The babes at Amani are that’s for sure! Each one’s little personality is starting to shine through adding a level of adorableness that only exists in all the children of this place. Take a look!

Desire is now 6 months! She’s always been the easy going, content one of the group but recently she’s discovered her nice set of lungs. WOW can she scream! She’s still pretty lackadaisical but occasionally she’ll freak all her brothers and sisters out and stretch out those vocal cords. Here comes that personality!

Hopie is 6 months already too! She’s filled out a little more and continues to be the epitome of a cabbage patch doll. She likes to stay up during nap time to hang with the mommas and me, not because she wants to be held or fed, but to just sit there and listen to us. Cracks me up. Her deep, raspy cry is very distinguishable against the others and she likes to make sure no one forgets about her (i.e. she cries a lot!). But she’s happy to sit in her bouncer and see what’s happening in the world, sometimes as a silent observer but usually as a vocal participant.

Fiona is also 6 months already! This girl makes me laugh a lot. She doesn’t care for laying on her stomach, she usually has to be on her back with a toy in hand to be smiling. She’ll crank her neck up and arch her back so she can see what’s in front of her and then start grunting loudly. That’s how she laughs! But she has two huge dimples on her cheeks and she shows them off easily to all the visitors that pass through.

Judah and Wilberforce have joined the 6 month old club as well! These two are some of the happiest little baby boys I have ever seen. Judah’s still working on the crawling, he’s soooo close but hasn’t quite gotten the hang of moving forward as opposed to backwards. He suffered a minor set back when he practiced in his bed and smashed his little head on the front of his crib. He moved forward but he wasn’t happy! Wilberforce is our little singer- always cooing and ahhhing, smiling, and laughing. He’s not as close to crawling, letting his brother show him how it’s done first, but he’s rolling around for the both of them!

Tina! She’s the last of the 6 month olds and she’s the one with the most attitude. She’s always been a screamer and she continues to be. I absolutely love her though, despite the ear-piercing set of lungs she’s got. I usually spend the first part of my mornings rocking her to sleep (I spoil her I know) otherwise she “refuses to take sleep” (as the momma’s call it). She recently learned how to shake her head “no” and I am tickled pink every time she does it! She doesn’t know what it means and although I encourage the head shaking, I always do it while saying “TINNNNAAA” she doesn’t get any ideas about bossing us around that way. She’s a smart cookie though. Likes to hear herself talk and is a hard one to get laughing, but I like the challenge. Tina’s my little diva. And she’s started teething! Yikes.

Baby Sandra Blessing! She’s 2.5 months now and changing so much! Her hair’s coming in, she’s learning to grab at toys, sitting in a bumbo, and getting more of a personality too (and she’s gonne be a screamer I think!). I think this picture is so adorable in her cute little knit sweater (it was like 65 degrees here and the babes got so cold). She’s got a cute little toothless smile that’s for sure!

FRIDA GIRL! She’s 11 months already and somehow getting cuter every single day. She’s THE MOST energetic and happy person in the morning I’ve ever met and I love going in to the nursery to wake her up especially. Her top left tooth just finished popping through last week and she’s started eating smashed bananas, carrots, and rice three times a day. Since Mercy went down to be with her old sisters, Frida’s now the ring leader of the group. She’s also quite the little singer, she’s got a high pitched squeal and is usually blabbing to the wall, her fist, or anyone who looks at her. We’re working on getting her legs stronger because her body has to catch up with her mind (she’s still a little weak but a very smart girl) She can sit up on her own for long periods of time without any spotters and is obsessed with grabbing people’s faces. That’s our Frida girl!

We’re getting ready to move into a new home at the end of the month! Progress is moving right along but there’s a lot of financial need. Go here  to get an update and see pictures and also to Donate! if you feel so compelled. There’s much to be done still but we know God will provide! Miss my Nebraska in the fall but continuing to feel overwhelmingly blessed to be in Uganda!

