real future.....

Posted @ 8:19 PM

- General Chat

Well it is February and the last month has been SO slow for me. I had to leave my youngest daughter Leila (who used to be Mary at the Baby Home) in England with my Mum for a month and we have all missed her so much. We discovered that she was profoundly deaf and she needed more investigations so had to stay in England....but Leila and my Mum will be back here on Thursday - so then life will happier.
She has had a GREAT time with my Mum and siblings and I am SO greatful to them for everything they have done for her....but I am kinda ready to have her back now!!

Here are a couple of photos of her in England...

The Baby Home is running well. The staff are all doing great jobs and we have a good set of Volunteers who are willing to help out wherever necessary.

The children all seem to be growing so fast and are generally in good health.

We are in the process of refurbishing the Old Volunteer House to turn it into our 'Tiny Angels' home. Tha should be completed in the next week or so and then the tiny babies will move into their new house and finally have some peace and quiet!

It is rainy season right now so the children are spending a lot of time indoors which can be quite busy / noisy / chaotic at times! Our TV broke last week so they are especially crazy at bed time when they used to sit (reasonably!) quietly to watch television!!
It does mean that clothes are not washed and dried as quickly as usual too.

On Sunday night one of the water tanks in the roof overflowed and spilled water ALL through the attic. Meghan and I had the delightful job of fishing everything out of the water and unpacking sodden and mouldy clothes and nappies which we were storing up there!
Thankfully almost everything was saved.

Chloe is leaving on March 3rd. It will be so strange without her as she has been with Forever Angels since the very beginning and has done an amazing job. Meghan is slowly taking over her role as Assistant Manager and is doing brilliantly. She is full of great ideas about how to change and improve things which is wonderful - and she is always so bubbly and enthusiastic.

If you are interested in volunteering - I still have one Volunteer space from now until July, and then from September onwards we have lots of spaces.... so please email me if you are interested. amy@foreverangels.org

That's all for now....

Posted @ 9:19 AM