Emilie Larter, 22, had just qualified as a primary school teacher and wanted to travel the world. She headed off to Uganda to work as a volunteer in a children’s home for two months. Although the experience was a “culture shock”, she loved working with the children.
“As the only volunteer at the time, I was doing as much as I could for the children. I changed nappies, organised feeds and played with them,” she said.
Then, one day something happened that changed Emilie’s life forever.The children’s home got a call to say there was a newborn baby in desperate need in a village about an hour away.
When Emilie arrived, she found a funeral taking place. A mother of seven children had died and her youngest was just five days old. There was no one to care for the tot, so he was handed over to the children’s home.
Emilie recalls the minute she saw the tiny baby: “Swaddled in blankets, he looked so tiny and content, I fell in love”, the young woman said.
“We took him in and named him Adam and, still being the only volunteer, I became his sole carer.
“The feeds, nappies and sleepless nights were all down to me, but it was no bother.”
Emilie had never looked after a newborn before and often had to call her mum to ask for advice.
The children’s home was poorly equipped with no running water or electricity. Water could only be collected during daylight and Emilie often had to buy baby formula herself. But despite the tough conditions, Emilie grew closer to Adam each day and decided to stay another two months.
“I could sit and watch Adam for hours”, she said.
“Everyone told me to keep emotionally detached, but I’d grown as attached to him as he was to me.”
Emilie had to leave Adam when she went back to the UK for graduation but booked a flight to come back as soon as she could. She stayed for another five months but had to return home when she ran out of money, according to The Mirror.
Leaving Adam proved even more difficult this time: “I gave him a hug, but couldn’t bear to leave him. It was horrific”, she said.
“I spent the entire flight in floods of tears thinking how I could get the money to visit him.
"I got three jobs straight away – supply teaching in the day and a mix of bar and care work in the evenings, working seven days a week.
"I was exhausted, but I had enough money to return a few months later for a couple of weeks.”
Emilie then found a full-time teaching job in London and got back together with an ex-boyfriend. Despite this, her mind was never far from the little boy.
“I felt so much love for him, it was overwhelming”, the young woman said.
She decided she wanted to adopt the little boy. She applied for a teaching job in Uganda and broke up with her boyfriend. Emilie’s plans seemed to be coming together when she found a job in an international school and got a house for her and Adam to live in. But after five months, she lost her job and was back to square one.
For now, she is working as a volunteer at Adam’s school in order to fund his education but doesn't have enough money to fund the adoption process.
“I decided to launch an appeal – I don’t like asking the public to donate, but it’s my only hope of us becoming a family”, Emilie explained.
“Adam has brought more joy into my life than I could have imagined. I’ll do whatever it takes to become his mum.”
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