In May, nurses enrolled 14 infants, including 7 orphaned singletons, 1 orphaned set of twins, 2 babies of mothers without breast milk, and 3 babies of critically ill mothers. Two sick moms were enrolled in our program. Nurses conducted 190 visits to women and infants in their communities this month. Both young women this month delivered by c-section and their life-threatening illnesses were caused by accidents during surgery which were not promptly identified.
This month our local partner, Joyful Motherhood, received a donation of K1,500,000 (US$1,500) from a local bank towards formula.
Baby Admission Story. Baby Florence arrived at the office of our local partner, Joyful Motherhood, with her grandmother. They had been sent all the way from a neighboring district because we are the only organization in the region doing the work of supporting babies without access to breast milk in their homes. Florence’s young mother had delivered normally and returned home, but soon after delivery she became critically sick and her family returned with her to the hospital. She ended up staying in the hospital for six weeks, and as her body focused on its own survival, her milk dried up. The fact that a district hospital would tell a grandmother to travel several hours to find an organization which would provide formula for her hungry granddaughter speaks to the need for our services. The fact that the grandmother would use her limited resources to find transportation and travel several hours with her hungry granddaughter to find us, speaks to the love and sacrifice families have for their most vulnerable members. Our program successfully saves infant lives because we are meeting a basic need and partnering with the best caregivers… grandmothers, aunts, mothers and fathers. Please support our work by donating HERE.
