The report below comes from Pastor Andrew in Malawi and is a story of an orphan infant who lost her mother after delivery. This story really highlights the desperate need for the rural hospital in Malawi to be completed so that situations like this can be avoided.
“The story is about an orphan infant, who lost her mother one day after her birth. It was on January 21 this year, when the mother of this infant started feeling the signs of labour, she was a young prim-gravida. Due to far distance hospital, while on their way to hospital, she delivered the female baby on the road, but the challenge was, she was bleeding a lot, and upon reaching the small hospital, the mother was already showing the signs of having difficulty breathing, and was referred to district hospital, and upon reaching there she was convulsing, and around 2 am, of January 22, the mother passed away. The doctor confirmed the death which came due to loss of a lot of blood. Now, this female infant named “PROMISE” became an orphan on day 2. Her mother is now with Jesus in heaven. Now when the family was celebrating the birth of “PROMISE”, at the same time the family was mourning the death of the mother. Being an infant, she needed her mother most, regards to breastfeeding and provision of care.
“Now the family was left with the responsibility, to make sure they save the life of this infant, as she is at risk of death due to malnutrition that comes because of not having milk. So here in Malawi, a mother is recommended to breastfeed her baby for 2 years, and the first 6 months after birth, it is a must, to every mother to do exclusive breastfeeding, meaning no other foods given to a baby, but only milk during the first six months period.
“So being a poor family with no money to buy infant formula milk, it was really a burden to them, and a hope for the baby’s survival was minimal to them. They were just crying, as they were praying, for the Lord to have mercy on them, so that they would not witness another death. After us, hearing about this sad story, and the challenge family had, we had to run fast and make a contact with this family, just to make sure we help them save the life of this baby, by expressing our commitment, of buying the infant formula milk powder, and other things needed for this baby, as she is growing. At that time when we were arriving at home, we found that the grandmother who is taking care of this baby, and this what she said to us:
“ “Now we are only having one tin of infant formula milk powder, and this our last tin we have, we don’t know the next of us, but the money we had last time, and with the help from other people, we managed to have this tin. Last time, when the first tin was complete, we had nothing to feed the baby, and suddenly we saw her body skin started changing appearance, very dry, she was really dehydrated, and I was just crying, asking God why He allowed my daughter to die in this kind of death, so we were forced to ask our neighbors to help us buy another tin of infant milk powder, and after getting it, and feeding her, we saw a great improvement. But the challenge is, each week we need to have 1 tin of infant milk powder to feed the baby, so it means for each month, we will need 4 tins of milk powder, and the tin itself costs $20 here, so for us we cannot manage. It is not only milk, the baby will need more for her to stay healthy, like soaps, clothes, and many things. So if anyone comes to support this baby, we will appreciate it.”
“So after hearing this, we gave them the money to buy other tins of milk powder. As the church was praying for this, we raised some more money for this baby to buy more tins of infant milk powder, and other items to help the baby stay healthy. So we are happy as a church to buy them more.
“Please pray for this baby, as we continue to buy the infant formula milk for this baby, for her to get saved from death that comes due to malnutrition. Our hearts are still for this baby infant, and we will be happy to see the orphan baby grow, and stay healthy.
“Your brother in Christ Jesus, Pastor Andrew”
