Our little "Angel" is in Heaven

I am saddened to report the passing of our special boy Nathan.  If you have been following our blog, you will know that he suffered with both HIV/AIDS and cancer.  This past month, he fought the loss of his eyesight along with contracting malaria, but this 7 year old little boy was a trooper.  Not many saw him shed a tear.
Edwin, David and Dr. Isaac visited him every day, administering medicine, wrapping his eyes to prevent the seeping and just letting him know they cared.  All three were with him at the end along with his mom Mutesi and his older brother Alex. Nathan, you touched the lives of many and because of you, we were inspired to complete this project with determination.  We will be there for your many friends that have noone.  We will bring them to Jaaja Barb's Home of Angels and we promise to give them dignity as they pass and come to join you.  We love you Nathan. R.I.P.

One of the last stages of HIV is being cold.  Nathan was always very cold so Edwin found a warm jacket to put on him and he felt much better.  The bed that Kim and Chris bought him with the snuggly blankets kept him warm at night, and with his Teddy bear, he had comfort in the end.  We will never forget you Nathan.

We had a donation of $300.00 for Dr. Isaac to purchase medicine.  This is what he bought with it and
since then, has helped so many.  One of the little ones he administered to was a little child that's head was
swelling.  Another, was for burn victims and our little Nathan received the bandages he needed for his eyes.

This looks like alot but realistically, it will only last a month or two.

Dr. Isaac with a sick child and his mom.  This child's head is very swollen and he has been administered the medicine which will enable the swelling to subside.

Sweet little boy

We don't have a container but we certainly could fill one with this woman on our side.  Meet Tina.
This wonderful woman has made it her life's mission to sew for our 32 little ones plus many more kids.  On Saturday I came home with 37 home made dresses.  She made 50 pairs of shorts with coordinating T-shirts for the little boys and lots of little girls underwear.  Her ideas are endless....God bless you Tina for your huge heart.

Tina modelling one of her many dresses.

Atimu the welder...who could forget this man who welded our 28 windows and 6 large doors with a pair of sunglasses.  When I put that on the last blog, the country came together and donated Atimu every piece of welding equipment imagineable.  He hasn't even received all of it yet.  This welding hat and special glass was donated by Mike...OK Mike, I didn't say your last name so no one knows...you are still anonomous.  I just want you to know that Atimu shed a few tears over this and told me to tell you that you saved his life, his family and his job....he will have eyes to continue...Thanks Mike

Uganda will never know what this is....someone from another planet possibly??

This is Pastor Paul and Lydia's church.  We will be going here when we open and they have graciously accepted us to bring all 32 kids with us each Sunday.  We will make this our home church on Sundays.  This is the kid's choir but they were the only kids that did not have a uniform when they attended their first competition.  A donation was given which allowed them to feel the pride the other teams felt.  They are so good.

The kid's latrine is finally finished.  Edwin and his brothers will be painting it soon.

 bright color I hope.....hint

Acknowledgements:

Laury and Tom...OK, I know we have thanked you before, but I have to say it again.  Do you really realize what you have done?  You have saved 32 little ones and probably many in the surrounding areas, to be provided water....clean water.  This is the most valuable commodity in Uganda and Africa.  Laury, you sold your baby that you raised, for this water.  Words can never express it so I just send a simple thanks with a huge hug attached.  I love you guys so much.  Thanks from all of us.

Rich and Marian...you two have gone over and above with making this happen...I don't even need to say what, you know and I just want you to both understand how much you mean to Edwin an I.  Without you I cannot even imagine....Thanks so much from our hearts and I just hope that you both, Tom and Laury will one day visit so you can see what you have done to change lives.

We have been so blessed with all of you in helping provide a home for 32 little "angels".  I sometimes sit and wonder how it is possible for so many of you to trust me so much...to put money into my account without ever meeting me...to never ask for a tax receipt and just know that 100% of your money is going towards this project.  I know I am very blessed with this trust.

I want to tell you about 3 women, one of whom has passed recently, but three women who gave their hearts to these kids.  Carmen, Diane and Theresa.  After watching the last Global TV newscast, when "Faithful" the cow was donated to put in all our water, Carmen and Diane called me to tell me that they were donating $10,000 into my account for the completion of the staff home and the purchase of 50 goats.  I want to say a huge "THANKS" from all of us in North America and in Jinja, Uganda for this unbelieveable gift.  You have provided our sustainability program, our home is now almost finished and we are so grateful to you.  Theresa, I know you are up there watching all of this and I want you to also know that you made change in a very impoverished part of the world...We thank you and your two daughters.  God bless you

I want to thank Mark and Angela for finishing the latrine...I wish you could help me talk Edwin into bright purple...Thanks so much

To Susan Morrison and Mark Heiby for all the paint for the kids rooms and the main house.  I promise to get pictures when it is finished.

