Aggie's Baby Home

At first we didn’t understand why Agnes requested that the “mothers” at the baby home have medical scrubs or some kind of uniform. But when Paula M. visited Uganda in January she realized that it wasn’t just to protect their clothes from spit-up; when you wear a uniform in Uganda it gives a person a sense of pride and status. No matter where you are, having a job gives a person a purpose. A uniform says to the world- “Look at me, I have a job” and “I can provide for my family.” etc.

This picture shows some of our wonderful staff at Aggie’s Baby Home. These lovely ladies work hard, day and night (for most of them, their shifts are 24/7, 6 days a week). You can see from their smiles that they love their new colorful (maid’s) uniforms. We also had a donation of beautiful hand-sewn aprons for them to wear.  Thank you Paula and Sharon for your donation of love!

Last year a generous family from California, provided the funds for electricity to be bought to ABH.  Due to red-tape and other delay’s though, it wasn’t until February 2011 that the local electric company in Uganda finally completed this important project.  Since opening our doors to our first baby last June (2010) until now; the baby home has been without electricity.  Unimaginable to those of us from the “west” but the staff, babies and guests at ABH never complained and everyone functioned just fine without it.

Now that the night-time feedings won’t require a candle or gas lantern-we can all breathe a little easier.  The children’s safety is of the up most importance.   Now, just the flip of a switch is all it takes to get light, store food properly and provide other vital resources.  There will certainly be a learning curve, but we are sure that this modern convenience will soon be seen as a “mother’s” best-friend.

Once again, God proves that His ways are higher than our ways and His plans are better than ours! A recent graduate of Moody Bible College living in Uganda contacted us in January to see if he could volunteer at Aggie’s Baby Home.  Of course we welcomed the idea and have provided him with a to-do list.  Since that time, our new friend Zach, his wife and his wife’s family have provided a labor of love by building

a new incinerator at the baby home.

An anonymous church, back in the U.S. provided the funds to build the incinerator.  The incinerator is just another example of how God uses all kinds of people to provide for HIS orphans.    These wonderful volunteers also painted some out-buildings, helping to make the baby home look clean and well-cared for.  There are still many other building projects to complete, but we are getting there quicker than anyone imagined just 2 years ago.  Thank you friends of the orphans!

March 2011 – Update:  Raised $1,000 for outdoor playground equipment – outstanding!!

February 2011:  Recently, a family that is adopting from Aggie’s Baby Home ran a fund-raiser at their child’s pre-k class.  Amazingly, the whole class jumped on-board and they collected over 75 pounds of baby formula, some diapers and $300 cash to go towards one of next big projects at ABH- a much needed children’s outdoor play area.  Their goal is to raise at least another $700!   It will all be delivered when the family adopting from ABH, travel to Uganda to finalize their adoption and bring home their precious new addition.

A giant thank you goes out to the children in this special Pre-K class!  And, praise be to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ  for His faithfulness.  It is pure joy to serve Him together with you!!

Aggie’s Baby Home just keeps getting better…now the children and staff at the baby home have a lovely gazebo on the property to play in – away from the hot African sun!  It’s sure to be a favorite place for everyone.  The large circular, grass-roofed hut is located down the hill from the baby home overlooking the beautiful tropical forest of the area surrounding the baby home.

Thanks to some generous friends of Aggie’s Baby Home, it now has a beautiful security fence surrounding the perimeter! It came complete with a sturdy steel gate and brick entrance that welcomes friends with the words “WELCOME TO AGGIE BABIES HOME”! (Note: Same place-different spelling!)

Since the area surrounding the baby home isn’t exactly “safe”, a fence just isn’t enough to secure the property and its special occupants. Therefore, in addition to the fence, we hired a security guard that will help maintain the property and keep an eye on everything and everyone.

The need for babies and toddlers to be rescued is so great in Uganda, that we began giving some of them a new home before the actual physical buildings at the baby home were complete. We still have many more plans that need to be completed including a laundry facility, guest-house, outside playground area and equipment and inside flooring.
We are extremely grateful for EVERY gift donated to Aggie’s Baby Home – large and small! Since returning home from the United States, Agnes Lubega – Director of ABH, has purchased many items with the generous funds donated during several fund-raisers held in Colorado. Among some of the items purchased were: a kitchen table and eight chairs for the workers to sit on/at (Yes, they were sitting on the floor prior to this.). A large, colorrful area rug was rolled out with joy in the “toy room” (the children don’t have to sit on the cold, concrete floor any more) and two large filing cabinets were purchased to keep the children’s files neat and orderly in preparation of their eventual adoption.

