I had written some
blog entries on my first four months that I spent at The Nest from April to
September 2013. Now that I have my
Kenyan permit approved I am now able to post them and not get into much trouble
as what I do on my free time on the K class visa is up to me. So I’m happy to share what I do with the
babies and how the system works in the coming months. I am a very lucky person to spend time with these
special little birds and if there is one thing I can give these children is
love and plenty of hugs.
After a devastating week at The Nest last week with the
passing of baby Mercy, this was a recovery week for us. As sad as the passing of anybody, no matter
what age, unfortunately it is a fact of life, the circle of life continues and
as Baby Mercy was buried on Saturday a new life was born with the arrival of Baby
Shantell. When I arrived at The Nest on
Thursday she was 5 days old and because of the virus last week, operation ‘sick
babies’ was implemented. The 3 smallest
babies were quarantined from the rest of the nursery in the main building of
the orphanage, which included Andy, Bakita and the newbie Shantell. James was still in hospital, where he had been
all week and was due back to us on Friday.
With all the adoptions the last few weeks we are now down to 13 babies
and it is now a 50/50 ratio of the smaller babies and the older (3 month +)
babies. Rachael has also been moved to Limuru
to be with the older children which is amazing news that she has firstly recovered
enough from her surgery 2 weeks ago and that she now had enough eyesight to be
able to play and grow with kids her own age and not be so dependent on the
house mothers. It was a shock for me
that she had gone; as I didn’t even know it was on the cards so soon. I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye or
to take a photo of her. Irene (the
director) said she heads down to Limuru once a week and if I got to The Nest
could travel with her to check-out the orphanage for the older kids and I would
like to see their set up. So I will try
and get onto that in the coming weeks.
So selfishly it is sad that Rachael has left us but for her growth and
personal development it could be a better thing for her, but we will miss
her.
There was a part time visitor for 3 days and her name was
Wendy. She was only here for a few days as
part of the adoption process. The new
adoptive parents have to spend 3 bonding days with the child before they can
take them to their new home. Wendy is 15
months old and on the Thursday when I was there and the parent had to leave
around 4pm it was upsetting for the parents and after they left also for
Wendy. I know the bonding days are for
the benefit of everybody, but with the child at 15 months she doesn’t really
understand the process and then it is heart breaking for both sides which is totally
understandable. Friday was Wendy’s last
day and her parents arrived at 10am to spend their last day at The Nest. I spoke to them a little and they are German and
have been in the adoption system since January 2011. So they have been waiting a LONG time for
their bundle of joy and today they were allowed to take Wendy home. When babies leave The Nest or we get
returning ‘nestees’ they have a tradition that all the babies and staff meet in
the playroom for some singing to the beat of a drum and some prayers and words
of thanks. During the singing you could
see the new mother had tears in her eyes, and it really is quite an emotional
sight to see. Even though we didn’t look
after Wendy full time as she came from the big kids home you do still get
emotionally vested in the process. While
we were all singing Wendy was taken from the new parents and they danced with
one of head house mothers and at the end of the singing, the Kikuyu tradition
is to pass the child into the arms with the right arm first and this was done
with mum first and then Wendy was passed to dad and both of the parents had
tears in their eyes and you can’t help but wipe away a tear. It was so touching as you could see their joy
after trying to have children of their own, deciding to adopt and then having
to wait 2.5 years to finally have your dream and wish realized of a family of
their own, and to see that happen to people, really I keep going on about it,
but it really is very heart warming.
I look forward each week to seeing all the babies but Lennie
and I have a great bond going at the moment and I am going to be terribly sad
when he is returned to his foster family in the coming weeks. I got the job of feeding him on Thursday and
he is now eating solids and he ate a lot more of this solid food with me than
he does with anyone else apparently, which is sweet. He didn’t eat it all, but it is a start, and
then we finished him up on a bottle to fill his tiny tummy. He is 10 months old, and one of the oldest
babies at The Nest, but size and weight wise he is one of the smallest. He was ¾ through his bottle and he was still
drinking with no problems when out of nowhere he was being sick and not just a
little burpy sick, he projectile vomited all over me, my top, my cardigan and
the worst of it was my skirt-it was everywhere.
It took a second for it all to sink in, with everyone, and then I handed
Lennie to someone and we assessed the damage and there was A LOT. I have never seen a small baby spew so much
EVER! The great thing was Lennie wasn’t
upset at all, he actually had a smile on his adorable little face and when I
stood up and the vomit dripped off my skirt there was nothing left to do but
laugh and the house mothers joined in.
