Babies and Toddlers

I LOVE babies and Toddlers and I LOVE to take pictures. So, here are some of my favorites of the ones I have taken recently. I love these two little boys (and this picture) - little Paul and Gabriel "Selu" Serunkuma Paul Kasadah, who used to live at GSF and Matthew who has CP and a great smile.

Frank kept running up to me and saying "mile". Edi is two-years-old but dosen't talk much yet and when he does it's not very good speech. So, he calls Barbara (the one holding him) Bababa. I LOVE this picture of Annette, she is so cute! Barbara (she used to live at GSF and is now a housemom), Jenny (lives at GSF), and Jarrod (who is two years old and the brother of Gabriel "Selu" Serukuma who you can see in other pictures). Little Zaitunah is 8 months old, when she came she was about five months old. She is usually called Zai or Baby Tuna. Three of the happiest little boys at GSF - Godfrey, Micah, and Gabriel "Selu"Serukuma.

Welcome Sebastian!

Yesterday, a new little boy came to GSF. His name is Sebastian and he is 1 1/2 but only weighs about 13 lbs. He was on the feeding program but he was not growing so he was brought to GSF. I first met Sebastian at a clinic in January. I remeber walking in the clinic and leaning down to the first baby I saw but that baby started screaming. Then, the lady sitting next to the mom said something in Luganda that I'm pretty sure meant "My baby's not afraid of Mzungus(white people)!" Because she said Mwana which means baby and Mzungu. So, I leaned down and talked to him and I don't think he screamed at me but he did look scared. That lady was Sebastian's Jaja (grandmother) and 'her baby' was Sebastian. Now, when I think back to those words I think 'Boy, was she wrong!' Sebastian now screams at most Mzungus he sees.

There is a sweet lady that cleans the toddlers' house every day who everyone calls 'Jaja' which is the Luganda word for grandma (her name is really Tabitha). She loves the kids and she has a really hard time saying 'Sebastian'. Barbara, who used to live at GSF and now works in the toddlers' and babies' houses thought this was really funny. Jaja would ask me his name and I would say 'Sebastian' and she would try to say it and Barbara would crack up! At one point Jaja leaned down to him and said 'Hallo, I'm Jaja. I love you, Sebasday.' Barbara and I could not help laughing and neither could Jaja. Today I walked up and Jaja was holding Seb and she asked me 'Caro, What is the name of this one?' So, I said 'Sebastian' and she didn't even attempt to say it that time, she just laughed. We call him 'Seb' or 'Seba' because a lot of Ugandans have a hard time saying 'Sebastian'. Seb is now in Jinja at the hospital because he was sick when he came. We pray that little Sebastian will grow up to be a healthy little boy at GSF!

Seb and his Jaja while he was on the feeding program.

Seb the day that he came.

Pictures & news of the week

This is what I have done this week.

1. Babies & Toddlers' Houses - Of course I have definitely hung out at the babies house but this week I met a few of the kids of the moms who work there.


2. Kampala - On Thursday we went to Kampala to go to the dentist and just get away and came back yesterday (Saturday).


3. Esther (Esta) - When we got back I went to play with some of the girls and found little Esther laying on the grass. So I went over to her and talked to her and found out she didn't feel so well so went and told the nurse and then went back and talked to her some more. Esther is a really good runner and the kids went to Kikube (Chicube) to compete with other schools in running. After that anyone who qualifies goes on up to the next level and there are several more levels leading up to nationals. Anyways, Esther qualified so I talked to her about that, she came in second place.Here is Esther in her school uniform after practicing running on the field.


4. Tom - Today, before Church I helped the toddlers get ready for Church and found out that little Tom is a really bright boy, he handed me his shoes and held out his feet then he went and picked up his sweater and handed it to me and would not let me put his shirt on him but only the sweater which he had picked out. Tom is about four years old and he has some kind of special needs which no one has fully figured out yet.


5. Veronica & Godfrey - During Church today I sat with Godfrey and Veronica and they kept switching who sat on my lap and who sat next to me. Veronica is four years old and is nicknamed 'Vero', at one point she was in the toddlers house with ten boys and no other girls. So, she knows how to be tough and she loves to play ball. She also loves babies and is very caring towards anyone.... most of the time. Godfrey is also four years old. When he was first learning to talk he said 'auto' instead of 'uncle'. So, he would call to his Auntie 'Auntie' and she would say 'Auto' so now everyone calls him 'Auto'. He loves to run and play and really wants to help you at the first chance he gets. He almost always has a smile on his face.


6. Esther (again) & Alana - Later on today I was just aimlessly walking around thinking of ideas for this blog post when Esther (in number 3) and Alana came up to me and wanted walk with me. Esther just wanted to hold my hand the whole time. Alana wouldn't hold my hand but she kept talking and asking me questions the whole time. Alana never really talks to me or hangs around me much unless there is a visitor who she doesn't know about(there was today) or there is something going on that she doesn't know much about.

There is probably a lot more that I could write about but those were the highlights of my week.

Dancing For Jesus

Gloria is now at the feet of Jesus dancing and singing with Norah and Emmanuel. She lived a very difficult nine or ten years but died peacefully on Monday morning around 8:45. During her life on earth she spent a lot of time laying miserably on a hospital bed. She also spent days at GSF being miserable too, but her whole life was not miserable she had times of laughter and joy as well but those were few. Look at http://caralinag.blogspot.com/2011/02/gloria.html for something I wrote about her while she was still alive.

Now, she is always happy, she will never again have to lay on a hospital bed and be miserable. She will never have to crawl around on the floor with flies buzzing all around her again. Never again will she have ants crawling on her wounds and drool coming out of her mouth. She is dancing. She is singing. She is happy.


I will forever miss that beautiful smile on her face. I will miss her and I can't wait to see her... and Norah... and Emmanuel... again someday.