Perhaps the most important announcement is that funds for both the electricity and a perimeter safety fence have also been donated and these projects will soon be underway. Imagine not having lights or a refrigerator in your home? While it is true that the baby home is located next to the New Hope Orphanage and School, it is not within it’s security fence and the nearby neighborhood is not exactly paradise.

So to all our friends, new and those who have been with us since the beginning – THANK YOU! Please remember, no gift is too small.

The baby home has 18 more empty cribs but without more monthly support ($50/mo), we will have to turn away additional babies who desperately need a safe and loving family and home. Please join us in prayer and financial support of this very special home for those dearest to the Lord’s heart.

Imagine one of our rescued babies crying in the middle of the night, afraid of the dark because they were abandoned, hungry and saw unimaginable acts in the darkness of night. Well, that’s exact the scene at Aggie’s Baby Home with several of our precious children. We are thrilled to announce that Nokero – Lights for Life (www.Nokero.com) donated 10 of The World’s Only Solar Light Bulb (TM) to Agnes Lubega after visiting the corporate headquarters located in Denver, CO.

Aggie’s Baby Home currently operates WITHOUT electricity. (It is scheduled to be installed soon, but will still be intermittent at times.) Because we currently use dangerous kerosene lanterns to care for our babies at night, we are thrilled with this dependable alternative.

Nokero lights are made from impact-resistant plastic, four solar panels, a replaceable rechargeable battery and five light-emitting diodes (LEDs). It is about the size of a standard light bulb and can withstand tough outdoor conditions. Aggie’s baby home staff will be hanging the special bulbs out-of-doors in direct sunlight each day. At night, each bulb will be brought inside and hung on the safety hook in a safe but needed location inside the baby home. The bulbs will emit light for up to four hours when fully charged. The also have on/off buttons so the battery can hold the charge until needed again in the night.

With this new affordable, solar light bulb, Nokero hopes to change the destiny of millions if not billions of people around the earth and reduce carbon dioxide (Fuel lanterns emit 190 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, equivalent to 30 million cars.)

With our new friends at Nokero, we hope to be able to soon share with the world how these bulbs have helped improve care at ABH. We will be sharing with Nokero how the bulbs have impacted ABH and the quality of care given there while Nokero may in-turn use our story, pictures, and examples in the media in the near future. Watch out CNN – we’ve got our own amazing God-sized story to tell as well! A giant thank you to Nokero.

A huge thank you to all the gracious and giving folks that attended the “Grand Opening Celebration and Baby Shower” for Aggie’s Baby Home – in Colorado Springs last night, August 31, 2010.

Last year, dozens of hand-made PRAYER blankets and other items were sent to ABH.  Once again, these compassionate friends send their love to the children of Africa:  Agnes will be going home with more beautiful hand-made scarves  as well as new and used clothing for the kids at New Hope  and ABH.  Of course much needed diapers and formula were also generously donated!

After discussing how the baby home does not currently have some basic furnishings such as a carpeting in the toy room, a kitchen table and chairs, adult chairs or lamps, the money raised at this event will be used to purchase these items.  It is our sincere desire to bless the hard working full-time (24/7) mother/workers with a place to sit and relax while caring for the children at ABH.

Thank you!

Thank you to the many new and old friends of Aggie’s Baby Home that came to our special “Baby Shower and Grand-Opening”  event held last Friday, August 27th in Centennial, Colorado.  Over 20 cans of much needed baby formula, dozens and dozens of cloth diapers, rubber pants, and new clothing were all generously donated.  Another friend brought used prescription sun and regular glasses for those in need at ABH or New Hope Orphanage as well as other various items – all of which are much appreciated.

In addition to these amazing donations, close to $1400 in one-time donations was raised.  This money will go towards our general fund that is primarily used finish the building projects and furnishing of ABH or where needed.  We also had several MUCH NEEDED new monthly pledges towards our GOAL  of $3,000 (full-house goal for 25 babies/staff).

It was another “God-thing” to witness what the Lord did that night on behalf of the least of these. Our humble thanks to everyone!