Dear friends and supporters,

Our family has grown in the last two months, I think we have finally overcome all bureaucratic and cultural difficulties.

We are fostering 10 children at the moment and next week 2 kids from Francistown are joining us. 13 children from D’kar, a suburb which is 4 km way, attend our Day-Care centre.

I am happy about and satisfied with these results, and now I know for certain that I’m in the right place and we are all engaged in a necessary, worthy and rewarding project. Thanks to your support as well our ideas and plans can stay alive. Thank you so much.

Paolo Johannes Dabe, the youngest in our family (he is 6 months old), is making incredible progress. He eats a lot, has recently started to crawl and his first tooth is growing. The mums spoil him too much, he is always sitting on somebody’s lap and whimpers. Even if he weighs properly, he is still a frail child. He has always some kind of troubles: chill, cough, diarrhoea, luckily nothing serious. The mums are those who always exaggerate. I still can’t understand if they do it because they are worried or just to go to the hospital in Ghanzi.

Let me tell you one thing: all my staff like going to Ghanzi. They keep sitting in a row and chatting for hours and hours and then they do what they have to: they go shopping, visit some friends or relatives….

Cecilia Malebucho (10 months) is fine. She crawls and stands up, and she will start toddling around very soon. Cecilia is a calm, quiet child, maybe a bit lazy. She watches the other children playing for hours and then she comments: da…da…ma…ma… Her teeth haven’t grown yet. She does everything slowly, like a real Batswana!!

She is as beautiful as the morning star and for this reason she is like a princess, loved by everyone. She is very healthy, eats everything and sleeps the night through. Her mum has been in touch with her only three times since her arrival at our home and she has shown no interest or emotion: I was very disappointed!

Teresa (18 month) is a real lark!

She is growing well and is very lively. From her eyes, two burning flames, you can understand her temper: either she cries or she laughs, no compromises. She asks for anyone to care for her and, in case of failure, she cries out or bites. So I replied in the same way yesterday, I bit her: she did not look at me again for the whole day and stopped biting me.

I can’t be angry with her, she’s such a nice, sweet little girl.

Charlotte (4 years old), has overcome her initial problems. She does not ask to see her mom anymore and does not feel like drinking beer. Now she likes going to the pre-school together with the other children. She is tall for her age and I sometimes realize we expect too much from her. She still feels responsible for her little sister Teresa, who is like a little witch.

We have never seen their mother, but some days ago Charlotte and Teresa’s grandmother came to visit them. She said to me, “My daughter is now in the big city of Gaborone. I bet she will be expecting her third baby when she comes back.” What a tragedy! When their grandmother left, Charlotte burst into tears and wanted to be cuddled and cheered by her white ouma (grandma).

Gaone (6 years old) has become a happy little girl, but sometimes she is a bit jealous and stubborn. She is making incredible progress: she can count to 10 and distinguish almost all colours. Gaone likes doing the shopping with me. I usually take three kids with me; in my car they chat and discuss whether they will have a coke or a lollypop. She still dislikes drawing and writing; she loves playing outside instead, as she is a free spirit.

Meanwhile two little boys have joined our home, Thato (4 years old) and Bonginko (5 years old). They both have been abandoned by their mothers; I do not know for sure, but I think they are prostitutes. I am still waiting for the social workers to let me know something more about them.

Thato was sad and closed at the beginning. I was very concerned about him! Since we have some kittens, I asked him whether he wanted to look after them. Thato has changed since that very moment. He looks after his kittens carefully and proudly, he has made friends with the other children and he always calls me “mum”. He is a clever kid, he can speak English quite well and he is very polite. I take much care of him, risking that the others may be jealous. It is not always easy!!

Bongi is exactly the opposite. He shows his unease by being rather aggressive. It seems to me that he is a real wild child. He is up to all sorts of mischief and if I scold him, he goes away shaking his head. He is a strong and robust child, and he learns everything very quickly. I make him run a lot and play so much in the hope that he vents a little bit of his rage.

Annah, Johannes and Davide (5, 3, 2 years respectively) live with us during the week and they sometimes spend the weekend together with their family. This children belong to the Bushman ethnical group: they have light skin colour and almond-shaped eyes. I have never met such quick-witted children: they observe everything and repeat everything; they can learn anything very quickly.

Their mum died of AIDS after her last delivery. Their father, who has got AIDS as well, has already had another child with a very young woman.

We opened the Day-Care Centre a week ago. We host some poor children of D’kar, namely 9 orphans and 4 needy kids of the age of 3-6. Their relatives do not have the means to send them to the pre-school; hence, the kids stay with us during the day and go back to some relatives or to their parents in the evening.

They are shabby, hungry children who are in need of anything.

As you can see, we have a lot of things to do!

Our children are cared for and cherished thanks to your help and love. We hope we will be able to care for them for long, in order to grant them a better future. All these children would live in the roads without the support of so many charitable, good people who share our ideas.

Love, Cecilia