Holly in Cameroon: A long day

Saturday was a long and tiring day but a good one too. About 10 days ago the Borns had a call from a friend, Philemon, out in the village of Benakuma. He told them that some twins (a girl and a boy) had been born there, that the mother had died, and that the family was struggling to look after them. We discussed it but HHCH does have a policy of not excepting children under the age of two as we are just not set up or have the staff to look after babies (we have made exceptions to this rule as Bena was 8 month old when we got her). Twins would be a huge responsibility but then later at our staff meeting we discussed it some more and felt that we should go and see them at least and assess the situation. Babies are generally a lot smaller here than western standards and especially twins. So on Saturday we were planning to head out to the village at 8. Some things came up and we didn't head out of town till 10:30am. The village is about a 3 hours drive on some very bumpy, bendy roads. It is always and adventure when traveling on dirt roads here, last time Jake went out there, they had to turn around about 2 hours into the trip as a truck had got stuck and was blocking the way. This time a bridge had fallen down and was replaced by logs and planks. The kids and I got out and walked across and let Jake brave his way across it in the truck. We also met the TMI director on the road (TMI has a rescue unit out there) and he informed us that one of the twins had died.

We finally reached Benakuma and met up with Philemon. He told us that the family was actually in Benadae, another village about 40 minutes away (on more bumpy, windy roads of course!). My heart sank as I was starting to feel sick from the heat and being in the back with Jordan on my lap. By the time we got to the village I was feeling really rough. We walked down to the family hut and there was quite a crowd gathered to meet us. The Fon (Chief) of the village was there which always makes us happy so that he is in the know of what is going on. We met the father and got to chat with him. This is why we always make sure that someone from our team travels out to assess the situation as the story was quite different than what we heard through Philemon. Of couse the biggest one was that the girl had died a week after being born, even before we got the first call. Secondly we had heard that the mother had been alive for a week and that the father wasn't around. But the mother actually died a day after giving birth as she never delivered the placenta. She was very young, only 17; such a sad end to her young life. Medical help in these villages is so basic if not non-existent. The father is around, they were newly married and these was their first children. Obviously he is very distressed about losing his wife and then his daughter. His sister has been helping to look after the baby boy. Sometimes people will find a wet nurse but they didn't do that. They hadn't even named the baby yet as they were not sure he was going to make it. We asked what they had been feeding him and they said formula. We asked do they have some now, and they said no, it ran out a week ago. So they have probably been feeding him "pup" a corn mealy drink that they often give motherless babies here (certainly not what newborns need). So we discussed with the family and they basically said that they don't want the baby to die like his sister and that they can not provide for him (formula is $5 a can, usually impossible for people to buy enough for a baby). So we decided to bring him into the HHCH family. We have encouraged the family and especially the father to come and visit as much as possible and told him we will be calling him frequently. They decided to name him before we left, Godwill. As it came time to say good-bye, it was really hard for the father and sister. We really hope that they will come and visit soon or at least call.

One the ride home we didn't hear a peep out of little Godwill, he just slept and slept. We brought a bottle and formula with us and Sara fed him half way home. I was super sick on the way back, the heat just really got to me, and we had to stop at least 5 times for me to throw up. At one point I just wanted to lay down in the dirt road and tell Jake to come and get me tomorrow. I felt bad cause we were already running late, we didn't want to keep little Godwill out on the bumpy roads longer than necessary, and it was getting dark. Thankfully I started to feel better about half way home and we could get going. We made it home about 7:30 at night. The Borns took little Godwill home that night and we will switching back and forth taking care of him till we are sure that he is gaining weight and thriving. We think at HHCH he would be "over" loved by all the girls :-D. Everyone did get to meet him on Sunday and today all the girls kept asking me when Godwill was coming to stay. WON will be hiring a girl to be a care giver specifically for Godwill.

So far, Godwill has been doing well, he has started sucking well and keeping down his formula. He is 3 weeks old, and 4 pounds exactly. We'll be keeping a chart of his weight gain. So please keep this little life in your prayers, we are so grateful that the Lord has entrusted this little life into our hands.