"The Journey is Not Over for Us!"

There is a boy named Yahaya that many of you know of because he is a boy that I love so much. He is a boy I have asked many of you to pray for as well as I know that you have. I always knew that Yahaya was supposed to be in our home. He did come into our home a couple of times but never for more than two days before he would run back to the streets to do drugs to which he was so strongly addicted. He had been through so much and just couldn't trust anything good in his life. He was also so addicted to drugs, going off of them for any period of time felt impossible for him. He was so hopeless and could simply not believe that anyone could love him or be good or trusted.

Two days ago Yahaya passed away. He had eaten something and began foaming at the mouth, convulsing and vomiting. Shortly after that he died. Last year, three street children were poised and killed by women living in the slum community (who didn't like street children) and two women were convicted and put into prison. It seems that Yahaya was another victim of poisoning.

There was so something so extremely beautiful about Yahaya. Behind his scars and drugs and toughness was the heart of an extremely wounded yet kind soul. He acted tough but I know that God had created him as a soft and compassionate kid. I loved Yahaya so much and had a perpetually broken heart that he couldn't stay in our home. The doors were never closed to our home and he knew it.

I loved Yahaya so very much and it feels hard knowing now that the hope that he would one day chose a life where he would be safe and loved and happy is no longer possible. I keep remembering the hours that he spent in our home wrestling with David and rollerblading all over the place as he grinned from ear to ear. I think the hardest part is not knowing where he is right now. Yahaya, as far as I had known him turned away from everything good and loving in his life- people, places, medicine and even God.

I am a very steady person but sometimes I feel like my life is full of impossibly high highs and low lows. After hearing that Yahaya had passed away I was surrounded by my boys, all children that God had allowed me to rescue from the street in devotions as they sang with full joyful hearts to God. They are the most beautiful treasures and I wish that the whole world could meet them, because they are the most beautiful example of a life saved and transformed by God. I kept looking at Richard, our newest and smallest boy who reminds me a little of Yahaya in his cuteness yet zeal for life as he sang with his shirt tucked into his high waisted shorts with his shoelaces tied around his calves as he sang and danced his little heart out. It hurt to be reminded of Yahaya but it helped heal my heart too to see Richard and think of where he might have been. 

The journey is not over for us. There are so many children suffering on the streets that don't have a home, and someone to love them, and most importantly don't know of a God who loves them more than they can ever imagine. My heart is still breaking and grieving over Yahaya and the injustices and horror that street children go through. It isn't right and it isn't fair and he lived a life that no one should ever have to go through.  But that is exactly why we stand in the gap to be a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves. 

This was a poem that I wanted to share that I had written last year, while praying for Yahaya actually, that still feels so painfully true for many children that we work with.

Come come come

We say, He says

Stay stay stay

We plead

But so often you slip into the night

Out of our hands that try to hold on so tightly

And forever we wonder

You thought you were invisible

Because you left and no one noticed

You hid and no one sought you out

But I see you now

and you were never lost from His sight

I think sometimes it can be hard for you

To look through to the other side

Of us who sleep in beds at night

And don't have to fight to survive

Who get food from a fridge rather than a trash can

And to believe that we could possibly understand you

That we could possibly be someone you could trust

But we do

We love you

Please jump

Off of the cliff

That you have so many times before

And trust that this time it will be different

And we will wait here

Watching you

Our faces turned up

     and our arms raised

To catch you as you fall

We will be here

For however long you need it

Thank you all for praying for our children here in Uganda. Thank you as well everyone that has given to our ministry in the last couple of months, it has encouraged our hearts so much and been such a blessing, we are doing this work together, thank you all we love you.

God bless

Abby and David Kakeeto