There was a another mzungu that was just leaving and she had changed
shirts and offered me the one she had just been wearing and I took it, I had to
as I was cover in vomit from head to toe and Maggie managed to find me a
kitanga (sarong) that I could wear so I could take off my ‘spew’ skirt. When I had changed, I got a lot of flattering
comments from the house mothers that I was looking more kikuyu than mzungu now
and then I checked on Lennie and butter wouldn’t have melted in his mouth. He was fine and dandy and you would never
have guessed that he had just emptied his whole entire lunch over me. He is lucky he is so cute. I hate to say that the afternoon vomit fest
did not stop there with a nice sized vomit on my new shirt from Benta (she is renowned
for it) and then an hour before leaving a small projectile vomit from
Andy. I am told that when the babies
vomit on you it is a sign they like you?
I don’t know about that-but they are all lucky they are so cute and a
little vomit never harmed anybody.
Right? It is just as well I don’t
have a sensitive stomach as I am sure that would push some people’s limits!!!
There are some troopers in The Nest and leading the way
is Beatrice, Matthew and Ruto. They went
to the doctors today to get their shots.
Ruto is the youngest out of the 3 of them and he struggled all afternoon
after getting his injections, he really wasn’t a happy camper at all. The other 2 were fine and Maggie told me that
Beatrice didn’t even cry when she was given her needle and you would never have
guessed that Matthew had been jabbed either.
They really a great bunch of babies.
In saying that, a flu has spread through the kids this week, which put
into context of a deadly bug last week, seems like a walk in the park. So there are a lot of sneezing and runny
noses and a few of the babies have a wheezing, so much so that Lennie was
placed on a nebulizer to help clear his passage way and I ended up catching the
‘baby flu’ at the end of the week and now I know how the babies felt all
week.
So there was one departure from The Nest this week. Baby Ema was returned to his grandmother,
which is a nice story. His mother hadn’t
allowed Ema to go onto the adoption list, and I guess this could have been why. She was hoping a family member would take him
and it is always a happy story when the babies go back to their biological
families. I found out that Sarah has
been allocated to a Kenyan couple, who the house mothers met during the week
and Matthew and Angel are also scheduled to be adopted out this month. So there is a mass exodus of babies out of
The Nest and it makes me ask the question when the babies get low, do all the
house mothers keep their jobs? I wonder
what the cycle/trend (if you can call it that) of the fluctuation of babies at
any one time here? They must have
statistics over the last 15 years and I wonder if there are high and lows of
the occupants. I know I am talking like they
aren’t babies, but not only is The Nest a home for the babies, it still
requires food, electricity, wages, clothes etc… and it would also be interesting
to know how all the back office stuff works-but I think that will be a long
term goal to immerse myself into the intricate of The Nest as I prove myself
trustworthy and reliable. I am feeling
like I am at that point with the house mothers, I feel I have made some great
friends and look forward to spending more time with them.
I spent the rest of my Thursday afternoon with Pauline
and the ‘quarantined’ babies. It is so
much quieter down the other end of the building and Pauline is on her own down
there with the 3 babies, missing out on all the chatter and down time of the
house mother’s stories and laughter. So
I went down to keep her company and to also meet our newcomer Shantell and
spend some QT (quality time) with Andy and Bakita, and Pauline of course. Andy
has really grown since he arrived; he is growing into a cute little man and is
getting a little personality now. He is
also not sleeping as much and it is nice to see him out and about. It is amazing what 4 months can do for a
child and I have seen him just blossom-which is really rewarding. I also got to nurse the 5 day old bundle of
joy called Shantell. Her name was given
to her by her grandmother and even though I try and find out as much
information as I can about the babies-sometimes information is not that forth
with and I just think the house mothers just don’t get involved with those
types of details. She doesn’t open her
eyes too much at the moment, but to just look at how small her hands and feet
are it makes you aware just how precious babies really are wonderful little
gifts they are to the world. Her feet
and hands are very pale in colour but this will change to a darker colour like
her very dark eyelids as she grows older.
Looking at such a small baby you realise just what little miracles they
are and the phenomenon of life!
My second day at The Nest was spent 95% with James. He returned from hospital yesterday afternoon,
and too is in a mini quarantine. When I
arrived on Friday he was one of the few babies awake, the rest of the sleepy
heads were all still snoozing, so I asked Maggie if it was okay if I picked him
up. She said sure, he needs some cuddles
today and I also got given 2 sets of medicines I had to feed to him, which he
didn’t complain about, but Maggie said they are nice tasting and the babies
never usually have a problem taking their medicine. The last 2 days have been amazing weather we
were able to sit outside today. It is
nice to have the babies under the trees again and it was time to get James out
in the fresh air and get some sun on his skin.
