I visit the orphanage most weeks, usually when I meet up with the nuns and go out with them on their business. One morning I arrived and all the wee ones about 35 in all were sitting on a low wall in the sun, drying and warming their little bodies after their bath. They all get bathed in cold water as they would be in the villages where they came from and would be going back to. One of the helpers cleaned noses and another one combed hair. They were a picture! (Photographs are not allowed to be taken of the children in the orphanage) The 80 children/ babies are well looked after, all be it very basic with routine care.

Every week I go, there has been a new admission, usually from the Likuni area of Lilongwe where we have the feeding programme. These children are very malnourished and need immediate help. This week there is one new boy of about 3 years old. He was so sad and withdrawn from the others but put his arms out to be lifted. He also snuggled into me and did not want separated. I gather this is so normal at the beginning and soon he will be joining in playing and mixing with the other children.

I spoke with Mother Superior this week with Beatrice and told her our problem of the triplets and the grandmother. We were asking her how possible it would be for the orphanage to take the 3 babies for a few months to help them grow stronger on a regular diet and have a chance of life. This would also give the grandmother a well deserved rest as she has had the sole responsibility of the triplets since January.

Fortunately some of the orphans were being discharged back to the village soon so space would be come available. However the Mother Superior was aware that the babies lived very far away and the responsibility to collect the body if any of the babies died can become a problem. Beatrice was prepared to take this responsibility if required. Also of course permission has to come from the grandmother and the village chief and a form signed with a thumb print.
We were of course delighted as this could be a positive chance for the babies.

Two days after our chat with Mother Superior we went to visit the triplet Chisomo in the District rural hospital, this was on Wednesday of this week. We had phoned twice over the week and each time staff said the baby was doing well. I was horrified to discover the baby looked worse and suffering from marasmus – meaning skin and bone, a severe form of malnutrition - and was being given little care.
The nurse said Chisomo was coughing and therefore not taking milk. I asked why they had not passed a naso gastric tube to feed her frequently or an IV drip? I was shocked also to find they had never weighed the baby on admission and not watched the grandmother cup feed the baby. The excuse was the nurses felt the grandmother was taking African medicine and this was working against the antibiotics they were giving the baby.
This did not explain why the baby was not being fed! I can’t begin to tell you how incensed I was. After I asked very direct questions and feeling I was getting nowhere I had to leave the ward and nurses station before I really lost it. I left Beatrice talking to the nurses and after we drove away we phoned the hospital manager whom Beatrice knew and explained our big concern.

Yesterday, Friday we returned to the hospital, one week exactly since we had bought the baby in and found that baby Chisomo had died at 6am that morning. I was very angry but not surprised. Beatrice was very upset. The nurse even admitted that they contributed to the baby’s death due to lack of care! It was absolute neglect.
Beatrice phoned the manager and we tried to find matron. The grandmother had already left with the body and was making her way back to the village. There are lots of issues here, too many to discuss by mail.

We eventually met with the manager who was in Lilongwe at a meeting and I explained as directly and calmly as I could that this event was not acceptable and what was he going to do about it. There were policies, guidelines that should have been adhered to and were not, resulting in the baby’s death.
He was very sympathetic and took some of the responsibility. He also said he would take this further and feed back. What else can we do!!?? It is an awful situation and the grandmother never questioned anything. Did the grandmother want the baby to die? This was the runt of the litter and we were interfering. Life in the villages is very animalistic and morally were do you stand? These are the sorts of questions that one faces every day.

Friday afternoon was a happier afternoon. We went to the feeding station at Likuni. I am going to each of the feeding stations once a week until I feel they are running smoothly. Beatrice and I don’t tell them when we are coming so we can see how the stations are working. This works well.

There were about 80-100 women and children and the books told me that this was the usual number that turned up three times a week for phala. The volunteers were all working away with their new blue pinnies on and I had bought them each a chitenge so they now wear a uniform.

I had great fun trying to balance a tray of empty bowls on my head and walk. The women all howled with laughter at me.

After this visit we went to check up on Oscar as his village was not far away. He gave me a smile and a chuckle at last! Thankfully the aunt who is his guardian went to the hospital on Monday to have his head checked. He was admitted but the day after the aunt walked out of the hospital and took Oscar home. She was frightened because the staff told her that the doctor was going to do a lumber puncture and take blood from Oscars head. She imagined all sorts of awful things.
Beatrice explained everything to the family and also about a shunt, which could be a possibility with hydrocephalus. She suggested the aunt took Oscar back to hospital and she herself would visit them on Monday.

On our way home we popped into Likuni Mission Hospital. This is the nearest hospital for the women on the programme and I wanted the feeding unit called NRU- Nutritional Rehydration Unit to know what we were doing and if they could support the programme by attending and assisting in the monthly weights and observing the children in case referrals were needed.
The lead nurse appeared very supportive and would send someone out on the 22nd of May when it would have been a month since this programme had been going.