Children’s Home

Well last week as Amos and I traveled to Umuahia to get some things for the house and have some meetings, our Nissan Terrano finally gave out. I had driven a few days before and said to mom, while we drove to an Eze’s house, that the SUV was in terrible condition and I couldnt believe it was still running while we were just driving it. It felt as though the whole thing would give way. With great thanks to poor road conditions, the struggle to maintain care for it, and lack of original parts or items to fix small things… it has now had a large issuse. Unfortunately I did not do a great job in picking it out for purchase in the beginning, as I dont know that much about the mechanics of a vehicle (just how to change oil and tires and carefully maintain thanks to dad), that along with the misleading fact that the small test drive on a very smooth Abuja city road, was a great difference from the rough roads and lack of any road in the village. The true condition of the vehicle popped up quickly with in the first few months. We did our best to fix and maintain it however, grateful for it.

Now however it would according to my best knowledge an opinion appear that clutch has completely given way and the gear box is ruined. It has been parked in the yard for just about a week now. The local mechanic, who trained himself, clearly was not able to know or fix the problem after banging around. And it has been decided the truck will have to be towed to one of the main cities, either an hour or several hours away, where it may take several days and a lot of money to fix. We are waiting on dad’s arrival to make the final decision.

We have recognized that speech is a large issue in our house. We have at least half of our children that struggle with various speech challenges, from simple lisps to severe stammers and word formations. It shows very clearly how the ‘shock and trauma’ of their previous lives has so greatly affected them. That, along with the lack of proper support to guide correct teaching of learning languauge. We are working our best to help these children so that communication will not be a challange for them in the future.

All of our little ones are growing and learning every day. It is amazing to tsee the progress especially with some of the serious challenges they face.

Michael is now able to hold his own cup and with help feed himself, he also enjoys to hang himself off the couch or chair so his feet are touching the ground. This is vast improvement for him.

Gabriel Favour is rolling over and pushing himself up. He has also learned some words! It is amazing to hear him. He also knows to respond to his own name as well as to answer when asked how he is.

Toby is almost fully potty trained, with a few incidencs during naptime. He is extremly verbal and you can mostly follow a conversation with him now, although when he his upset our excited his voices his too high and his words all become nonsese (hard not to laugh and focus on figuring out what he is saying). He is very moody and picky however and spends a great amount of time in the ‘time-out’ chair in the office learning to share and obey.

Prince still struggles with sharing, but loves learning and is picking up quickly with hisABC’s and 123’s. He loves to have cuddles. He has a very bad speech problem although we have worked hard to mostly understand him. He also still struggles with sharing, but does love to play with the other little ones.

Olu, our newest addition, is still recovering from some illnesses, it will be sometime. She is often running temp and is either sad or tired. She is very quiet and doesnt speak, or make much noise at all for that matter. But she has now started learning a few words and can speak them with prompts. Olu is very happy to share with others and seems to enjoy pretend cooking, washing, and feeding others.

Life has been very busy the last week. Up early and in bed late, following the daily routines as well as making changes and adjustments for efficiencies sake. There is still limited sleep at night due to various children and diaper changes or bad dreams, to night vigils or wake keeps in the community, or to chi-chi ba mice running up and down the windows and walls (as was the case last night).

Catherine and I are both spending large amounts of times in the various classes and with individual children to help adjust teaching and increase maximum learning and understanding. It is a regular conversation to remind staff that these children are not to be measured by ‘typical’ children’s standards, and that we teach according to their capability to learn. It is taking time to help the staff realize this as well as to go over basic concepts with the children again. Overall the children are doing very well in their individual learning capacities, we are very happy for them. Some of them can read stories to us already, others are learning their alphabets and starting to spell, and the younger ones are learning their colours and shapes!

The staff and children have all been keeping well in the village during this rainy season. There have been a few colds going around, but with the help of hot water, fresh ginger root, local honey and lime juice we are quickly treating the symptoms and shortening its life-span.

School classes have been going well, with each of the children in their various levels, working hard to the best of their ability. They all love art/craft time, and the youngest children enjoying drawing and colouring as well as hearing stories and singing.

Our new girls have adjusted well and are feeling at home and very welcomed by the children. The home is buzzing with the noise and activities of a busy and happy family!

We have been wonderfully blessed a few days ago…and are happy to welcome two new beauitful daughters home! A case was brought to our attention only a week ago, and after investigation and the noted urgency of the situation, we are so proud to have these lovely girls as additions to our family. They are roughly around the ages of 1.5 and 3.5 years old and are halfsisters. While they were very sad the first two days, they have been welcomed so gentley and compassionately by our children and staff, that they are slowly adjusting well.

Myself and Cat are back on the ground in Nigeria. We have been here for two weeks now, all spent in Abuja, the capital city. We are still waiting for our papers to be processed. The visa’s we were granted to arrive with had to be changed over for residency and this takes time. We have filled our days with various meetings, phonecalls and emails, document writing, and down time. Our meetings have led to many possible doors opening, so we are carefully praying and considering new opportunities ahead. We hope to get our paperwork this week and make plans to head to the village.

Our beautiful children are doing so well. They are all healthy and growing and changing day by day. They miss their Mummy and are so excited to be reunited, spending much of their craft time making things for Mummy, Mummy Canada and Daddy Canada.

Teacher Chinedu held some school assessments for the children and presented them with their achievements and evaluations in a little ceremony held on the house front steps, with pictures taken to send to Mummy. We are so proud of our children and well they are doing! Some of the awards included “Personal Improvement in Reading, Positive Attitude, Helper, Personal Improvement in Mathematics, Kindness, Determination, Creativity in Science” etc.

Please check our FB page for new Photos (we are still working out the bugs for our photo plug in on this website. You can see photos on FB and on Instagram). Thank you!

It is dry season, and the heat is intense. It is only when harmattan blows that there is slight coolness in the air. With harmattan though comes dust which often gives everyone colds. Thank goodness there are oranges in season now and that we discovered ginger root grows in excess here. We keep colds away! A plus to harmattan is that the laundry dries quickly on the line and there are slightly less bugs around.

The children occupy their time once out of lessons, by working in the gardens weeding and water. They are so excited when we have things growing! We keep experimenting with growing different things, hoping we can plant more nutritional foods as well as help sustain our own food intake. It is a work in progress. The children also play cards or games on the porch as well as have various game days were football (soccer), relay races, and bean-bag toss are engaged in. We look forward to having more soccer balls and frisbees come down from Canada!

We are going through water a lot faster also during dry season, as it is so important to keep hydrated, but that is also part of staying healthy!

Our children are doing wonderful! They are healthy and happy, progressing with each day. We thank God that there has been calmness in our village during this election time and that everyone is safe.

The children are growing, getting taller and more helpful as time goes by. They love going to class in the home and are each doing their best in school and daily activities. Behaviours and attitudes continue to be worked on and change through the help, guidance and love of the staff.  The new boys we received in February have adjusted very well and have become permanent members of the family, getting along well with all their other siblings and learning English quickly.

Our two girls in the home are still praying regularly that the next children will be girls as they are highly out numbered!