Adventures in Kitale

Monday, October 17, 2011

Leila went and picked up Sammy early Friday morning. His dad never showed up, but he talked to Selina’s mom and told her it was fine if Leila took him. When she showed up, Sammy was lying outside in the dirt surrounded by a bunch of men who were sitting around drinking alcohol. On her walk back from Shimo to the baby house, Leila ran into Matthew. She asked why he didn’t just talk to her about taking Sammy and he told her that he has been very busy.

Sammy on the day we found him

We thought that we might have a couple of rough nights ahead because of how much Sammy was crying when we saw him yesterday. When he got to the house he sat right down and drank some porridge for breakfast. We introduced him to the other kids, who were a little confused about both of us being named Sammy, but they all said hi. We gave him a bath, removed his jiggers and put some clean clothes on him. He was a little nervous and cried when he wasn’t being held. Leila and I had to run Brian to the doctor for his immunizations in town and when we came back Sammy was sitting on the floor playing with all the other kids.

Sammy came in, sat right now and drank his porridge

Then we grabbed Sammy and took him to Sister Freda’s hospital. He had malaria and an upper respiratory infection, so we got him some medicine and are hoping that he gets better quickly. We also got him tested for HIV and praise God that the results came back negative. He slept most of the car ride there and back and then slept for a couple of hours when we got back home. It’s amazing how much happier kids get after getting a chance to be clean, have some food in his belly and have a safe, warm and comfortable place to sleep.

He was so tired he fell right asleep on the floor
with his toys still in his hands.

He is doing great and adjusting well. I don't think he had been getting much sleep before we picked him up and I know he hadn't been getting much food, so he's been more than happy that he gets to sleep as much as he wants and eat until his little belly is full in his new home.