Angella was brought to Amecet via a mission hospital in the village. Some weeks ago, they contacted us about this little girl, but she was so sick, that she first was admitted in the hospital for 2 weeks. She was still severe malnourished, her weight was 5.2 kg and she is 2,5 years old. Angella was brought by her mother and a nurse from that hospital. She was very weak, I saw directly that there was more going on than malnutrition only. I asked the mother some questions and then I heard that Angella didn't cry after she was born and that they had brought her to a bigger hospital after the birth, where she got oxygen... Angella had probably brain damage because of that.... She could hardly hold her head up and she couldn't speak. We took her to the clinic next to Amecet and the tests we did there, showed a very severe anaemia. Normal for her, the HB should be above 10, but Angella's HB was 1.2..... This is very, very low and she was given blood transfusion as soon as possible. We were lucky that there was blood available in the clinic..
It is amazing what a blood transfusion can do to a child. She did much better after that and wanted to eat and drink . The next day we checked her HB again and it was 10.3, a couple of days later, we checked it again and is was still good.
There is only one week between those 2 pictures, we see an amazing change, (okay she is wearing the same dress, but we do have clothes for her than this one dress..) She can sit in the chair without problems, she can hold her head up and she is starting to play and she smiles... We can not do much about her brain damage, other than exercises and stimulation, but we can help her to be stronger and more happy!!!
This is Fostene, (have never heard this name before...) Fostene is around 15 months old. We first thought that he was 1 year old, but he can walk, so we think he must be a bit older... They had called us before about the little boy. His mother is only 17 years old and she lives in the villages, outside on peoples 'veranda... The mother has a mental problem and they told us that the condition of the child is not good, Our social workers went to see the situation last week, but she was not too be found, they did find some relatives of the mother, who told them that the mother is also HIV+, the child has never been tested... A couple of days later we got the call that they found the mother, she was admitted in the hospital (in the village) and that her condition was not good, if we could help with the child????
The social workers went the following day in the morning to get the child, there was also another new born baby, whose mother died after the delivery. They came back to Amecet with both children...
Fostene is small, weak and very scared of me.... I think I am the first white person he has ever seen... So I kept a bit at a distance. We took Fostene directly to the clinic next to us, and had several tests done on him. He was HIV+ as well and he was also positive for congenital syphilis. He was coughing and not happy!!! The next day I went with him and Joanne, one of the medical staff, for more tests to the HIV clinic and for an X-ray . He was started on ARV's and the X-ray was showing that there was no TB. We took him to the paediatrician, and he got (a painful) injection against the syphilis. He is doing better already, but he still doesn't like me. Good that we have many lovely auntie like auntie Betty, here on the picture with him.. He cries because it was me who took the picture..
In the coming blogs, I am planning to give some more background information about Amecet Children's Home, with statistics and also, I want to introduce the staff to you. So you will get a broader picture what Amecet is and does....
So keep an eye on our blog.....
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Good luck with all this special children.
Have a good Easter