*Written by one of our amazing volunteers – Abby Sjogren

Coffee

Girl's have Bible Study with Auntie Mary and Cousin.

Boy's have Truck Study with Papa.

Malaria Test for Cousin- Negative.......it turned out to be Positive.

Watching a Mom take her Son for a Walk Around the Home He Left Three Years Ago.

Witnessing A Grandmother's Joy at the Return of Her Grandson.

  Spice Cake and Coffee with  our Beautiful Volunteers.

Malaria Test for Son- Negative.

  Dinner with good friends at home…….catered by Surjio’s.

Coffee

To visit or not to visit…that seems to be the question. There has been so much discussion lately about short term missions and volunteers which caused me to think about our last eight years at Amani, the last twenty-four years of my personal life, and what the Word of God has to say about it.

My first missions trip was to Metro Ministries in Brooklyn, New York, a trip my youth group would make every year. I couldn’t wait for spring break to arrive and being able to go to the inner city – I knew it would be the highlight of the year for me. Maybe the excitement and joy was because it was my first missions trip, but even today there is still nothing I love more than the inner city. Over the next few years I was in both Philadelphia and Miami with Metro Ministries and thought I would be in one of those places long term. It was what I wanted more than anything. However, my brother was the one who ended up in Miami full time. In fact, one of the girls from his youth group, who now calls my brother and sister-in-law Mom and Dad, has been in Uganda the last few years and helps run Amani with me.

I remember leaving Philly with the prayers of the pastor being that I would always have a suitcase in my hands, my feet on and off airplanes, going to many places serving. Not really what I wanted to hear from the leader of the place where I wanted to stay. In fact I dismissed it from my mind and didn’t remember it till over ten years later, ten years of short term missions and volunteer work around the globe. Different ministries in different places, each one grooming me into whom I needed to be before opening Amani. I am so grateful to all those ministries and the knowledge I gained in each situation I served. When we started Amani, we had no choice but to open our doors to teams and volunteers as so many ministries had done for me. I had no idea how much work I had been to the people I had worked under. Volunteers and Teams are a lot of work, but so rewarding. To be completely honest, sometimes I do the math and think about what it would be like if the teams just gave us the money instead of coming but these are a few of the people and things we would have done without.

Beautiful murals, medical directors, nurses, forever families, ones who understand Quickbooks, international foster coordinators, preschool teachers, driveway transformed from mud to stone, a much needed clinic, bonfires,outings to the pool, going out for ice cream, the BEST dinner rolls in Uganda, tea/spa parties………and so much more.

 Would Amani have been ok without all that? Maybe, but I am thankful we didn’t have to find out. Our volunteers have been many and while there are those who believe having so many people in the children’s lives brings instability; I have a different perspective on this after having worked in babies’ homes for over ten years.

We have a great local staff at Amani, not perfect, but good women. Our Mama’s and Aunties are the constant in our children’s world. They are the ones who care, feed, bathe, and dress the babies in addition to washing clothes, mopping floors, and scrubbing the messy nappies. Even then they still make time to hold, sing, and play with the children. They are the ones who take sick babies to the nurse. They are there for the babies every day, a lot like most of our moms did for us growing up. Yes, they are busy, but the children know these hard working ladies are there for them like we knew our mothers were there for us.

I don’t know about your family, but it is hard for me to remember a time when we didn’t know an aunt, cousin, grandma, grandpa, friend, or someone else who just needed a place to stay for a little while. Faces and names of people I could never remember, like the girls from The Girl’s Home (I still don’t really know what it was all about) who would stay with us sometimes. I think I must have been five when they first came and can only remember one or two of their names, but I can still remember them arguing over who got the front seat (which is when we started having assigned seating in the van) and the total party they brought to my sisters, brother and I while there. Older cousins who would put me in the closet under the stairs with the door held closed because I could be completely annoying (Of course, his name I know – Alan). Then, the feeling of loss when our aunts would each decide to get married and start families of their own. Were there times when we were disappointed that some would come and go? Of course, but we didn’t feel unstable or insecure. My mom had to be grateful, as I am, to have the extra energy, excitement and joy that came with extended family and friends in the house. We never questioned who were the main caregivers, providers, and authority in our lives. I do remember developing relationships and looking back seeing how much we learned, in the safety of our family, about dealing with social issues.

