Frankie, A Great Big Brother
Frankie arrived to live at Cherish Homes in July 2013. In almost 4 years, we have been blessed watching Frankie grow from a young boy into a wonderful big brother.
This 12-year-old aspires to be a doctor in order to help fix people, but for now, you can find him operating on bicycles around our Cherish Homes.
An older Cherish boy, named Topher, was like a big brother to Frankie. Topher taught him how to ride, and repair, bikes.
Last year, Topher moved on from Cherish Homes to attend vocational school, so Frankie is now filling Topher's shoes, caring for the other Cherish kids. His eyes light up when he explains how he has fixed other childrens' bikes, and he beams with joy when showing off his big, blue bicycle.
As he rides away from his house, down the bumpy hill to the road, his house mom shouts from behind “MPOLA MPOLA BAMBI!” meaning “SLOW DOWN, slow down, please!"
In the afternoon, you can find Frankie patiently trying to teach the younger children how to ride.
It's not only during play hours that you will find Frankie being a great big brother.
Our Homes staff loves to share one of Frankie's recent shining moments, when a boy in Frankie's home was adopted by a family from America. The adoptive parents came to have dinner with the boys' home and pick up their new son this past January.
You can only imagine the emotions filling up the room; the adoptive family yearning to embrace their new child, and the house mother and boys feeling a bittersweet excitement as they say goodbye to their friend.
“Rejoice with those who rejoice”
Dinner was over and the boys lined up. Frankie courageously stepped forward to set the tone of saying goodbye, speaking on behalf of his younger Cherish borthers.
Tears swelled up in everyone's eyes as he spoke directly to the American family.
He encouraged them in their choice to display God's love through adoption. With graceful language, he thanked God for providing a family for the boy and he wished the family well, promising to pray for them.
Frankie and a few of his Cherish brothers
Some of our Cherish children have spent years in our homes, some are able to be reunited with family once their health stabilizes, and a few of our kids' stories end in adoption.
Like Topher, Frankie too will eventually move on from our Cherish Homes, but thanks to our supporters, children like Frankie are able to find a loving sense of family at our Cherish Homes.
Thanks for supporting Cherish Uganda so that these kids can have a caring mom to remind them to "slow down," friends to teach them how to ride a bike, and big brothers to inspire them.
The name in this story was changed to protect his identity
Cherish Homes consist of 7 family-style homes (3 boys homes and 4 girls homes) where children living with HIV live. Cherish Uganda helps rehabilitate these children for typically 2+ years, before the child is resettled back into communities with extended families.