IGF administration recently received a letter – the contents of which were tragic. It came from the Kitgum prison – its words scrawled in pen on dust colored paper. The contents told us that a woman had been accused of poisoning two children in her care – murder – a potential life sentence. This woman had two children of her own, one 11 months, one only two weeks old. The 11-month year old had been left alone to be looked after by other prisoners while she gave birth. The prison’s social worker asked IGF if we would be willing to look after the children while the woman was in prison due to our malnourished babies feeding program. The unspoken ask was – this woman is going to be in prison for the rest of her life, so can you adopt the children? Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon request or an uncommon attitude towards IGF.
IGF promptly took action. An interview with the woman revealed that no one had contacted her family. Social Worker Mark, and Aussie Volunteer Social Worker Chris went to Padibe to visit the family and hear their interest. Remarkably, the family wanted to take care of the children, but no one had offered them that option. IGF negotiated an arrangement where the 11-month-old child would return to his grandparents home, and the 2 week old would be admitted in IGF hospice as there are no breastfeeding women in the family. This little baby will remain with us for about one year, getting strong on IGF’s malnourished babies feeding program, at which point she will return to the village with her brother and her grandparents.
Thanks to donor support, volunteer effort, and going the extra mile, these two children will not grow up in an institution, but will instead grow up within a family that loves them. What a cause for rejoicing!