At Amani, we have said in the past that when a team or volunteers come through with positive energy and servants’ hearts, they are like a booster shot to us. A few weeks ago I stumbled on a verse in Proverbs that says in it a much more poetic way.

“As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.” Proverbs 25:25

I can speak on behalf of Amani staff how true this is. Most that come truly do quench our thirst (or fill our stomachs if the good news comes in the form of Recee’s) when we are a little parched at Amani.

There are also individuals or groups visiting Uganda who just want to pass through Amani. Visiting an orphanage may not have even been in their plans but when they hear about us they want to come. They are not necessarily there to help. Sure, they stop and play as no one can keep from interacting with these little ones, but they really do just breeze in and out. But they see and almost never do they forget.

James 1:27 instructs us to visit the fatherless and widows. This is what the word visit means in this verse.

to inspect,ie (by impl) to select;
by extens. To go to see
relieve: look out visit

Teams, volunteers and visitors do all these things and this system has worked for us over the years. Yes, our children live in an institution but thankfully they have been able to have an extended family and friends who have been a huge blessing to us. Has it always been a perfect situation? Maybe not, but ask yourself if you have always had perfect situations in your family.

I believe God asked Christians to do this whole visit thing for more than the fatherless and widows. It changes one’s mindset, opens the heart and eyes in ways that cannot happen without firsthand experience. For some, it may even be part of a grooming process by God for future work in the same way He groomed me over the years through other ministries. If Amani has been even a small part of that for someone, what a great honor that is for us.

To visit or not to visit? The answer? Not to visit is out of the question.

For our fifth Anniversary, my husband took me to a place called Wild Waters. While watching the water rush past us, I saw these bulrushes on the banks of the River Nile. Of course you can’t think of bulrushes and the Nile without thinking about the story of Moses. Gazing at the river and thinking of Moses’ mom, a mother of one of our children came to mind because of the similar choices she had to make.

Some things never change. A mother’s sacrificial love is a story that goes back over three thousand years ago when Jochebed had to make a huge decision. This decision is one that most of us moms may not be able to comprehend. Her baby Moses didn’t have a chance of survival with her and the situation reached a place of desperation. Her decision…. make a basket from bulrushes, lay her child in it and set him to float in the River Nile filled with rushing wild waters, hippos, and crocodiles. The only option she had to save her son, which I believe had to come after much prayer to a God who had been silent for so long, decided to trust in Him. She could have held him close to her till the last minute that the soldiers came and snatched up her child only to murder him. Surely this was the choice most of the mothers would have made or maybe they tried to hide them to have a few more moments with them but even this option came with certain death before long. Had Jochebed chosen the other ways, the Old Testament from Exodus on would be completely different and the name Moses would mean little to us today. Thank God she released him with no idea of what the outcome would be. She also used wisdom in asking Miriam to watch over him and to be in the right place at the right time.

Families are important here as in the rest of the world. Even when a situation is desperate and the primary caregivers are not willing to change the circumstances for the child’s care, they would rather the child stay with them than make a decision that would permanently help. Some are willing to place them in an orphanage for some time and some are happy to have them grow up in an institution as they can still claim ownership of them. They don’t want to be the acting caregivers and are not willing to change their environment (sometimes they can’t change) but most of the time will not be willing to sign their children away. When we talked to local authorities about starting Amani, our original idea was to only take the orphaned and abandoned. They specifically asked us to be willing to take the needy that had family also. I am so thankful they spoke with us and that we agreed. In the last eight years we have had the honor of reuniting 66 children with their loved ones. Most of the families just need time to get back on their feet after extreme poverty or tragedy. It is always the goal to place them back in their families if possible. It can take anywhere from six months to four years to make it happen. There have only been five who had to be transferred to other homes because reuniting wasn’t possible.

