Adopting a "glue boy" from Kenya

In Kenya, a generation of children have had their parents wiped out by the AIDS epidemic. These kids live on the streets, look for food in the local dump, and sniff glue to ease the pain of their daily lives.

Phil Hamer, a filmmaker, went to Kenya to document the story of these kids. He came back with a film, "Glue Boys" -- but his family came back with something more. While in Africa, Phil's family, including his parents Kathleen and Dan, volunteered at a mission that helps street children. The Orange County Register recently carried their special story:

About 400 kids showed up. When they asked which child wanted to be first, one 5-year-old boy stepped forward. He had been abandoned and living on the streets. He had sniffed glue a few times, but had not yet become addicted.

Since they didn't have running water, Dan Hamer used bottled water and poured it on the boy's head. He soaped him down, rinsed him off and passed him to Kathleen.

Since she didn't have a towel, she had to improvise.

So she hugged the boy to dry him off.

'He was shivering,' said Kathleen, who remembers that she was crying.

She heard that his name was Eric.

That night at dinner, the boy crawled under the table and into Dan's lap. Dan Hamer fed him dinner.

'That moment I felt so clearly that God spoke to me,' Kathleen said. 'He said, ‘This is your son. Bring him home.''

The Hamers had a family meeting in Africa (Kathleen, Dan, Phil and brother Patrick — their daughter Erica was at home). They decided to adopt the 5-year-old.

The next morning, Kathleen received a call from Erica, who didn't know about the adoption decision. Before Kathleen could tell her, Erica said she'd had the strangest dream.

In the dream, the Hamers had adopted a boy named Derek.

Kathleen thought it was amazing how close Erica's dream was to reality. The only difference was that the real boy was named Eric.

The Hamers found out later that day that they had misheard the boy's name.

His name is Derek.

The Hamers found out that Derek had a little brother. They adopted him too, and the boys now are living in California, rooting for the Angels.