While we were staying in Bulawayo, we visited a hospital called Mpilo. Visiting hours were between 5 and 6 pm every day, and we arrived a few minutes before 5. We were told that we were not allowed to actucally enter the hospital till 5 exactly. We counted down the last ten seconds, til we were allowed to go in, along with the other visitors. When we
finally did get inside, our guide (a local pastor) took us to the abandoned babies ward. It was only small, but it had apparently housed more than 20 babies at 1 stage. When we were there, most of the babies had been taken to orphanages, so there were only 6 left. They were all boys. The conditions in the hospital were terrible. The babies nappies had not been changed for hours....because there were no nappies left. One of the babies had had an accident in the hospital, and had been badly burned. The babies cried a lot, and seemed desperate for interaction.
We played with them, and brough a couple of bundles of cloth nappies for them. We cleaned and changed them. The nurse on duty warned us not to leave the nappies there, as they would just get stolen.
I found another abandoned baby in a different ward. He must have been only a week or 2 old, coz he was tiny. And he was a lot tinier than my nephew had been at birth. I could see his ribs clearly. He was starving, but I wasn't sure why. (seeing as he was in hospital.) I found out later that they were spoon-feeding him.
Joshua's now 10 or 12 weeks old, and a lot healthier than he was when I saw him. That's because some people from outside the hospital have been visiting him every day, feeding hime. Hopefully, Joshua will soon be taken away from the hospital and into a loving home. But the home he is going too is still waiting for approval. (More details at www.abandonedzimbabies.org.)
Babies who grow up in hospital do not do very well. Their growth and devlopment is stunted, they are often sick, and they don't recieve much love.
Most of the babies are their because theire parents have died or AIDS, or else can't afford to feed them.