Sanyu Babies Home

     Sanyu means “joy” in Luganda, the local language, and is located on Namirembe Hill in downtown Kampala. It started in 1929 and was the first and is the oldest Babies Home in Uganda. They care for up to 50 babies and toddlers, aging between 1 day and 4 years old, at any given time. Most of these babies are abounded and found in pit latrines, ditches, taxi parks, garbage heaps or left by the side of the road then brought by the police to Sanyu; babies are left by the gate at all hours of the day and night by families that don’t want them or feel they can’t provide for them. 

     With so many children, you can imagine there is a great need for extra hands all the time! With loads of dirty laundry to wash, buckets of laundry to hang out to dry on the lines, mountains of laundry to fold and sort, tubs full of dishes to wash, diapers to change, tears to dry, games to play, muscles to help develop, positive interactions needing to happen, feeding and bathing multiple times a day, hugs and cuddles to be given, there are unending things needing to be done.  It’s one of my favorite and hardest parts of the week, to be surrounded by so many children that desperately need clean diapers and food but more than anything, they need love and someone to care about them. There’s something about walking into a room of babies a few months old, sitting on the floor and having them crawl over to sit in your lap… Going there each week means that I get to know their names, I get to see their personalities develop, celebrate the milestones of a new tooth or taking the first steps, I get to see their smiles when they recognize me and catch them as they try to jump into my arms. I’m not a substitute for the family they don’t have, but I can hold and cuddle, I can giggle with them and wipe the tears, I can pray over them and beg the Lord to provide for them in every way…

     There is a room that the smallest babies are in, the ones that are a few days or weeks old. Sometimes there are some soft gurgles and baby noises coming out of small beds, sometimes tiny arms and legs are stretching towards the sky with baby marathons being run in the air, and sometimes it’s quiet with big brown eyes looking up at the ceiling in silent wonder. I go in and pull a sweet little one into my arms, letting the bottle cool while hungry lips are seeking and for a few minutes I can sit in the quiet at a tiny table to pray over them while rocking back and forth, offering comfort and sustenance.  As the bottle slowly empties I ask the Lord to bless them with unending grace, I pray that no matter what happens they would grow into life knowing that they are loved desperately by Him and by a woman who prayed over them once upon a time in a small, quiet room.

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I asked Jenny to share about her experience at Sanyu and this is what she said this : 

At Sanyu you will find yourself folding clothes, washing dishes, sorting beans and our personal favorite holding the babies and toddlers.  Around feeding time we all pile in the feeding room and grab a hot bowl of rice or potatoes and start feeding tiny babies to toddlers. Then after milk bottles for the small ones we change diapers and outfits and get them ready for nap time.  Sometimes you find a baby that touches your heart and you can't bare to let go so you do what your heart tells you and you hold on to that baby lavishing him or her with kisses and hugs and soft whispers in the ear.

- Jenny Moser

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Written by : Kailey Jensen  

To find out more of what they are doing, you can visit their website at http://www.sanyubabies.com/