caregivers

These ladies are saints.....really, actual saints. There are 18 regular caregivers who work with us at CoL plus sometimes volunteers come and go from other countries around the world. They are very very patient with us and seem to have grown immune to the screeches that emulate every few minutes from one of us. They just calmly remove whatever it is that is bothering one of us, or remove us from the situation and go on about their day. I am definitely going to miss these ladies and I hope my Mom is watching them and taking notes on how to be patient with me....she's going to need it!

Breaking Bread with Noreen

Tonight my Mom fed me dinner for the first time. Dinner time at the orphanage is quite an event...I don't know that she knew what she was getting into. 30 toddlers all eating at the same time is both very loud and very messy. My friend, Noreen and I sat next to each other tonight. Of all the kids at the orphanage, Noreen and my Mom have become great friends. In fact, sometimes I wish she would go away and give me a bit of time with my new Mom. But, still....we are good friends and good dinner companions.

Tonight I wanted to be sure that my Mom knew what she was getting herself into so I gave her a run for her money trying to feed me tonight. Spitting out my Uge all over myself and my Mom is a way better pastime than eating. But, don't think I won't be really mad if I don't get enough in my tummy!

You think I'm a mess, you should have seen my Mom!

The Art of Sharing

First off.....let's be clear, sharing is not so easy. You grown ups make it sound like its easy peasy....but I know the truth, sharing is hard. And, I think you might hold my view of this if you had to share with 30 some other kids.

My Mom clearly wants me to learn about this sharing thing. I think that this is something she and I may need to work out....she's just going to have to understand my point of view. When I am finished with my bottle of milk after nap time....and there are other slower kids next to me still sucking away, taking their time....I go for it! I mean, Darwin's theory right.....you snooze, you loose....that's what I say! My Mom somehow doesn't want me rip the bottle straight from the lips of the baby lying next to me and watch as they burst into an inconsolable tantrum. I really don't know what her problem is, so the kids crying, he'll get over it, and I've got extra milk! Well, I don't want to upset her too badly so when she tells me no, I just look up all innocent like at her and wait for her to look away again....and the I go for it!

And it's not just milk that she expects me to share....its toys too. Now, granted the orphanage does have plenty of toys....but I want the big one that all the other kids want. If only I could stand and walk I might have a better chance of ripping it out this other kids hands....but then people might stop carrying me around, what a dilemma!

The Facts....

As I may be new news to many of you, (or just about EVERYONE) my Mom thinks that you might want some of the basic facts.

My birth mom is named Lillian Emanuel and my birth father is named Araphat Sirikwa. My name at birth was Lawrence Sirikwa. My new Mom is changing my name to Akira Topher Bowman.

My birth dad isn't in the picture anymore. My birth mom is a really nice lady and we'll always be so grateful to her. She is very young and pretty, but unfortunately she is HIV positive and is now showing signs of full blown AIDS. However, she sure did love me a lot. As soon as she found out about me, she did everything right. When I was born, she had me through a C-section and I was put on medication as soon as I came out. Also, she didn't breast feed me. She took me to a good baby home and asked them to find a new Mom for me since she knew she wouldn't be able to be around for my growing up. I was tested on 7 November and have come back clean as a whistle.....I am, in fact, a healthy bouncy 14 month old little boy. I was born in Arusha, but have been living in an orphanage named Cradle of Love, which only takes babies located at Usa River about a half hour out of town. I didn't go first to this orphanage, but was transferred to CoL from another orphanage because they thought I was HIV positive and that place didn't allow babies there who are sick with HIV. Luckily I wasn't....but I still got to stay at CoL where they took such good care of me and I got to find my new family.

I can't think of any more info. Oh, let's see. I'm not quite talking yet....but I'm making noises. And, I'm also not quite walking yet. I will stand with help from a grown up, but I figure....why walk when you can be carried. We'll see how long my new Mom is a sucker for! SHHHH....don't tell her my trick.

And it begins...

My Mom is a little bit overly excited I think. I haven't even moved in with her yet....but she's just rearing to go. So, I guess we'll give you an idea of how the last week has been.

My new Mom came to visit the home that I've been living in with a bunch of other kids whose birth parents aren't able to take care of them. It's a really nice place, even though we miss not having Moms or Dads around. I have lots of friends that I play with there.

Well, anyway...she came to visit, and quite frankly I didn't really think much of her the first few times I saw her. I was doing my own thing on the floor, and didn't want to be interrupted, and I told her so! But, she just kept coming back and every few days, there she was again. Eventually, I just felt sorry for her and figured I should reward her tenacity (are you so impressed with my vocabulary at only 14 months?) and so I let her pick me up. Then, she wanted to keep doing it! Well, what's a guy to do....

So, the director of the baby home, Cradle of Love, told my Mom about my predicament and how my birth Mom is really sick. She loves me a lot and is trying to do all the right things for me...but she wants to find someone else to take over her job because it's too hard for her to be a Mommy when she is so sick. So, they talked it over, and this lady who keeps picking me up and walking me around decided that she would like to be my new Mommy. So, she met with some official lawyer people and learned how to go about it. The most important thing is that my birth Mom has to sign a paper saying that she is relinquishing her rights to me to my new Mom. If that paper doesn't get signed there is big trouble. The Tanzanian government won't let someone new adopt me unless my birth Mom has signed. I have so many friends at Cradle of Love who have no family to sign that piece of paper for them, and they are sort of stuck in limbo! That's hard, because while it is a very nice place to live, everyone should still get to have a family and a home. So, they made a date for my birth Mom and my new Mom to come together with the lawyer and sign the paper.

But, we hit a small snag. My birth Mom, Lillian, didn't show up. The Director of my current home, Devona, thought that maybe she just hadn't gotten the message, but my new Mom was worried. By the end of the following day, my new Mom was getting frantic. What if something had happened to Lillian, my birth Mom before she was able to sign the papers?? After making some phone calls we figured out that Lillian had gotten pretty sick and was in a hospital somewhere, but we weren't sure where. My new Mom spent all day today driving to hospitals around the area trying to find Lillian. Finally, they found her! She's pretty sick now. She is positive for HIV and has active AIDS. Right now she is in the hospital with typhoid, malaria and pneumonia. I guess those are the sort of things that happen when your immune system is really in bad shape. My new Mom said that Lillian was really nice and is very pretty and I'm really lucky to have had such a nice birth Mom. She says that she can see where get my long face from now, I have Lillian's face. She also said that Lillian was happy to sign the papers, and wondered if she might get to visit me from time to time. Both myself and my new Mom are really happy about that. We are really hoping that she gets better and is able to leave the hospital.

Well, once the papers were signed, we just have to pick the date when I'll move to my new house. They all talked and decided that I will move into my new house with my new Mom on the 1st of December. I'm really looking forward to it. I will miss my nice home at Cradle of Love and all my friends, so we'll have to see what we can do about making sure I'm not too lonely without all my friends.

This is only the start of the adoption process though, and I have to live with my Mom for 3 months and then they will go back into Court and finalize everything and I will be officially her son. That will be a very exciting day. But, for now, we are just pretty excited that we are starting out the process. Oh, and guess what? I have a dog! I'm so excited to meet her. My Mom says she likes kids and is really nice. I sure hope so.

So, that's my story! I hope you'll stick around and keep reading about me. I'm not totally sure yet, but it seems like I might lead a pretty interesting life.....stay tuned!