For the first time in eight years, a mother who had been reunited with her child for about a year told us she wanted us to take the child and find her a permanent home. Her situation was not changing, her health getting worse, and her extended family that would have her child one day when the disease that has swept through the African continent finally takes her life, were also not changing. Knowing there is certain death in the future not unlike Jochebed. She made a selfless decision about the future of her child. I couldn’t believe it at first as she is the only one in our history here who was willing to let someone else claim ownership of her daughter, releasing her into the arm of others. She has prayed over and thought long about this decision and is at a place of peace with it. She doesn’t have to make a basket of bulrushes but she does have to trust in the care of Amani. She doesn’t have a big sister to watch over her but she has trusted us with being the guard and decision maker in her daughter’s life. We are humbled by her trust and sacrifice. I have so much respect for these mothers, for their selfless sacrifice and willingness to trust God with the future of their child. For choosing life for them although it means giving them up. Over three thousand years apart, opposite ends of the same river, death a certainty two mothers make a selfless decision.

I do understand these moms and their trust. It is a daily choice at Amani. One hundred and eighteen (118) have been place for adoption over the last eight and a half years. Truthfully it would be an easier decision to keep them, knowing how they are being raised, loved, taught, and protected, but it would also be selfish. We know if we had kept all 118 orphaned and abandoned children they would be loved and would love. It’s just sometimes love isn’t enough but love and sacrifice is. There is much more for them than our home and our arms. It’s a big deal to be part of choosing others to raise our children and it is something we never take lightly. Like these mothers we are giving some of God’s most prized possessions that he has entrusted to us, to new stewards to love and care for them and it is bittersweet every time.

Please pray for all parties around the world that take part in decision making in these children’s lives. Pray for wisdom and discernment for social workers, agencies, orphanages, immigration, judges, lawyers, embassies, and the families that are blessed by being chosen and approved to be stewards of the fatherless.

We have already seen fruits because of these circumstances. Feeling slightly overwhelmed while this mom was in a hospital, with a disease that in the end has no physical hope of healing, I asked Mama Jude (a good friend who has cared for and given her home to many in the last stages of HIV), to visit her and pray for her. She was happy to do this and the outcome was healing in a much better way; she led her in prayer and Lydia’s mom gave her heart to Jesus!! I can only hope, pray, and trust that Lydia will make the same decision in her future and that they will be a family reunited for eternity. I don’t know what is in the future for Lydia but God does and maybe she will not be parting waters or leading a nation out of slavery but she is just as important to her Creator who has a plan for her, and we will do our best to place her in a home where she will learn to love, fear, and serve Him.

Restoration has been in the Amani family since we started. Amani’s birth was possible because a church was hit by a hurricane. First Assembly of God, New Iberia LA was destroyed by hurricane Lily in 2002. All Star Restoration was chosen to rebuild it.

The broken and damaged church was restored into a beautiful place for lives to be healed and for worshiping God. It was because of a storm and this restoration that All Star was able to provide the finances for Amani’s beginning.

A building was found, it seemed only right it was a house that was old and needed much TLC. A place that had sat for years deteriorating, that many had passed thinking it was too much work to be worthwhile, but our restoration cycle had begun.

Hard Rock Quarry Ltd. who helped find the property wanted to take part into making it a place Amani has called home for the last 8 years. It’s one of the most beautiful homes in Jinja (it’s true, just ask anyone who has been here).

Now it was Amani’s turn to continue the restoration work. Local authorities, social workers, and families of these children entrusted us to help restore them. The last eight years about 275 babies have passed through our doors. So many lives physically healed, so much joy shared. The best part has been watching the restoration to their souls that is only possible through God.

