Last week was my first week working in the clinic with the premature babies. We are able to help the premature babies better than the local hospital and usually the nurses work in this room and keep the ridiculously small and sick babies alive.
This week I worked in there, and all the babies are doing well. The two smallest are in the incubators, one being Eli who came about 2 weeks ago weighing just under 1kg. He's a strong little fella with lots of fight, and he loves getting taken out for cuddles.
Anyway the other night a baby came in at just before 6pm. He was WHITE which is apparantly not that abnormal for African babies, but it looked a little like those strange cats with no fur. Quite a scary sight.
His mother was with him, and the story goes that she had tried to abort him at 36 weeks (as most of you know this is not far of birth) this induced labour and she then gave birth to a live baby. She tried to abandom him but was seen and brought to us. So baby Jonathan was born in the morning and arrived with us in the evening. He was cold and sickly looking. His mother had not even cleaned up from the birth.
While we warmed the incubator and cleaned it (having just kicked out another baby who didn't need to be in the incubator as much as this one did) Rachel held him to warm him.
He was placed in the incubator and we watched him for a while, wondering how he was going to do.
At 7pm we finished out shift.
At 8pm Nicola went to feed him and noticed his heartrate dropping dramatically, she rushed him to hospital but he died.
Today we have his funeral.
It breaks me heart that his mother did this to him, that she thought it was her only way, it makes me cry that he was not wanted, yet many couples go childless and would have given anything to have this baby. If the mother waited and gave birth naturally and then abandoned him safely, then even that would have been better for this poor boy.
Now Jonathan is gone. He lived a day. It was so hard, I just wish there could have been another way.
So Its been a sad few days. I am not used to this death thing.
Bye for now
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Sunday, March 2, 2008
The Village
I visited the village today where the children who are 2- 18+ live.
Unfortunatly I only filmed it instead of photos (my digital camera is broken because I put it in my pocket to pick someone up and little hands grabbed it and dropped it)
The homes have all been built by volunteer teams from around the world, some come in families, church groups or organise random groups online. The bricks are made on site and the teams build with Ugandan builders to create a home.
The Homes have a kitchen, dining/lounge area and 3 bedrooms, 2 for the children (they sleep 4 in each room) and 1 room for the Mum. There is also a proper bathroom with running water.
The employ the Mums who are mostly widows or grandmas and they live in the houses until the kids are old enough to move out, at which time the the Mum can retire to a retirement village provided by Watoto.
The Villages have many homes set in clusters to create a community feel, and they have kindergartens, Primary Schools and High Schools. They also have a church on site. In the future they hope to build things like sports grounds, a pool, a medical clinic etc.
The concept is brilliant and they hope to eventually be self-sufficient (not relying soley on international donations) They hope to set up farms and grow and produce and farm their own food, as well as supplying the neighbouring communities. They also hope to expand their small production facilities that currently make the furniture and clothing to be able to run like businesses not only supplying their own needs but to sell to the community.
The model is proving a massively successful way for Africa to cope with its orphaned children problem, and many churches and groups from across to continent are being encouraged to replicate the model in their own countries and settings.
I was in awe at the village and I got to see my newly moved toddlers (who I mentioned moved from the Babies home into their new home in the village with a new Mum) and they are all settling in well. Eventually they will have new brothers and sisters join them until there are 8 per house (right now they are starting each new Mum with 3 new toddlers so as not to be too overwhelming) - it was so exciting to see them in their new homes but I will miss them a lot.
I will post photos of the villages next time i visit.
As for everyday life, I am struggling to live on their diet of CARBS, CARBS and more CARBS, every meal is rice, potatos, breads, mushy banana stuff that tastes gross and usually some kind of bean or meat. So I am buying my own fruit and veg which is not cheap.
The pineapple here tastes divine though!!!
Anyway I will write again soon
From Felicity
Unfortunatly I only filmed it instead of photos (my digital camera is broken because I put it in my pocket to pick someone up and little hands grabbed it and dropped it)
The homes have all been built by volunteer teams from around the world, some come in families, church groups or organise random groups online. The bricks are made on site and the teams build with Ugandan builders to create a home.
The Homes have a kitchen, dining/lounge area and 3 bedrooms, 2 for the children (they sleep 4 in each room) and 1 room for the Mum. There is also a proper bathroom with running water.
The employ the Mums who are mostly widows or grandmas and they live in the houses until the kids are old enough to move out, at which time the the Mum can retire to a retirement village provided by Watoto.
The Villages have many homes set in clusters to create a community feel, and they have kindergartens, Primary Schools and High Schools. They also have a church on site. In the future they hope to build things like sports grounds, a pool, a medical clinic etc.
The concept is brilliant and they hope to eventually be self-sufficient (not relying soley on international donations) They hope to set up farms and grow and produce and farm their own food, as well as supplying the neighbouring communities. They also hope to expand their small production facilities that currently make the furniture and clothing to be able to run like businesses not only supplying their own needs but to sell to the community.
The model is proving a massively successful way for Africa to cope with its orphaned children problem, and many churches and groups from across to continent are being encouraged to replicate the model in their own countries and settings.
I was in awe at the village and I got to see my newly moved toddlers (who I mentioned moved from the Babies home into their new home in the village with a new Mum) and they are all settling in well. Eventually they will have new brothers and sisters join them until there are 8 per house (right now they are starting each new Mum with 3 new toddlers so as not to be too overwhelming) - it was so exciting to see them in their new homes but I will miss them a lot.
I will post photos of the villages next time i visit.
As for everyday life, I am struggling to live on their diet of CARBS, CARBS and more CARBS, every meal is rice, potatos, breads, mushy banana stuff that tastes gross and usually some kind of bean or meat. So I am buying my own fruit and veg which is not cheap.
The pineapple here tastes divine though!!!
Anyway I will write again soon
From Felicity
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