It has been a very busy 10 days with many new babies coming in. We got to the point of having 20 resident babies which is too many for the existing staff. We have taken on 2 new Carers until we can get the numbers down.
Medius was another one left down a drop pit toilet. A Rwandan lady asked to stay in the house of a community overnight. In the morning, the lady above heard the baby crying in the toilet and assumed the mother was in there with her child. Three times she called to the lady to see to her child. She went and grazed her sheep but on returning the baby was still crying. She went in and there was the baby floating in the mess of the toilet. Her neighbours gathered round and they broke down the floor to get to the baby. The baby emerged covered in maggots and faeces. No-one wanted to touch her but this lady had compassion and bathed her before taking her to the Police then Potters. She and her husband are childless and she desperately wants to keep this baby. Medius is about 2 1/2 months old and understandably has been very sick. Currently she is on the Malnutrition Unit as this lady can be taught many parenting skills there. What comes after that? It will be several months before Medius is weaned. Do we separate new mother & child and keep Medius here until weaned? Can we teach her to bottle feed with cow's milk and trust she will keep good standards of hygiene back in the community? We don't know the answer yet.
Then came Isaac...but we already had one of those so he is called Zak. A super cute baby with enormous eyes whose mother died after the birth.
Fortunately for us, we had Sue and Linda visiting from St Mary's Church in Ely. On her last visit Sue took in Nsaba, a TB infected baby. She did not hesitate when asked if she would like to take in Zak. She had him every night of their stay which was superhuman in my mind...Linda helped out.
After Zak came James whose mother died. She gave birth at home but the placenta failed to deliver. Being very rural and no cars could reach there, they put her on the back of a motorbike (oh, my goodness!!!) to get her to hospital. However she bled so much that she died en route. Alan & Claire Cook had just returned to Kisoro. When I tentatively asked Claire if she would like a baby for the night, there was no hesitation. Wonderful!
Jackson (above), now renamed Daniel, was our latest and most troubling case. He was found under some bushes still attached to the placenta and wrapped in a sack but covered in earth. The person who found him took him to the nearest Health Clinic where they cut the cord and wrapped him in a blanket. They did not clean off the soil and stones - I can't understand that. From there he went to the Police Station and then to us. In all 6 1/2 hours after he was found before arriving at Potters. Why do they do things so slowly? This meant the baby had an unrecordable temperature by the time he arrived. Hot water bottles were quickly made and it took many hours for his temperature to be normal. Meanwhile, the mother was found and arrested. The Police wanted to imprison her but Winniefred asked that she come to us so we could find out if we could help her. The mother had 3 children by her husband, had divorced him and had two children with another man but he already had a wife he lived with. She had a very lively 2 year old with her. She had no money, no land, no food and had defaulted on the rent for two months. She was desperate and had attempted to abort the child twice. She seemed so depressed it was very sad. However, she opted to go to prison for a year rather than have freedom and our help - even if she did not want her child. Two days in prison and the Police actually asked us to try again. She was depressed and would not talk to anyone. They feared for the 2 year old. Long story short, she is a different woman. We have given her the private room so she does not have to answer to other mother's comments. She has accepted her baby but sadly he is not wanting to suck so is being fed by tube, although she is expressing milk. She is much more positive. We still have to figure out what happens after she leaves here. Clearly we have to put something in place for them to survive out there but she is strong and willing to work.
Moses, the other baby left down a toilet, has bounced from infection to infection but we hope has stabilised. In order to reduce our numbers, Mandi, husband and daughter have taken him in until we can find a permanent place for him. They are Americans working for Amazing Grace Ministries. The Pastor they work for has adopted David, the lovely Batwa boy we had.
In the last blog there was a picture of Joanne in the Unit. She was very malnourished and so swollen that she could barely open her eyes. Here she is fully recovered and ready to go home.
Another one doing well is our superprem Claudette now weighing in at 1.6 kilos. She's still tiny but so much much bigger than when she arrived.
On top of all of this we are having the effects of entering the dry season. That means it is windy - you have to remember to keep your mouth shut when walking around or you get a mouthful of dust - or is it just me who has to think about that? Electricity is a fluctuating commodity and water even rarer. This does not bode well for the next two months. The theory is that they think there will not be enough water to last so they are turning it on in a very sparing manner. The lack of electricity has been put down to wind blowing the lines - but it has not had this affect before. I have had to hand wash the clothes today using the minimum of water. Babies will now get bathed 3 times a week and I am hoping for the water to return so I can have the first shower in 3 days tonight. Fun!
...and finally. We have sharing the problem of needing more chairs. Some break and some go missing. Chair thieves start young these days!
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