Number 14

  

When God gives, he keeps on giving. Nchimunya was our 13^th child in the orphanage and just a couple weeks after him, a beautiful girl was brought to us…Otervia. Otervia is 8 or 9 and HIV positive. She is much smaller than the average 8 or 9 year old, but she definitely has the spunk of a young girl that age. Her father passed away shortly after she was born in 2002 and then her mother died this past August both from HIV. She also had two brothers that died at a young age, shortly after birth, from her same parents. However, her older brother is still alive and living with her mother’s father. He is older and able to work, so the grandfather appreciates him. Otervia has been living with her aunt and step-uncle since her mother died last year and just recently has been diagnosed with a positive status of HIV. With the burden of medication and another mouth to feed, the aunt and uncle decided they couldn’t keep her. They heard about our orphanage and brought her for an interview. We learned that Otervia’s aunt and step-uncle already have four children they are caring for and we find that HIV positive children are often neglected and poorly cared for allowing the HIV to take over their bodies. We know that with Otervia here, she will constantly be on ARV’s, will receive good nutritious meals, clothes, shoes, a warm bed, daily baths, and an education. Where she was previously living, they were not taking good care of her. Now that she is on the ARV’s regularly, her skin is beginning to clear up and her strength is returning. She is unable to make the walk to school for now, but we pray that soon she will be strong enough to go with the other two children in the afternoon to Grade 1. She had attended a community school years past, but after a couple months of Grade 1, the school shut down and she hasn’t had any education training since then.

We love having her around and all the girls, especially Milium, have taken to her and made her feel right at home. She just started the same reading program all the other children are on and also math, writing, and English lessons on the weekends. We hope that she and Milium will get caught up enough to enter Grade 1 in January and pass with flying colors. With Otervia, we now have 14 wonderful children living in the community orphanage!!