meet archie...

this is my little buddy archie...

we want nothing more than to bring him home with us. he lives in the township of lwandle (a little run down shack-like village in cape town) with his mother and four siblings.
his father died some years ago from unknown causes or “the illness” which they don’t like to label as HIV or AIDS. his mother works several hours a week, leaving her children unattended and to fend for themselves. when she is home she is often drinking heavily to cope with the pain of her life and decides to lock the kids out of the house more frequently than not....
thankfully for archie there is a christian woman in their village that works at the local crèche that has fallen absolutely in love with him and looks after him several nights a week, feeds him, takes him to the dr. when needed etc.
he is a beautiful little boy with a huge heart. he attends church alone on sundays and has been able to learn english from an early age at the crèche. he did most of our translating from english to xhosa and he did such a great job!!
since he is not up for adoption we have decided to to sponsor him and send him to a private christian school...we will take care of everything from supplies, clothing to doctor visits...it is still unknown if he has HIV...but we want to check right away because with the retro-antivirals he can still have a chance...
we are commited to taking care of his needs, praying for him, writing him and hopefully visiting him again soon....i really feel we came for him....or he was here for us...it is amazing how someone you hardly know can slip right into your heart so quickly...