Lawyer Fees

In the nearly three years I have been here in Uganda, I have tried my utmost to avoid the need to fundraise. As many of you know, when I originally came here, it was under the promise from the NGO who hired me that all my living expenses would be covered as well as a small salary (about $230/mo) to cover bills back home. A kind and generous couple even offered to donate additional money to my salary in case I needed or wanted to buy anything for myself since they knew there would be nothing left over for me personally. But that donation never made it to me and it was almost immediately revealed after I moved across the world, that there had been no intention to cover my living expenses here. I was expressly forbidden to fundraise for myself and was even chastised and eventually put on a performance plan because my friends didn't give enough money to the organization and I wasn't demanding that they do so. And, no, it wasn't in my job description. ;)

Since leaving the organization, I have been fighting to come up with money for daily living expenses. Mostly it has been through the extreme kindness of a friend and a family member, which combined has been covering my rent, but my life savings has been steadily dwindling lower and lower.

I had hired a lawyer when I began the fostering process and paid him a deposit. While he started out great, things have taken a turn for the worse and he even gambled with and lost about $300 of mine that he was supposed to be holding onto for payment for someone who was helping me with a document that I need. He refused to find a way to repay the money and things devolved from there. Eventually, we mutually decided he wasn't the lawyer to help on our adoption journey, but despite trying to handle it professionally, he's saying he won't return my deposit, and thus far I haven't even been able to get all my documents back that he is currently in possession of either.

So that brings me to this fundraiser. I need to raise $4000 to cover a new lawyer's fees. While recovering the documents and/or getting new ones will be additional costs, I plan on continuing to use my savings for those things. But this cost will put me in a precarious position financially where I would essentially be stuck in Uganda after the adoption because I wouldn't be able to afford to move to a country where I can get a job and an income.

I know it's cliche to say, but literally anything and everything helps! Thank you all so much! These children are my world. I am beyond blessed that out of all the humans in the world, God brought us three together. I will do what I have to do for these children. I will walk through hell for these children. (And those of you who know the details of my story know that I prove that statement regularly.) No mother who birthed a child loves her child more than I love mine. If I have to stay in Uganda forever just for them to be mine, then so be it. But I also miss my friends and family and would love to come home and have everyone meet the two most beautiful and incredible little humans in the world.