In May 2010, we brought in a new member to our family, a 2 year old little boy named Codrine. We had taken Esther back to visit her grandmother, a 77 year old woman who has the sole responsibility of raising her 10 grandchildren, aged 2 to 12 years. These orphaned children have been with her from a very young age and know their grandmother as their only family. Her only means of caring for the children is to sell rotten tomatoes that she has scavenged from the local market. On a good day she makes enough for the family to eat one small meal a day, but many days they go without eating. Codrine was the youngest at age 2, his mother died during child birth. He was in a very bad state, suffering from worms, a terrible cough, and severe scabies covering his entire body. As we were leaving Esther’s grandmother, our 2 year old son Isaiah grabbed Codrine by the hand and told him to come to daddy's car and that we were going home. We have been able to get him the necessary medical treatment and he has improved greatly. We support the grandmother and the remaining children bringing them food monthly.

Julianna was just over a year old when her mother abandoned her in a bar, leaving her to wonder the streets alone in a diaper for a week.

When Carli and Robert rescued her she was suffering from syphilis and severe malnutrition. They were unsure for the first few days if she would even live. She is now almost 5, healthy and happy, attends school daily and fortunately has no recollection of the early abuse she suffered. Robert and Carli are the only Mommy and Daddy she’s ever known.

When Robert and Carli first met Sandra in 2009, she was only 5 years old, orphaned, and staying with her auntie who beat her regularly. She was suffering from malnutrition, ringworm and scaring on her face and back from the abuse she’d experienced. After being thrown head first through a window, she wandered back home to the shack she shared with her auntie and found it boarded up and her auntie gone. Robert and Carli took her in immediately. Sandra responded quickly to the safety and warmth of her new environment and spends her days laughing and playing with all her new brothers and sisters. She is starting school for the first time and is very excited and happy.

For the first year after Carli and Robert rescued 5-year-old Vanessa off the streets of Kampala, she woke up every night with nightmares stemming from the sexual and physical abuse she experienced at the hands of her father.

Robert and Carli soon made her feel secure and safe and were able to focus her attention on happier thoughts. Vanessa is now 8 years old and loves to sing, dance and just experience what it’s like to be a child again.

Marjorie was 7 years old staying in a refugee camp bordering the Congo when Carli and Robert found her. She was scared and timid and had never seen a white person before.

Now two years later, Marjorie has settled right in to her new family. Unprompted, and like all her adopted brothers and sisters, she calls Robert and Carli, Mommy and Daddy. She’s 9 years old and is in the top of her class in school.

Godance was also one of the original kids that Carli and Robert rescued off the streets of Kampala when she was only 7 years old. She was very nervous at first about being taken in by them and was suffering from severe malnutrition.

One of the first things Carli established with the children was birthdays. Although most of them didn’t know when their real birthdays were, Carli assigned a date to each of them, and each in turn would experience a birthday celebration with all the attention and fanfare that that might bring for the first time in their lives. In this environment, Godance integrated quickly and well into her new family and enjoys the opportunity to play freely with her brothers and sisters.

She’s 10 years old now and loves to dig and plant gardens.

At just 5 years of age, Douglas was living mainly on the streets in absolute poverty, fending for himself by eating from garbage cans. Whenever he attempted to go home he was beaten so severely by his father, that neighbours contacted Carli and Robert and appealed to them to bring him into their family. He was malnourished and had severe ringworm and jiggers.

Douglas was so happy to have a bed to sleep in for the first time in his life. He is now 7 years old and is healthy, happy and loves to play outside.

8 year old Deus is Douglas’ older brother and came to stay with Carli and Robert over the Christmas holidays in December 2009 while his mother was away. He had severe ringworm, parasites and malnutrition. When he returned to his home in January, he learned that his mother had died two weeks earlier. Carli and Robert had noticed scars from cigarette burns on Deus’ body, burns he says were inflicted by his father for not preparing meals on time or washing clothes properly.

Deus became the 12th and latest child to join the family and he is becoming more active and healthier day by day. Like his brother Douglas, Deus is a very well behaved, caring boy who enjoys school very much.

Benjamin was 5 years old when Carli and Robert rescued him along with 5 other children off the streets of Kampala. When they first brought him home, he and some of the other children had never seen water running from a tap or a flushing porcelain toilet. At first they washed their faces in the toilet bowl when asked to clean up for bedtime, not understanding the concept properly. He was severely malnourished and just so happy to be in a loving family and enjoying luxuries like beds, running water and regular meals.

Benjamin is now 8 years old, extremely creative and loves to play with Lego.

Like all of Robert and Carli’s adopted children, Benjamin integrated immediately once he sensed he was welcome and wanted by all of them. He’s also thrilled to start school for the first time.

Martin was 6 years old and suffering from malnutrition, severe ring worm, infected cuts on his hands, arms, legs and feet when Carli and Robert rescued him off the streets of Kampala. When they brought him home, he would hide food in his bed for many months, until he began to understand there would always be another meal following the last and there was no longer any need to ration his food.

Martin is now 9 years old, very shy but has a big, big heart, always looking out for his younger brothers and sisters.

Esther is one of the most recent children to join Robert and Carli’s clan. A child protection agency contacted them in late December 2009 when they found Esther in the hospital suffering from severe tears due to a brutal rape. They dared not release her back on the street for fear she would become a target for future rapes.

She is 10 years old and miraculously, as all Carli and Robert’s kids somehow seem do, she’s healing and able to move on quickly in the loving and safe embrace of a welcoming family. In February she started school.

Elijah was hanging around with the 6 children Carli and Robert originally rescued in 2007, but he got scared and ran away before they could convince him to live with them. Three years later, the couple found him still living on the streets, suffering from malnutrition and severe ringworm. He was more than ready to join the family.

Elijah is 11 years old now and so happy to know that he has a family of his own.

Christie was 10 years old and the self-appointed mother of the group of 6 children Carli and Robert initially rescued. She was suffering from malnutrition and exhaustion when the couple first met her, but that never stopped her from always wanted to do all the housework.

Christie recognized a good thing when she met Robert and Carli and has worked very hard to contribute to the family and do well in school. At 13 years old she has been allowed to develop her confidence is an unrestricted, supportive environment and is doing extremely well at school. Christie has big, ambitious plans for her future.