Daniel was one of these when he came to us. His body was like one of the churches that had been through a storm, his spirit broken. He had been through so much at the age of 1. We always said he looked like an old man and it was with much joy to all at Amani to witness his restoration inside and out. The face that was wrinkled in worries transformed into one of the happiest babies in the home. He captured everyone’s heart with his crooked eyes and teeth that went so well with his comical personality. There was nothing better than being greeted by Dan with his fist out to yours for a Bonga (Uganda high five) and his goofy smile. Dan like all the others was not ours to keep and last year he went back to his extended family, more like a child than when he had arrived. In October we received news that he passed away from Malaria. It’s so painful to get news like this, So much love from that boy to so many, so many who loved him. We are grateful that God allowed us to be part of Daniel’s life, as short as it was. Daniel’s restoration is now complete, and while we don’t understand it, we will still trust. It may sound cheesy but I think Dan and his Bonga will be the first sight I want to see after meeting out God and Savior.

The Restoration continues… We purchased property at the end of October and yes, it needs restoration. We are excited about the renovation and building a new place for more broken bodies and souls to find healing.

This is our new home and one of our most broken little bodies at the moment. It is so beautiful to witness both our property and Joram’s physical transformation. We can’t wait to share the end results of both with ya’ll in the near future.

Joram's arrival October

Joram in November

Not only are we renovating, but also building. While there is much to do we have complete faith and trust that it will be provided for and finished in God’s timing. With funds many have given in the last two years, we were able to purchase and start on the building project. The new home will consist of three cottages for 12-14 children in each which is currently being built. The existing home on the property will have the infant nursery, clinic, school room, play room, kitchen, and offices. A second story will connect the cottages which will have an apartment and housing for volunteers. As you can see it is a BIG project. I (Danyne) am blessed to have contractors in the family: my Husband, Father, and Uncle (who should be here soon). It’s like having the Dream Team for building and restoring a place of refuge for these beautiful babies.

Cottage walls December 19, 2011

Our home has been such a blessing over the years and so much of that was because of many of you. We are very thankful for the family, organizations, churches, school groups, volunteers, and individuals that have put prayers, finances, sweat, time, and tears into making Amani a place of healing. Thank you so much for investing in Amani’s children. Please be praying for our future home, the babies that will be entrusted in our care, the staff, mamas, and volunteers.
In Amani, RESTORATION is a family business and the cycle continues.

Around 1 a.m. the other night, fear shot through my chest. Cries that thankfully turned out to be neighborhood dogs reminded me of a moment that will always stay with me.

A few years ago at about the same time of night, loud cries came through our bedroom window. And I knew right away the cries came from our Mamas at Amani. Fearing the worst, Surj and I jumped out of bed – shaking and wondering what had happened that had brought the shouts and cries of the Mamas down the road into our bedroom. It was such a relief to find everyone safe and sound. Thieves ran through the baby home, grabbed a few cell phones and fled. But little did we know how their act of thievery would forever change our lives.

In Uganda, our lifestyle is very different than the place we used to call home. In ways that some may never think about. Roads full of pot holes, loss of power at times, street kids, poverty, and pit latrines are realities that you may not initially expect, but in retrospect they make sense. What surprised me the most on my first trip to Uganda twelve years ago was that there were men hired to assist in specific areas of the home. For a typical home in Uganda, there’s a man designated to open the gate of your compound. A compound that normally has a tall wall around it with a large metal gate, locked from the inside. He also is there to guard your home. He’s called an “Ascari.” There’s also a man to slash your grass which he does with a long piece of metal slightly bent and sharpened at the end. And he swings the slasher back and forth cutting as much length of the grass as he can. He also cares for the garden. He’s called a “Shamba.” Then you have help in your house, these men or woman help you with the cleaning, washing, shopping, cooking and mopping which is normally done with cloths, bent at the waist, bottom in the air and to entertain your children when you are working on the computer (although at the moment it sounds like the kids are entertaining them). He or she is called a “House Girl or Boy.” Your home is a place of employment to three, four or even five people. It is the normal way of life here whether you are an Ugandan or a westerner. And even normal for Mrs. Proverbs 31 – and also as mentioned in verse 15. Not sure how we have missed this in our culture. At first it is awkward to have these people in your home doing things that you are sure you should be doing yourself. Then a day comes and you realize you have not only gotten used to it, but you even like it. And you rely on them more than you ever dreamed you would have.

