VIVA

Before we went to Sanyu or the lawyers, Ella and I stopped to see our old friend Mercy (who worked at Sanyu while L and I were there) at her new job, Viva, an organization that is promoting adoption in Uganda. It was not only fun to see Mercy again (the last time she’d seen Ella was in June!) but to learn more about Viva. This organization is promoting adoption in Uganda, rather than just wanting money to set up yet another institution which often times propagates orphans and abandoned children. The last thing Uganda needs is another orphanage – it needs Ugandan (or other) families to adopt these kids.

Viva provides a lot of information and resources on adoption and fostering. This week I am trying to schedule with my church a Sunday that a Viva spokesperson or two can come out and give a presentation, either this or next month. Ella is probably the best advocate for adoption of all and several people that I work or go to church with have expressed their interest and complete lack of knowledge about adoption and the kids that are kept in orphanages. Hopefully this will help answer their questions and hopefully plant some seeds in other peoples heads. Having little Ella around has provided a face and a name and a personality for the millions of orphans in Uganda that need homes.

Someone who is very near and dear to us, and knows us almost better than anyone (especially Ella), told me this week that she has decided that she is definitely going to adopt and that she’d like to bring her child home when we bring ours home the end of this year! So it looks like there are at least two little kids out there who have permanent homes and families waiting for them and that makes me incredibly happy :).