To Ish...the plumbing..wow, we have plumbing now and thanks to you I am going to have a real shower...yipppeeee

A big thanks to Lorene Vanderwal for writing the wonderful story of "Water from a Cow" in the Westgen magazine.  Good job, loved it.

And to everyone else who sent donations helping us to complete our home.  We may have a way to go with the interior but I know that we will finish in time before grand opening.  Thanks to all of you who continually help us to reach our goal.  If we can get these kids in before they get to Nathan's stage, we may be able to help them live longer with medicine and lots of love. 

And of course...Global TV, there are no words strong enough to say enough thanks to you all.  Linda and Carl...you are the best.  

Hard Work Pays......

I remember back when we first started this dream, Edwin placing a small sign in the dirt for all workers to see, saying the words "Hard Work Pays".  We have had teams of men clearing the land, constructing the children's home and now finishing the staff home and clinic.  We will have another team arriving soon to drill and provide the water with submursive pumps for the entire compound and yet another who will be finishing the interior of both homes.  Every one of these men seem to have never taken their eyes off this little sign.  They have worked tirelessly to provide a beautiful area to raise 32 little "angels".  Right down to the City Engineers and Inspectors, all of who continually pass us with flying colors on the quality of work.  It is as though each person involved takes a personal pride in the job they are doing and are building this compound as if it is their own. 

And then there is our side of the world...North America

How could we have ever gotten this far without you all?  You are amazing, really you are. Tom and Laury with our "Faithful" to provide all water...  my daughter and her husband, who has helped us so much, sending clothes over by DHL, sending Nathan and his family all food and medicine money to help with Nathan's condition and providing the cost of a lawyer to establish a non-profit organization.  Rich and Marian on our Board of Directors who continually step in when something is needed and guide us through the legal system.  Because of you and Chris, we will soon be a "Society", the first step in a long process.
The work that has gone into all of this, is done with such love....
I could go on and on but like "some people say"  Barb talks alot.....won't say who...lol

We have another surprise but I need to get permission to share with you....next blog

No truer words were ever spoken

Meet Martin....he comes every day to help Edwin, Issac and David plant the lawn.  Such a different process than we know. Little tuffs of grass set in the soil and watered and eventually......

Voila...

I wonder if we'll need a lawn mower one day...I bet this will be a plush grass when fully developed.
OK, add this to the list...a lawn mower

I wanted to brag about my birthday present I received in May.  My avacodo tree....it's growing fast and one day it will be as big as.....

This one 

If you are as big an avacado lover as I am, you have to come and spend some time with us. This is only one of the trees on the property.

Does anyone recognize these?  Yup...I took seeds over and they are growing well so we definitely will have
a little of Canada here with us.

We have the main latrine going up presently.  This is one of the boys who offered to help us, placing the left over bricks from the houses in order to build.  We think we will have enough remaining from construction to finish.

Almost there.....

This is one man I want to talk about....Atimu
Atimu works day and night to make the windows (28) and doors (6).  You cannot imagine the work that he has put into them and they are so beautiful that people want to purchase them off the street. This is a door he is working on here, welding the insert in.  He will then sand the entire unit, add a coat of rustproof paint and then paint a beautiful color.  Surprise, you will see when finished.  Look at his glasses...if anyone knows where I can purchase a welding hat or special glasses from Canada will you let me know?  I want to do something special for him as he has really given his heart to this project. 

Just a few of the windows

You can see the idea of what the windows will look like.  Again, another Inspector.  This is Jenson, a qualified Engineer checking on Atimu's work.  He was commended on the quality.

You all know Edwin, the role model for all these boys.  He is with Alex, Nathan's brother.  We put him
into school today, so Edwin went shopping for shoes, clothes and books.  This little one will be coming to
our home as it isn't looking good for Nathan or his mommy Mutesi.  Nathan is now blind and Mutesi is not
well with her HIV.  We have assured Alex that he will have a home with us.

Proud new student

Thanks once again for your caring and love for the kids.  Also, thanks to all of you who helped put a child
in school today and to the people who spoke to others in order to get me more speaking engagements.  All these are acts done out of love and we appreciate you so much.

Our love for God can be measured by our love for others 



Global Television presenting "Faithful", the cow who brought in the water to our Home of Angels.

We wanted to share with you the Global TV newscast that was seen on August 9th, 2011.

 This broadcast was a special edition to specifically show everyone how one cow could contribute in such a huge way.  Faithful the cow was sold by Laury and Tom DeGroot solely to supply the water for our Home of Angels.  They put in submersible pumps to accomodate both homes, latrines, tanks, gardens and septic tanks.  This is the largest donation we have had and we want to share this will all of you.  Thank you so much Tom and Laury, we will never forget this and are so grateful to you both.

