Dr. Terry Rascoe, Temple, TX, examining Neema Babies
Look who visited Neema Baby Home this month: Dr. Terry and Zoe Rascoe. Terry examined all our babies and pronounced them healthy. Some of them a little too healthy like Chubby Daniel, who along with Angel will have adenoid surgery this month. They have both had too many ear infections and so must have their adenoids scraped. Sounds pretty yucky; please say a prayer for these two.
Angel and Daniel scheduled to have adenoid surgery
Smiley seven month old Shabani came to live at Neema this month. The Police had called Michael to come pick up an abandoned baby that was left on the street, and by the time he got there, they had located the mother. She was there crying and upset while the police and a whole group of on-lookers were standing around. Michael felt very uncomfortable as he (an mzungu) walked off with the lady’s baby.
Shabani at Neema House. Abandoned by his mother!
The police took this very young mother, who had been living on the street, off crying to jail. Such a sad situation; she probably doesn’t belong in jail, especially not an African jail. We are hoping to be able to check on her. Kelly is beginning to feel strongly that we must build the mothering center soon to be able to help these mothers. Lord God help us do this, pray the land purchase goes through quickly.
Our smallest baby right now, Rose June, is about four and a half pounds. She was also abandoned on the street and was taken to the hospital by the people who found her. The hospital then called Neema to come pick her up. Early one morning Jenny, the head nanny for the night shift, knocked on our door upstairs saying we needed to go to the hospital. Baby Rose had been vomiting, had diarrhea and a fever during the night. She was ashen, her cheeks and fontanel were sunken and her mouth was open but no sound coming out and her eyes were open but unfocused. It was quite scary as we rushed her to the hospital through the busy eight a.m. Arusha traffic.
Rose June, home from hospital and doing good!
I wanted to open the window and scream for people to “get out of my way, we have a sick baby on board!” After putting an IV in baby Rose’s tiny hand she was admitted into the NICU ward at the Arusha Lutheran Hospital. She stayed a couple of days and was released, but by the time we got her home we could tell that she was still in distress. We took her to the big Mt. Meru hospital the next day and they were able to keep her for almost a week and get her stable. She is now back home at Neema in isolation with volunteers and nannies on 24/7, feeding her every one or two hours. She has cute little chubby cheeks and is doing well now. Thank God.
Friday, Matt drove out to a Masai village to pick up twins that Kelly had seen on a trip out to the village. She had taken Bahati out to see his family in the village when she saw a new mother and her twin babies. The mother was very weak and the babies were not doing well. Matt said he will also try to bring the mother in to town. Helping these mothers and babies is what Neema is all about. If we can care for her and get her healthy, then she can feed the twins herself.
Masai Twins in Hospital
We have been discussing how to ask the mother, when she first arrives at Neema. to take a bath and use lye soap, since most Masai have never been in a tub or shower in their life. They haul water on their heads, sometimes from long distances, and that is probably the most water they ever see. We will just have to ask, since lice is not something we would want to have in our beds at Neema!
Sunrise on the Indian Ocean