I have been blessed over the years to have had faithful women in my home and an Ascari who has been with my family for nine years. Our Ascari was with the girls and I before Amani started, and then he decided to come with us when we began Amani. And then he even stayed with the home when I married and moved out of Amani. He’s stopped thieves a few times when they tried to cut our fence or chased them out when they entered the compound.

Over the years we had had only a time or two of petty thievery. Amani is busy 24 hours a day and most of the time someone is moving around. On his day off we locked the gate and had never worried. Burglaries had picked up in our area more than usual. We had moved the volunteers to live upstairs above the babies home, which had been mine and the girls home for years before I was married. We had always felt safe in that location. After the specific night of thieves running through the baby home, we decided to hire a security company to work alongside our private guard. A security company sends a guard every night who carries a rifle. We made the decision to further security. A decision we thought would help protect the babies, Mamas and volunteers. But we’re wrong in our thinking.

After about a year of having added security, we found out the first man they sent to us – who was there for a few months before they moved him to another town – had sexually abused some of our boys. I will never forget the place I was standing when I received that phone call, telling me what had happened. And I will never forget how I felt at that moment. I now understood what people mean when they say, “It felt like being hit by a Mack truck.”

This was not like anything that we had been through in the past. We’ve lost three babies in less than two weeks and even learned while we were are at the grave sight for yet another burial that the premature boy we had buried the week before had been dug up for his body parts to be used for witch craft. We had two young missionary friends in less than 48 hours in our town pass away from malaria and a truck accident. All devastating and tragic events, but completely out of our control. But this experience was different. This was something that we should have been able to prevent, but somehow we had failed our children. I know that parents that have been through this understand. The overwhelming feeling of shock, grief, anger, frustration and betrayal, hitting you all at once.

Pure evil had invaded our home. Our place of peace.

Thankfully, Amani has Godly leadership who have wisdom and compassion for our children. I’m grateful to have a husband who has respect with the local police and discernment in dealing with situations where the law is concerned. It took a month of dealing with local police, the security company and detectives to find and arrest the perpetrator. I’m also grateful to work with a board that took an active role in helping in any way they possibly could during this crisis, including counseling praying and mediating. My Dad and Mom who also are the executive directors of Amani brought me up grounded in God’s Word to know I could trust Him in any and all circumstances. Family members and friends that the children love and trust to be there to work with them during this time. And prayers coming from all over the world.

Amani grew up a lot from this one act. We would love to be able to undo it but we can’t. What we chose to do though was to change, learn, and grow stronger. Ignorance is one thing but stupidity is not excusable when caring for children. This situation made us wiser and demand a higher level of excellence from ourselves. We learned that – though we had had peace while the river was calm – we also could have peace in the rushing waters. When rafting the Nile River level five rapids and you have been thrown from the raft, the crushing waves not allowing you to know which way is up, you remember the voice of your guide saying, “If you fall out this time, you will be down longer than all the rapids you have come through. But remember you will come up by your life jacket.” You can‘t save yourself – it‘s all up to your jacket. This particular set of rapids I am talking about is called “The Bad Place” yet you believe him even though you are more than terrified while submersed under the water. You believe him because all day he has spoken truth to you and you have learned to completely trust this man that you met only a few hours ago.

