The family is growing! News from Mission:180’s Children’s Homes!

Back at the end of January we were notified by the Government of Kenya that Ashley and her twin brother Connor were to be released back into the care of their mother.  We always knew in the back of our minds that this could be a possibility since their mother was still alive but just too sick to care for them since birth.  Over the course of the 13 months Ashley and Connor lived at Mission:180 Children’s Homes their mother had been to visit on a few occasions.  She had been seeing a doctor regularly for the last few months and received a letter of recommendation from Doctors Without Borders advising the government that they felt she was finally well enough to care for her children.  Their mother brought this letter to the government social worker who then did a home visit to see if things checked out on that side as well.  With both the government social worker and Doctors Without Borders feeling comfortable with the state of her health and living conditions we were instructed to release the children into the care of their mother.

So with very heavy hearts we released Ashley and Connor into the care of their mother on February 3rd.  We made sure that their mother had our contact numbers, our children’s home managers contact numbers and our full time social worker’s number just in case she felt that she maybe wasn’t as ready to have both children in her care as she thought she might be.  We explained to her that there is no shame if she felt overwhelmed and that if she called us to take back the twins that we would be there within hours and gladly bring them back home with us.  We had been holding off on sharing this news for a few weeks in hopes that she might call us to take them back but so far we have not heard from her.

 Rapid Growth! So many children need the help of Mission:180!  Sponsors Needed!

Over the course of the last couple of weeks Mission:180 has taken in 5 new children plus we still have a few sponsorship spots available from children we rescued back in December so we have plenty of sponsorship spots available that need to be filled.

Below is a brief summary of each available child and how they came to live at Mission:180 as well as a picture of each of them.

Angel – Angel has been with Mission:180 Children’s Homes since December 9th.  We advertised that we needed 4 sponsors for her back in December however we only had 3 people sign up out of the 4 available slots so we are in need of 1 more sponsor for Angel at $40 per month.  Angel (about 1 year) and her brother Samuel (4 years old) were signed over to Mission:180 by their mother (only 18 years old).  She decided that she wanted nothing to do with her kids any longer and actually tried to kill them twice; once by strangulation and the second time by trying to poison them.  Angel and her older brother Samuel (fully sponsored) have lived a very rough life in the few short years since they were born.

Bramwell & Samson– Bramwell (2 1/2) and his younger brother Samson (17 months) came to live at Mission:180 Children’s Homes on Dec. 5th. The boys ended up being hospitalized for 2 months due to severe neglect and malnourishment when they were first apprehended from their parents home.   After their stay at the hospital they were released to a children’s home that agreed to take them in for a short term until their parents were able to have them back.  When the parents failed to show up to pick up the boys on the day they were to be released back to them the government transferred them to Mission:180 as we prefer long term children rather than short term children if possible.  When they first arrived they were very scared and could not handle to be in a room with anyone who might sound angry or have a raised voice.  They both also arrived very weak and were unable to stand or walk even though they should have been able to do that a long time ago.  We received a phone call from the Government once again just 2 days before Christmas to let us know that the children were now to be released back to their parents.  In situations like this we (Jason and Jen) have no power or ability to fight to keep the children in our care so we had to release them.  While they were back home with their parents their father got very angry at their mother and kicked the boys out of the house to sleep outside to punish their mother.  After being forced to sleep outside a second night their mother called us to ask if we could take them back home with us.  Of course were were thrilled to say YES!  The boys are now back in our care and are thriving!  When Bramwell first arrived he was terrified of everything and everyone and just had a blank look on his face at all times.  Since arriving back at M:180 the light has come back into his life and he is progressing by the day.  Both boys are now able to stand and walk while being assisted.  They have come a long way!  Both Bramwell & Samson need 4 sponsors each at $40 per month.

Augustine – We do not have a lot of information regarding Augustine but she was found abandoned on the side of the road at 2am back at the end of 2014.  She was taken to another children’s home where she spent approximately 2 months before coming to live at Mission:180.  Most children’s homes in Kenya do not want children that will likely be long term residents so they look to M:180 to take over the care when they realize that the child will need a long term placement.  We are guessing that Augustine is about 1 1/2 years old but we will know for sure once we take her to a dentist to have her teeth measured as this will give us a more accurate approximation of her age.  Once we have a better idea of her age we will give her a birth date and have a birth certificate issued.  Augustine has some serious medical issues which we can’t go into at this time but it is likely the reason she was abandoned.  We need 4 sponsors at $40 per month for Augustine.

Mark – Precious little Mark came to Mission:180 several weeks ago.  He was found by a Good Samaritan down inside of a pit latrine (a Kenyan outhouse) when they went to use the wash room.  He was pulled up from all of the filth and rushed to a local hospital.  Once at the hospital the police were notified and they called Mission:180 to see if we were able to take Mark in.  Once Mark was released from the hospital he came directly to M:180.  Since Mark is about 1 year old he did not know what his name was so he was given the name Mark by our son Joshua.  Mark has been on medication due to the filth that he ingested while in the pit latrine but he is doing well.  Mark will also have to have his teeth measured to determine how old he is and then will be given a birth date based off of that.  We need 4 sponsors at $40 per month for Mark.

Luke – Luke also came to live at Mission:180 several weeks ago.  His mother left him in the care of a neighbour and told them she would return shortly.  After a couple of days with no contact from the mother Luke was taken to the local police station and reported as abandoned.  The police once again called Mission:180 to see if we able to care for Luke while they investigated where his mother disappeared to.  Luke came to Mission:180 with cigarette burns all over his body with a bunch of infected burn marks all over the back of his head.  We immediately had him treated by a doctor and I am happy to report that his sores are completely healed.  Luke is a shy little guy but he is very happy to be living in a safe home at Mission:180.  We need 4 sponsors at $40 per month for Mark.

Maggie and John – Siblings Maggie and John arrived at Mission:180 on February 12th after being abandoned by their mother 3 days earlier.  Their mother had left them in the care of a neighbour and promised to be right back for them.  The neighbour waited for 3 days before taking them to the police.  We received a call from the police on the afternoon of the 12th asking if Mission:180 could care for the siblings while they tried to trace the whereabouts of their mother.  Maggie was able to tell us that she is 4 years old and that her brother John was 1 year old.  They have fit in nicely at M:180 and are happy to be in our care.  Both Maggie and John are super cute and love to snuggle!  Both Maggie and John are in need of 4 sponsors each at $40 per month.

We are excited to offer a new child sponsorship option we are calling simply,  “sponsor a crib”.  This is an alternative to sponsoring a specific child.  The laws in Kenya seem to change weekly and when the government rules that we have to turn over a child we have no option but to abide by the law. This means that we could be asked to release any of the children at any time to various situations.  When you sponsor a crib you would be helping with the care of all of the children in the homes and also helping when we are asked to take in a child for a very short period and therefore would not be available for regular sponsorship.  Instead of getting an update on your specific child we would send you an update on all of the children currently living in one of our homes as well as any temporary children that we have had in our care since your last update.  The sponsorship would stay the same at $40.00 per month.

Please consider sponsoring one of these beautiful little ones, or consider becoming a “crib Sponsor”. If you want to become a part of Mission:180’s child sponsorship team please send Jennifer an email (jennifer@mission180.ca) and she will contact you with the details to get you started. We need these sponsorship’s to happen because having children in our care without full sponsorship puts a lot of strain on the general operating budget.