James is 6 months old, but he is a little under developed, and ever
since his arrival at The Nest he has been sick to some extent and that has been
since the end of May. He never cries,
never complains and he really is a mild, gentle soul and to be honest I could
count on one hand how many times he has smiled.
As he gets better and feels better, it will be good to see his little personality
shine through and know that there are people who care about him. You just don’t know what kind of affection he
got from his mother and family, but I can’t imagine it was that great, as James
mother is currently in jail for child neglect.
You look into his BIG brown eyes and wonder just how much he remembers
if anything at his young age, and you just hope he doesn’t and that he will
bloom under the love and hugs of us at The Nest. We are keeping a close eye on how much milk
James is drinking and I was given his first bottle after he had taken his
medicine. When we went outside we could sit
under the tree with the other babies, but I had to sit on a chair and on the
edge of the mats, just to keep our distance.
It was nice to have the sun poking through the tree branches and leaves
and to have the wind ruffle our hair (well James doesn’t have much yet). He drank 99% of his bottle and Maggie said
that that was really good as he hasn’t been drinking much the last few feeds
and said I must have the magic touch.
Well I don’t know about that, but I am happy to take the credit all the
same.
The time came for all the babies to have their afternoon
naps just before 2pm and James was still wide awake, so after sitting out with
the ‘folding washing’ group for a while we made our way back to sit under the
trees again. From when I first saw James
a few weeks ago he was really looking so much better now and he was starting to
talk a little and break out some smiles here and there. Yes I think James was slowly coming out of
his shell and it was really rewarding to see.
I was trying to get him to sleep later in the afternoon, and he did drop
off in my arms, so I took him down to the nursery to only have him wake up,
which they normally do when you first put them down, but then they go back to
sleep, but not James. Maggie said he
should have another bottle, which I fed him and he drank it all again, which is
great news and another indication that he is on the mend and road to
recovery. Because James was in
semi-quarantine I wasn’t really able to help out with the other babies and I
couldn’t go and sit with Pauline as I had James. But I enjoyed my time with him. I did manage to sneak down to the quarantined
babies when James went to sleep and spend 30 minutes with them and Pauline
before I was to go home. I made sure I
washed my hands up past my wrist before I went anywhere near the smaller babies
and it wasn’t the only time I washed them during the day. I definitely want to know I am doing my bit
in limiting the germs that are transferred around and it is a good thing as a
lot of the babies are a little chucky today, but after the horrific week last
week, it is expected that some of the babies would be sick and it is just about
management and keeping everything as germ free as we can keep it.
One of the ‘workers’ (Mercy) and I call her that as she
isn’t a fully-fledged house mother and she really isn’t part of the
cooking/washing groups, she is at The Nest I can work out as one of occupants
of the halfway house and she currently helps out in all departments and she
herself is currently 8.5 months pregnant.
I found out this week she is 15 years old!! She looks a lot older than that, but maybe it
is just her pregnant status that just makes her look older. She has been at The Nest since I have been
going (April) and she is currently living there and helping with the babies,
but mostly Walter, who absolutely adores her-but I found out that she was raped
and when the baby is due in 2 weeks she will be giving the baby to The Nest for
it to be adopted out. This may also
explain why she is staying in The Nest accommodations. You sometimes think you’re having a bad day
and then you need to take a look around (no matter where you are) and know
there are always people worse off than you and take inspiration from these
types of stories and people who make the most out of bad situations.
As I was leaving on Friday, Maggie asked if I was going
to come tomorrow (Saturday) as I don’t normally visit on week-ends, but I
figured I had nothing planned, so why not.
I may as well be with the house mothers and the babies than being at
home on my own, so I went down at 12 noon like I always do and it was the first
Saturday that have been there and it is so much more quite on a weekend. The only difference being no mzungu’s
volunteering and the office staff don’t work on the weekends but with all that
busy-ness not around it really felt different and it felt like you could have
some more personal one on one time with the babies. I had a small scratchy throat when I first
arrived but 4 hours later I had a full blown runny nose and headache and I had
officially caught the ‘baby flu’ that all the babies have all week and I was in
their shoes and know now how they all feel first hand.
So our recovery week at The Nest is on track.
Life does carry on and we just have to look forward,
remember the babies that leave, whether it be with new family, biological
family or in Mercy’s case in the arms of God-we will never forget these
wonderful, sensitive babies and I do wish them all the best as they grow and
learn in this magnificent world of ours.
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