How can we not trust the One who has proven Himself over and over in His word, in our life and ministry through the years? Going through Level Five rapids with the Lord, trusting Him even when we don’t understand, clinging to His promises to pull us up for air when are struggling… There may be a Level Five crises in a bad place, but we choose to be in a place of peace.

We are so very thankful to all of you who have supported us over the years in many ways. Through prayer, love, time, finances, laughter and tears. You are part of the Amani family, family to 260 babies that have come through our doors, and family to our Mamas who are able to care for their families from salaries they receive because of your donations. There’s been children held and loved in so many arms from so many volunteers over the years. I wanted to share our growth with you… our extended family. You have made it possible to give these children a place of peace that they can call home. We are humbled by your trust in us. Blessed by your support over these last eight years. Please continue to keep us – your extended family – in your prayers.

Mama Danyne

Bottom Row: l-r Sarah, Simona and Amanda.
Top Row: l-r Rakul, Rachel, Maggie, Hallie and Adam.

Jan.26- Feb.5, 2011. For the last two weeks the Baby Cottage has been enjoying the company, stories and service of one young lady and mother of two, Sergeant Amanda Broome, and a young gentleman, Specialist Adam Patterson, who at the present time are deployed to another African country with the United States Army. The two made a decision to take their R and R (Rest and Recuperation) and serve beyond what they already have been doing for the past 9 months with the Army.
Adam discovered the Baby Cottage on a business venture and returned to volunteer so that he could seek out more of his future calling after his service in the Army. Amanda, who was invited by fellow soldier Adam, thought that working at the Baby Cottage would be a better option than returning home because of how brief the time would be with her husband and children in the States. Over the last two weeks, both of these US Army Soldiers have been impressed with the children’s daily activities. One of Amanda’s main undertakings has been practicing exercises with the Toddlers before she attempts to sit them down and teach them the Alphabet and colors using flash cards. On one occasion I could hear Amanda using her army commands to get the Toddlers to listen as Mama Georgina, one of our supervisor mamas, walked out of the room.
Adam on the other hand has assisted greatly on making sure the new laundry room has made progress as well as keeping tabs on Mweru , who is the most active boy we have. From past experiences at other orphanages, Amanda has been impressed with the amount of attention and love the children receive here. “They are truly taken care of and loved—something I have not observed at other orphanages,” said Sergeant Broome. Both Adam and Amanda are planning on future visits to serve.
Thank you for serving our country and at Amani. You are always in our prayers.

Written by Rachel Seigneur (volunteer February 2011)
Edited by Sarah Crane (volunteer February 2011)

Everyone that come through the gates of Amani are a huge blessing to what they bring, it being love, care, happiness, strength, organization, time, effort and/or the will to serve. It is because of you all the true beauty …of the children is brought out. Please remember that we are all one body, just differents parts of the body, but it is the parts that make the body function. Know that we are very thankful that we have those parts which becomes ONE. Remember all the GLORY goes to one and Only JESUS! It is not us but the God in us. Never forget that! Give GOD the Glory!-Helene Charles (Volunteer Coordinator/ Admin Assistant)

Simona, Rakul, Breonna, Amanda, Adam, Sarah, Hallie, Maggie, Rachel,H.E.A.L Ministries, former and future volunteers, Thank you!!!

[[Show as slideshow]]On January 10th, 2011, H.E.A.L ministries came with 12 volunteers to Amani to serve for 7 days. While here they dug a pit for our trash, helped with laundry, took care of the children, cooked meals for our children and staff, played with the children and had time to paint this beautiful piece of Artwork in our Baby BC play room.  Tina (Founder of H.E.A.L ministries), Valery (Board Member), Trey, Tripp, Lynley, Emily D., Caroline, Hayley, Maddi, Meredith, Emily P. and Halley you guys are such a blessing. And may our Father bless you all beyond measure. Thank you for serving at Amani.

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