A big thanks to our crew who takes pride in building our "Home of Angels"

We have the most wonderful crew building our new home.  Five men who work tirelessly 7 days a week/12 hours a day to complete it.  But without Edwin, David and Isaac, who watch over every little detail to make sure it is the best home for children to grow and live in, none of this would be possible.  All of your donations go to Edwin (center), who in turn, accounts for 100% of your money and how it has been spent over the past 6 months.  We are blessed for this team of men and I for one, sit in Canada, very proud to see what has developed and of the honesty of these three.  I would like to share this with you all.

You have met Edwin, Isaac and David before, but not at the same time.  On your left is David, Edwin in the middle with Doctor Isaac on the left.  I have my first picture of them together and I want to share this with all of you.  I am so very proud of these three men.  One day soon, we will all be working with each other for the same purpose in helping vulnerable children and together, we will make this huge difference in changing their lives.

The "red carpet" is on.  That is the roof if you didn't notice. I chuckle each time I hear that word.  The road
grader has come also and leveled the land between the two homes and it is starting to look like our compound.  Who would have ever dreamt that a loaf of banana bread could have produced this.

When you stand down on the road below and look up....this is the view
Always look for the "red carpet and you cannot miss us surrounded among the avocado and banana trees.

Take a look at the small home between the two buildings we built.  We are thinking of purchasing it for
a clinic and room for our social worker to interview the kids privately.  Would love to have your opinions on
this.  It consists of three rooms and perfect for the medical side of things.  When you bring kids out of situations that they are in presently, we must have help for them to adjust.  We have hired a social worker to do this and she would need her space privately.

One day Edwin is going to fall out of a tree doing this.  But he did capture how the "red carpet" looks
from the topside.  It is not finished as the trim has to be put on but looks so wonderful now.

Meet Joma (Juma)...This little one is our newest addition to our home.  Joma has HIV and was reported
to us that he is malnourished and does not come out of his hut.  Edwin, Isaac and David went there
and discovered the bloody wounds on his head.  His parents passed away 7 years ago when he was 3 years old and he was taken in by others to care for.  This boy belongs with us.....

HIV/AIDS presents itself in very different ways.  For Joma, his head has been affected and now, with the
help of Doctor Isaac, he is getting treatment.  When we can open, we will take him into our care and love him and take care of this little one.

Meet Jowell.  She is sister to Jowann and we have decided to care for her also.  We would like to bring
this family together.

Meet Dennis...Jowell and Jowann's brother.  All three of them will come with us and they will be a family again.  Jowann is in Agape Children's Home and Jowell is with an Aunt.  When their Mom passed away, they were sent to Grandmas but she was 80 and had no way to help them.  The Aunt sells charcoal on the street but does not make enough to hardly feed them.  We have found sponsors for these little ones so they will be able to eat and go to school as soon as we can open and take care of them.

Thanks Kim and Chris for sending these clothes also....

Walking for water....Oh my goodness, they walk so far and so young.  We bought 20 jerricans to help them when there was not water for 3 weeks last month.  All ages with all sizes.

Just wanted to share some goats we own.  We have 3 in here and then yesterday, we had another donation
of 5 more.  We have decided to have a goat farm along with chickens and pigs.....Sustainability program


It has been great to share with you all and I would also like to inform you that Global TV is filming tomorrow with "Faithful" the cow who was donated for the water on our property.  This is the most amazing story and I shed a tear every time I think of it.  If all of you could only know how precious water is...how so many little children walk miles a day looking for it and how someone in our backyard sold a cow to produce all the water we need for so many people.  Thank you Tom and Laury, we so love you.  Please turn your TV's on on Tuesday night August 9th at 6:30(ish) with Linda Aylesworth, you will meet "Faithful" the cow.  If  for some reason you do not see it, it will be on Wednesday, same time.

Thank you for your prayers and all your support.  You are all changing lives and I really hope that one day you will feel that you can come to visit us and meet the children you saved.  I would also like to share that our little 7 year old Nathan with the cancer and HIV has now developed malaria.  If we could have had his little one in our home, we possibly would have been able to detect some of this and maybe the suffering would have been unnecessary. He is weak but stable and Doctor Isaac, Edwin and David are with him every day.  I will be speaking with him tomorrow on skype and will tell him that Canada is praying for him and we all love him.

Love Barb and Edwin, Doctor Isaac and David

Getting ready for the "Red Carpet"

I will never stop smiling as I hear that word "red carpet".  When we started building our first home
I constantly heard this word and thought that maybe a carpet was being laid on the outside veranda floor.  I remember thinking to myself, would it be safe from the outside elements?  To my dismay the red carpet  represented the iron sheets for the roof.  Over 200 of them on the building the men are constructing at the moment.  We should be finished that process at the end of next week but in the meantime, we would like to show you our beautiful building as it stands today.

