Today, a mother came to our door in Amecet, carrying 2 small baby's. She asked for help... We looked at the two little girls, they were twins and one of them was very small. I asked how old they were, she told us that they were 9 weeks old, the first born weighs 1.260 kg and the second born weighs 1.9 kg.... and they are 9 weeks old!!! Normal weight of that age would be 4-5 kg. The twins were born premature, but still, this is a very low weight.. We did the intake with the mother and got all her information and also the information about the baby's and her living situation. The father of the twins had ran off after the baby's were born, she got help from her neighbors. We asked her to go home and come back with the medical papers and the letter of the local counsellor of her neighborhood. 30 minutes later she was back and she wanted her children back... We had a long talk and I told her that when she wanted her children back, I would given them, she is the mother and it is her right to get them back, but I also told her that they really were in need of help.. I got the feeling that someone had told her that it would not be safe to leave her children with us. So we agreed that we would go with her to her home and talk with the people there and if she would still want them back after that, we would hand them back to her. Our social workers were all out in the village to check on two children, so Sharon (one of our nurses) and me went with the mother to her home. We found her land lady and soon several of her neighbors joined us. We had a good talk, we explained what we did in Amecet and then they had many questions... Some about if we ask money from them, or if we give the children back without payment, if the children got sick, what do we do then, do we take them to the doctor, do we give them medicines?? Do we take the children anywhere else?? So we had a good conversation with them and at the end they all told the mother to leave the children in Amecet...while they were the people who had told the mother to get her children back, "because you do not leave the children with strangers"...
We also explained that the mother should come to visit them and to hold them and everybody was happy when we left, also the mother.
at the right on the picture is Grace Apio, she drinks 50-60 ml per feeding and at the left is Faith Adongo, she drinks 80-90 ml. per feeding.
They do drink well, but it is the first day... we took them to the doctor and they did blood tests on them. They are both a bit anaemic, so they get some medication for that. But also Faith had malaria and she started medication for that as well. For the rest it is the feeding which will help them the most. And of course we put them good clothes on, to keep them warm and coozy.
Will you pray for the two little girls and for their mother?? It is a lot for her to carry alone, she loves her girls and it was hard for her to let them go. We pray she will experience peace and will come to visit them and that the children will grow and get healthy, this will be such an encouragement to her!!
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