All our Neema babies have a story or we would not have them. These four new ones who came to Neema this week have a story as well and it breaks my heart. Bryan, sleeping peacefully now at Neema Village was left on the side of the road, the placenta and cord were still attached.I cannot imagine the heartache this mother must have gone through before she put her baby down. We do tell our nannies this does not just happen in Africa, it happens in school bathrooms and dumpsters in America too. It is not an African problem, it is a heart problem. Many of these women are poor and desperate and feel they have no options. Thankfully our Neema Village MAP program is giving many women options today.
This sweet little 2 month old pictured above, lost his mom last night. Sylvia Pape, Angel, our Social Worker, and Mama Musa, our Director, drove out about an hour and half late yesterday afternoon to pick up baby Johanna. The house was already filled with mourners while the mother lay in the back room. This Maasai village was high up in the mountains with no clinics or hospitals and so hard to get to they probably had been unable to get her to the hospital in town. We will be trying to find a family member to keep him.
Newborn, Joshua above, is abandoned as well. His mother is a drug addict and abandoned him but then she was found and put into a drug help program. She ran away again and has not been found again. We are not sure what is the matter with his eyes but we think he has a problem. They are swollen and he will not open them.
Sweet baby girl Hosiana, lost her mother too. I love her name. It reminds me of “Hosana in the Highest” and how often we praise God for allowing us to do this work of saving babies in Africa.
I was able to cuddle little Hosiana for about an hour yesterday afternoon. She is precious and melts in under your chin. When I hold these new little ones like this I am always crying inside for what they have lost.
“Orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they’re not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do everything changes.” David Platt
If you knew your mom and had a good mom, Thank God for her for me would you! I never really knew mine.