Unbelievable

These are the events of yesterday and last night. The absolute truth--I couldn't make this up if I tried.

Late in the afternoon we went to Welcome Home to bid our goodbyes to the staff. We gave and received hugs, took pictures, and the kids even sang Zariah a goodbye song. Then we went out to dinner with our friends. We came home, finished packing, bathed kids and went to bed.

At around 11:30pm our friends Carrie and Brandon were awakened by a knock at their bedroom door in the guesthouse (they are still in the first guesthouse we stayed at). It was the police. They hurriedly threw on clothes (and Carrie, who has a bad eye infection, spent some time getting her eyes unglued as they were gunked shut). They opened the door. There stood the owner of the guesthouse, who had been ordered not to say anything. They began asking for Jessica, insisting that our friends were hiding her, asking to see the paperwork for their daughters, and in the end inspecting their daughters to be sure they were not Jessica/Zariah. Our friends didn't have their court order with them, and neither did we have ours, because we were to pick them up at the lawyer's office in the morning before heading to the embassy. The police had a woman with them who was a relative of Zariah's of some sort.

Next the police demanded that our friends tell them where we were. They told them the name of our guest house and the address, but the police insisted that Brandon accompany them. When they got outside, the police said, "Where's your car?" Brandon said he didn't have a car, and asked them where their car was. Turns out the police don't have a car, or a motorcycle. When Brandon told them how far away it was, which is walkable but a long way in the dark, they pulled over a boda driver and made him drive Brandon and one police officer to our guest house.

Meanwhile, the police had told Carrie not to contact us, and she was afraid they might be watching, so she called William, the manager of Welcome Home. He lives near Jinja, but was in Entebbe, a 2-3 hour drive away. He asked her many questions, told her Brandon shouldn't have gone with the police, and immediately got in his car and headed our way.

William called us immediately, so we were awakened to the phone ringing. He explained that the police would be at our door very soon. We quickly dressed, but made enough noise that it awoke Micah. I then had to give him a bottle to get him back to sleep. Daryl went downstairs and called the owner of our guesthouse, Surjio, whose wife happens to be the director of the other orphanage in town and they live very nearby. When I came downstairs, Daryl was sitting at a table talking with 3 people--2 police officers and a woman who the police alternately said was Zariah's grandmother, her guardian, and a representative of her grandmother. I knew that her grandmother is deceased so this was confusing. I knew she couldn't be Zariah's guardian, because Welcome Home had been her guardian and had given us a release stating that we are her guardians. I had that piece of paper which I showed to the police.

The police were under the impression that we were flying home in the morning, which we repeatedly assured them was not the case. They told us that they would have to take Jessica with them, and honestly I thought "over my dead body". I know possession is 9/10 of the law and I was afraid we'd never get her back or even see her again. We asked if they had any court order, and the police officer laughed at that and said he didn't need one because this was an emergency and he couldn't get one in the middle of the night.

Next the owner of the guest house, Surjio, arrived. He was very assertive, as he knows the laws due to his wife's job, and informed the police that they could not take Jessica without a court order. Shortly after Surjio arrived, Brandon walked in. It turns out that after Brandon showed the police officer where our guest house was, he asked if he could go home and was told yes. He rode with the boda driver back to the other police officer and the police social worker, and they told him he had to stay with them, so they walked the rest of the way to our guest house. When they arrived, Surjio had told his guard not to let in anyone else, so the other police officers and the social worker were made to stay outside the guest house compound (it is fenced and gated with barbed wire and a guard in a booth).

Eventually the police requested to see Zariah, which we reluctantly agreed to, mostly because Surjio seemed to think that was ok. We all trooped up to our room (2 police officers, the relative, Surjio, Brandon, Daryl and I). They made us turn on the light and the relative positively identified her as Jessica. She also said something to her, but since she was awakened from a sound sleep she just seemed stunned.

We went back downstairs, and agreed that we would bring our court order to the police station in the morning. I requested to know the name of the woman, which was Betty. The police left, Brandon went with them, and Surjio went home.

After a short telephone conversation with William, he decided to turn around, pick up our paperwork in the morning (which was in Kampala, which is near Entebbe) and drive it to Jinja. He told Daryl that I should proceed to Kampala in the morning with Micah and our friends. Daryl was to stay behind with Zariah to take her to the police station with our court order.

It was now about 1am and my ride was coming at 5:30am. A short night to say the least.

When we arrived at the lawyer's office we were able to read through all of the documents. As I remembered, Zariah had been brought to Welcome Home by someone named Betty. As it turns out, it was the same woman who was making a claim to her during the night. Betty was a friend of Zariah's grandmother, who used to care for Zariah. When the grandmother died, she gave custody of Zariah back to Zariah's mother, Prossy. Prossy then gave Zariah to Betty and disappeared. Betty went to a human service agency requesting help because she didn't have enough money to raise Zariah. They sent her to the child welfare officer who placed Zariah at Welcome Home. Betty never visited Zariah except when she came to sign the paperwork giving up her rights to her. At that time she requested that she be allowed to say goodbye to Zariah. Apparently YESTERDAY the social worker from Welcome Home called Betty to tell her we were leaving if she wanted to say goodbye. A little late, since Zariah doesn't live there any more. This is what gave her the idea that she wanted Zariah back. Betty was probably angling for a bribe of some sort.

After William returned to Jinja, he drove Daryl to the police station. Betty was standing out front waiting. They all went in together and sat down in a room with several police officials, who began listening to their stories. William presented our side of the story, along with the documentation to prove it. Betty told her side of the story, in Luganda so Daryl couldn't understand what she was saying, but she was basically told by the police that she was wasting everyone's time. They pointed out that she is not even a relative so why would she want Zariah back and why suddenly NOW after she signed away her rights to her?

Notably, Zariah didn't act as though she knew or recognized Betty at all. She just sat on Daryl's lap quietly and ate suckers.

By 1:30pmit was over and Daryl was on his way to Kampala.

I'll update on what happened at the embassy later. Didn't get much sleep and need to go to bed!