David and I visited our first orphanage on Friday. Sanyu Babies Home is probably the highest visibility orphanage in Kampala. They are located very close to the center of town and their sign says “orphaned, abandoned, destitute - we take all babies”. Speaking to someone during our visit, we heard the sad stories of how babies end up in Sanyu. They are brought by police officers or citizens who find them thrown under bushes in the taxi park, many are found in rubbish bins, others in pit latrines. One picture of a sweetly grinning two year old said ” ‘A’ was found by the side of a busy road in a black plastic bag with his cord still uncut.” Many of the babies are brought in severely malnourished or dehydrated and require short hospitalizations for stabilization.

Sanyu was filled not only with babies but with volunteers from around the world who were loving on the kids. I tried not to look too hard at any of the baby’s faces so that I wouldn’t fall in love, in fact I totally avoided looking into their faces, except for the sweet one who came running up to grab my hand and say “come!” as I came in. And the little two month old who chortled and beamed into my eyes as I rubbed her tummy when I passed. That one was a keeper - the problem was, they all are.

It was a great time for David and I to recognize the concreteness of the need of homes for these children although our personal dream of adopting still feels abstract; clearly this is reality for these kids. It’s strange that we never began our journey towards adoption by thinking of the need, but only thinking of our own desires. Yet our desires and the needs of the world ARE intersecting.