on the day in which I take you on a little tour...

I realized this morning that it has already been a month since I left for Uganda. Wow, time has gone by quickly! So, time to take you on a little tour of where I have been spending my days...

Welcome to Baby Watoto ~ the Bulrushes! This facility opened early in 2007 as an outreach of Watoto Church in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. The home is located in the heart of the city, within walking distance of the downtown area. As Watoto’s first babies home, the Bulrushes was originally home to infants and toddlers up to the age of two. However, with the addition of two new homes that opened in 2010 (in Suubi and Gulu), this home is now used as an intake facility and provides specialized medical care for premies or sick babies. 

As the babies get healthy and grow a little older, they are moved out to the Suubi or Gulu homes until they are old enough to move into one of the Watoto Children’s Villages with a new mom, brothers and sisters. We can take up to 50 babies at this facility, 120 babies out in Suubi and 80 up in Gulu. 

This is the entrance to the home. The building is surrounded by beautiful grounds and there is an outdoor playground which is used daily by the toddlers. 

Just inside the main entrance is “the centre”; used for breakfast time as well as before-bed and indoor playtime on rainy days. 

This is “the Nursery” which is home to the tiniest babies; both premies and newborns that require special medical care. This room comes equipped with incubators, oxygen machines and a photo-therapy lamp to assist with the medical needs of the more fragile infants that come to baby Watoto. 

Watoto has a number of special needs babies that come with a variety of conditions ranging from cerebral palsy and hydrocephalus; most require tube feeding and as a result, they live full-time in Kampala despite their age. This is their room, along with a sunroom that is used during the daytime.

The rest of the babies are put into groups based on age. The "monkey" room is for newborn to 3 months. In behind is the "hippo" room, for babies 4-12 months, and below is the "elephant" room for the toddlers, ages 12 months +. 

This last room pictured below is the clinic and is the room used to care for any of the children that are malnourished or sick and require special attention. We currently have 6 children being cared for in this room. The last picture below is one of our boys that is currenlty staying in the clinic. It is remarkable to see their progress improving day by day. 

We currenlty have approx 40 babies in Kampala, so it's strange to say, but it seems "quiet" at the moment. The number is ever changing though, and being under the maximum intake means that we have space to take new babies when the need arises... always a good thing :)


The next "tour" will be out in the Suubi village as I will be transfering out to that home at the beginning of December. Slight change of pace with over 100 toddlers out there....