Angel

*I changed the name of the little girl in the blog for anonymity purposes*

“Death is just a part of life.”  Right now that saying just doesn’t seem fair.

On Friday 28^th June we lost one of our smallest babies to the common norovirus.  Anathi was 7 and a half months and such a gorgeous little girl.  I remember the day she was brought into Bethany, a 3-month premature baby who had already been in hospital for the first 8 weeks of her life.  At the age of 3 months, she was still the size of a new born.  She was honestly the smallest thing I had ever seen; she fit perfectly into my forearm.  She was so under weight that her eyes were bugling out from the sockets… truth be told, she looked a little bit like ET, but it made her even more precious.  When I first changed her there was not a once of fat on her, she was skin and bones, which felt like they were about to break at any moment.  It was very touch and go but being the fighter she was, she pulled through.

Anathi continued to grow bigger and stronger everyday.  She would regularly polish off two full bottles of milk.  When we started feeding her vegetable, she was less than impressed… often after feeding, more of it would actually be on me rather than in her!!  She had a little stubborn streak about her, but she would just sit and stare at everyone in the nursery, taking everything in. 

Although Anathi was a lot stronger, she had another stint in hospital in March.  Again being a little fighter, she pulled through and we brought her home a week later J

Last week there was an outbreak of the norovirus at Bethany that has affected many of our children.  It’s a very common vomiting and diarrhoea virus that is so preventable, treatable and one that you wouldn’t be overly concerned about if a child got it in the UK.  Many of the babies and elder children have had episodes of the virus, leading to dehydration.  However the virus seemed to hit Anathi very hard.  At 4am on Thursday 27^th June, she was rushed to Nelson Mandela hospital and admitted into the Intensive Care Unit.  Thursday evening she had responded really well to the medication and was taken out of ICU and moved to the paediatric ward.  I went to visit her on Friday morning and although she was hooked to a drip and on oxygen, she looked so much better.  I spent about 30 minutes with her, just holding her.  It never dawned on me that that it could possibly be the last time I saw her.  That evening she took a turn for the worse and her body went into shock; despite being moved back into ICU and the doctors best efforts, she was wasn’t strong enough this time.

Any death is hard to comprehend, but a baby just feels so unfair and unnatural.  A funeral will be held for her this coming week and candles will be lit in her memory.  Although she didn’t have the best start to life, I hope she knows how much everyone at Bethany loved her.  Rest In Peace Beautiful Angel, your life was way too short.

The reason I chose the name Anathi is because the Xhosa meaning is “they are with us.”

Letting Go

So the atmosphere in South Africa has been somewhat tense Nelson Mandela was re-admitted into hospital for the 3^rd time since December.

Madiba grew up in Qunu, which is a small rural village 20 miles south-west of Mthatha.  Until recently, Mandela he was permanently living in his Qunu home, but due to his deteriating heath and lack of quality health care in the Transki, Mandela was moved to Johannesburg.  As South Africa and most of the world watches and waits anxiously for any news on his condition, many are fearing the worst.  But then I think… is it the worst?

The man is 94 years old – which, if you ask me, is an achievement in itself! – who spent 27 of those years in prison doing hard manual labour.  He was sent to jail because he was fighting for ‘his peoples’ freedom and to bring an end to the apartheid.   Although there is a lot of debate about whether everyone in South Africa are treated quality (not just in terms of race, but also gender), Mandela and the ANC achieved what they had sent out to do… bring an end to the brutal regime which was the apartheid!!

The abolishing of the apartheid is still so fresh and South Africa is still suffering from the scars that were left behind.  The majority of the people still in extreme poverty are black, who struggle to get finical support or quality health care from the public health care system.  Working in Bethany Home, I see first hand how poverty affects people and what drives people to do.  Most of our children are orphaned through HIV or treatable diseases like TB, or are abandoned.  A lot of pregnancies in the rural areas of South Africa are unwanted, due to lack of knowledge of contraception; and women are often left to raise the child alone.  This leads to newborn babies being abandoned on the street or in the hospital because they have a lack of money to provide the child with what they need.  For me this is so incredibly sad, when teenagers in the UK are purposely having children just to claim money off the government.  Also the public health care system in South Africa needs a serious shake up!  Hours and hours of my year at Bethany have been spent queuing with children waiting to see a doctor.  Also some of the conditions the hospital and clinics are in are unbelievable!  The UK Health Standards Agency would have a fit if a hospital were in that state in UK!  Once I was in the local hospital’s A&E on a Friday night and what I witnessed truly shocked me, people were lying on the floor barely breathing, two people came in with stab wounds who were just left to bleed on a trolley in the hall way and how many doctors were on duty? One.  I know the NHS has been under a lot of scrutiny lately and I know I used to complain about it… but what I’ve seen here makes me see how lucky we are to have a health care system that is efficient, accessible and free.  Whether all of this is lasting affect of the apartheid or proof that the health care system needs to change, in my opinion, it’s going to take a few generations for South Africa to totally heal.

However Nelson Mandela is in a private hospital receiving ‘the best quality of care’ according to reports.  A few days ago I read in an article that someone had said, “why should Mandela get special treatment and private health care, he should wait in a queue like everyone else”.  REALLY?!  For a man who spent 27 years in prison because he fought for basic human rights and over coming ‘The Struggle’, I think that’s the least he deserves.  I mean, who knows where South Africa would be if the apartheid hadn’t been abolished.  Anyway, that’s a touchy political topic that I could talk about for hours.

Nelson ‘Madiba’ Mandela remains in a ‘critical condition’ in hospital and is no doubt being kept alive on a ventilator.  The man has done more for his country and the world than most could ever dream! Personally I believe he is an inspiration and a good man, so isn’t it time we let him go with some pride and dignity?