This week has shown us what a blessing families can be! We were able to resettle four siblings with their grandfather.
We met Winny (7), Sofi (6), Mungu (3), and Tina (1) on Thursday, June 23rd after they had been found and brought to the police station. They were living with their father after their mother had left to marry another man. They were living in this unfinished house as care takers.
After their father and older brother ran away, Winnie went looking for help. She made it to a police station where she told a Child and Family Protection Unit officer about her situation and her siblings. The CFPU was able to have Winny take them back to where her siblings were. The CFPU officer knew a pastor friend who would take them while she began looking for their parents.
Within hours of being at Rafiki we realized just how bad the living conditions had been for the children. The next morning, Friday, the aunties spent an hour getting jiggers out of the feet of each child.
After a few days, Rafiki was called on June 23rd to see if the children could stay with us while they continued to look for family. The team was able to go back to the place the children were found and talk with a neighbor who told us that the mother had left four months earlier.
While staying at the Rafiki childrens home, Auntie Doreen was able to spend some time talking with Winny to learn about her family. Winny was able to give us the birthdates of not just herself, but of her siblings, tell us where her father and older brother worked, as well as where some other family members lived and/or worked.
Our social worker, Florence, worked with the police to trace down all of the people we had information for. At one point the father had been taken into custody, found too unstable to take the children back, but we did get to meet the older sister of Winny, Sofi, Mungu, and Tina. The sister talked with Florence about their life before coming to Kampala. They lived in a village about 11 hours from Kampla in a good house with both parents working. Though Winny, Sofi, and Mungu did not attend school, they were all well taken care of with plenty of family around. The parents had some terrible circumstances came up, which cause Winny’s parents to leave their stable life behind and move the children to Kampla.
Winny, Sofi, Mungu, and Tina had family, a home, and older siblings all waiting for them back in their village, so Florence worked with their sister and grandfather to see about resettling them. An uncle came forward who offered to make the trip with them and return the children to their family.
On Tuesday, July 19th, the uncle came to the Rafiki house and helped get the children ready for the journey home. The children were so happy to be going home and after getting some new clothes packed they were off to the police station to say good bye!
After saying goodbye to the police team they were off on an 11-hour bus ride to the village they called home.
Today, July 21st, the uncle contacted Florence and gave us a little update. The sister even got on the phone to talk about how happy her family was to have the children back and how happy the children are as well!
Go Team Rafiki with another successful resettlement! #iamRafiki
The children were with Rafiki for not even a month but we will surely miss them! We would like to be able to ensure that Winny, Sofi, and Mungu can begin schooling. If you are interested in sponsoring these children, along with their sister Tina, please contact us at sara@rafikiministries.org.