Looking down "Barb's Lane" you can see the children's home on your right facing the staff home on the left.  This gives you an idea to the size of the property the homes and latrines sit on.   The gardens for growing food will be on the far left in amongst the avocado and mango trees.

The children's latrines has been started with left over bricks from the first home.  We will be completing this building as soon as the staff home and doctor Isaac's clinic is finished.  Thank you Warren and Carolyn for donating the medicine to make this clinic a reality and providing comfort to the children struggling with the many illnesses in Uganda.

I must share this story with you as it touches my heart personally with my daughter and her family.  They made a decision to send a box of clothes DHL because as we know, it gets there safely by doing it this way.  We have a DHL office very close to our project, so off it went from Seattle Washington.  From USA to Uganda it took 3 days.  I must say at great cost but how can you put a value on this?    

Thank you Kim and Chris for caring for these little ones and for all the work you have done towards Jaaja Barb's Home of Angels.  Thank you also for sending money each month to little Nathan and his family as they suffer more and more each day.  You have put such a smile on their faces with food and water.

Smiles are worth a thousand words

As you all know,  I am planning to move to our new home for 5 months out of the year when it is completed.  Edwin and his brothers thought I should have a little of the western world with me so take a look at this special tree.

Meet my new dining room table and chairs.  Apparently we will also have another couple of sets made from the left over wood.  Anyone coming for a visit will enjoy their meals on these beautiful handmade works of art.  Thanks Edwin, Isaac and David for my gift of love.


We would also like to thank Jody Shaw and the students of Mission Secondary's Restorative Justice program for donating $500.00 to our Home of Angels.  We are very grateful to all of you for thinking of us and supporting such a worthwhile cause.

Claire Huang presenting Barb Giraud with a cheque

Celeste Matthews, Claire Huang, Amber Chong and Emiko Newman, all 11th grade students  from Heritage Woods Secondary School in Port Moody, decided they would also like to help our Home of Angels.  The girls decided to bake their own banana bread and sell it at the school's Dessert Jazz night, a music fundraiser.  The school's philanthropy group called "Kodiaks With a Purpose" donated money for the ingredients and the students started baking.  They recruited friends to help and used the school food room.  After baking 20 loaves, it was time to sell.  They raised $350.00 on the actual Jazz Evening and decided to continue with the project.  At the end of it all, they raised $777.90, all the time focusing on "Kids helping Kids".

We would also like to thank our wonderful friends who have stood by us this past year with prayer and funding.  Your generosity is so appreciated.  We really do call you all our "Angels" from North America.  

Thanks so much from Edwin, David, Isaac and I

A cow named "Faithful" provides all the water for our Home of Angels

The most precious commodity in our world today is water. We cannot live without it.  When we started this project last year, our main concern was providing water for our Home of Angels.  Our wonderful friends Tom and Laury have come to the rescue and water has now become a reality.  They have offered to sell their prize cow "Faithful" in order to contribute to our dream.  The survey has been completed with water found on the property that will supply drinking and irrigation for our gardens.  We will keep you updated as the wells go in but in the meantime, how wonderful are these two people.  We love you Tom and Laury.......

Tom and Laury with "Faithful"

"Faithful"  is Laury's special cow. 

They sacrificed her for the love of kids without drinking water...Wow

For those of you who have been following the story of our little Nathan, I would like to share with you that he is not doing well.  Poverty being poverty and without proper sleeping conditions, my daughter Kim and her husband Chris took it upon themselves to provide a bed, mattress, blankets, pillows and a mosquito net.  Edwin and his brothers fit it into their tiny room so that they would have some comfort in this time of so much pain.  Proud to call you both family...a big thanks is given to you each day as Edwin visits them.  They are also very grateful for the eggs and special food you bought for them.

Nathan can't stop feeling his soft blanket....what a special treat this is

The roof is going up. In two weeks the iron sheets or "red carpet" as they call it, will be on.

This is "Barb's Lane".  Remember it was just a path?  Well now it is lined with palm trees and shubs
with many flowers starting to germinate.  All this is due to the hard work of an orphan named Brian who you see sitting on the road.  He comes every day to water and takes great pride in his work.  Brian is now hired to be our gardener.

The "Home of Angels"

 

We are blessed with people wanting to help us to help these kids.  One family already sent a letter of compassion to a little one and changed this child's life already.  She treasures this letter with the picture of a family who has given her hope.  I would bet she takes it to bed with her...Seen that happen many times.

Once again Edwin and I would like to thank all of you who support us, whether it be monetary, spiritual or just an encouraging note from time to time.  We have heard words in Jinja that this is going to be the most loving home around and Edwin says "In all of Africa".  I think he may be right.