31 May Faces of Children of Hope: Following Up on Bethsheba, Darian, and Gracious
Nearly a year ago, we introduced you to our three new children here at our Kitalale home. It’s been a whole year and a lot has changed since then, so we thought we’d give our extended family an update on Bethsheba, Darian, and Gracious!
If you haven’t read our introduction to our three newest children, take a look at our last blog here. If you’re ready to learn more, let’s share an update on how the children are doing, through the eyes of our aunts and uncles.
Joyful Gracious
Gracious has come a long way since she first arrived last year. We asked Aunt Rose if she could reflect on Gracious’ progress:
“Gracious brings so much joy in my life, though I have had the privilege of raising babies from a few hours old, Gracious remains special to me; we have connected at a very deep level. She’s always calm around me, she is so attached to me that she won’t let me go whenever I am on duty. I am always eager to return back to work after my day off. My first stop is always at the girls wing where she stays.
Her hugs, though feeble, are heartwarming and I will never trade anything for them. Though my own children are fully grown adults, Gracious brings back the good old memories of my motherhood and I am always blessed by this opportunity to serve at Children of Hope”.
Bubbly Bethsheba
Aunt Josephine takes a moment to reflect on Bethsheba’s personality:
“Bethsheba is a bubbly and very smart little girl. When she joined the Children of Hope family, she was very shy, timid and withdrawn but soon after settling in she has been transformed to be a lively girl. She wears the brightest smile in the house and her laughter is infectious. She enjoys riding the merry-go-round and loves playing with Triza, Michele and Abraham Jr. She follows instructions, always keen on details but she is easily distracted by games and fun.
On her physical development, she can now run several laps on the playground, she could never finish even a single lap when she joined us. Emotionally, Bethsheba relates very well with others, she follows instructions and has learned the key sympathy words of please, sorry, can I and so on. We see a lot of potential in her academic future since she can count up to 100 and is learning simple words with the help of uncles, older children and aunties at home.”
Resilient Darian
Darian’s story of resilience has taught us all valuable life lessons. Seeing him grow, strengthen and always try, again and again has been humbling. Petronila takes an opportunity to share Darian’s recent highlights…
“Darian has taught all of us so many things. Above all, the importance of Faith and the results of teamwork and focus on child development. He came to us unable to walk despite his age of 5. Having missed most developmental milestones, we were faced with a monumental challenge of helping him grow and develop through family love, medication and physiotherapy.
I remember the first physiotherapy sessions were so painful for him; he would cry incessantly whenever the therapist stepped foot in our house. This made all the children and staff sad but we trusted in the process and the words from the therapist stuck with me to date. She said in life you better do something in solving a problem than do nothing at all!
This came to pass when Darian managed to stand, then a few days later, he made his first steps walking. Darian did this amidst cheers from the other children; this was heartwarming and a feeling of relief that engulfed the Home in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. This brought so much relief and we all broke into prayers of thanksgiving. It remains one of my favorite work stories I tell people about.
Nowadays Darian has been playing hide and seek on all of us, he disappears into the playground and into the farm. We have to look for him and despite this mischief, we are grateful that he can dream again and be a kid who is able to thrive and realize his God-given potential”
Celebrating All Three
We wanted to take a moment to celebrate each and every one of them, and the resilient traits all of our children are blessed with.
Let’s hear from Lilian, our Matron, on how we have been blessed with these children:
“Each child is a blessing to us. These three being the latest additions to our family feels like having ‘last borns’. As you would imagine, last borns are the sweetest and everyone in the family pours their love into them; they receive all the attention which is useful in making them settle and get comfortable in the new family.
Our heart at COH is to give every child the best care in order for them to realize their potential. In order to achieve this, we recognize the fact that all children are unique and thus will require individual attention as we try to raise them. The case of these 3 has been a testament for instance, Darian had to undergo physiotherapy and specialized medical treatment which enabled him to walk. Bethseheba was checked by the doctors and was found fit except for malnutrition and Gracious had no health issues.
All these medical needs are realized from the initial medical assessment we do to all new children as soon as they join the Children of Hope family. This assessment helps us to plan for the right way of providing our love and care to the children in what we commonly call ‘Individual Child-care and Protection Plan (ICCPP).
The warmth and energy brought by thes 3 has been amazing. We can not even imagine life at COH without them; it would be boring, we think. We pray and hope that they thrive to become successful in all aspects of growth and development.”
How You Can Make An Impact
We’re able to do what we do because of our extended family of supporters. Whether you take a moment to pray for our children and staff at our homes or are able to part with a donation to make a huge impact on our children’s lives, we thank you for your support. To find out more about how you can support our children develop, grow, learn and be loved, take a look at ways to give.