Walk In Love: Finding inspiration

Walk In Love: Finding Inspiration

Ibraheim

Ibraheim

I mentioned Ibraheim in my first blog about Cradle of Love. He is a beautiful little baby with the face of a beautiful old man. He has dark skin, dark eyes and barely any hair. When he laughs the world is a better place. Ibra came to Cradle when he was one month old. His mother died shortly after his birth and his father is unknown. His family did not want to give him up but they knew that they could not support him. They had to make a decision: keep Ibra and he would more than likely die or give him up and he would live. The staff told me that when Ibra was dropped off there was not a dry eye in the place. His family was holding him so tightly that everyone could feel how much this baby was truly loved.

Patricia

This is Patricia a month after coming to the orphanage.

On Monday morning I arrived at Cradle and met our newest addition, Patricia. She is three months old but looks like a tiny new born. She has mocha skin,big light brown eyes and lots of curly hair. Her mother had dropped her off over the weekend because she was no longer producing milk. She didn't want to leave her but she knew that Patricia was already too small and malnourished. There was nothing the mother could do to help her only child anymore. The mother herself was starving and could not feed her daughter.

"Isaac"

I do not know this boys name but I will call him Isaac. This is a story that I cannot tell without getting choked up. I have told many people and every time I want to burst into tears. I met Isaac at the SOS Childrens Home. We were taking our older children to live there until they are 18. We can only keep children until 2 or 3 then they go to bigger homes. SOS is a beautiful place and I am happy that our children were able to get in. While we were settling our children in there was another boy there with is mother. I would guess he was around 10 years old. He never spoke and neither did his mother. They just sat with the saddest expressions on their faces. After about 30 minutes Isaac and his mother were in one of the back rooms. All of a sudden I heard a blood curdling scream and the mother went running out the front door. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes as I can right now. This experience will forever be with me and haunt me.

These three children and the circumstances that they and there families are in have moved me. I now know what direction to take Walk In Love. I want to help keep families together. Mothers and fathers love their children the same in the USA as they do in Tanzania as they do all over the world. The difference is that I/we, in the USA, would never have to give our children up that we love and want because if they stayed with us or our families they would die. I cannot imagine having to make that decision but I know which one I would choose and I know you do to. I know that if I could not take care of my children then my parents would and if they could not then my aunts/uncles would and if they could not then my cousins would. These are not options here. I would like to give parents and families the option to keep their children and loved ones. 

Many of the children at Cradle have fathers but no mothers because they died during child birth. Many times family members will take in children but too often this is also not a possibility.

I want to help the fathers/families to keep there children by providing formula, diapers, daycare and eventually school sponsorship. I want to also have a program that sends the parents to a trade school so they can provide for their children with eventually no help. I want to have women empowerment groups to help women take control of their lives and the lives of their children. I will eventually have a home/s for women to stay at to keep the families together until they can stand on their own two feet.This is just a brief description of what I want Walk In Love to be and will continue adding programs and details. There will be more information on my upcoming blog.

Everyone can make a difference and there is no such thing as a small difference.