Shoeboxes and babies update......

Today was the first real day of Winter. The boy's went to school with happy smiles as we walked through a crisp air that covered the leaves and branches with a thick coating of ice crystals. They have remained icy white all day as the temperature remained a constant minus.

The first sprinkle of snow fell as we started to unpack the Blythswood lorry that came literally bearing gifts - 2000 to be exact. A lorry load of your carefully put together shoeboxes which will make many children, teenagers and adults in our projects very happy this year! (I know they are horrible quality but I put up a couple of pics so you can see).

Unloading the boxes - don't worry I was working too! I had the job of noting down all the numbers and adding them up at the end. A little tricky when you have a few different people shouting out sexes, ages and numbers at you.

The driver and I. I'm sure he was happy his journey was done so he could return home to his loved ones.What a lovely man he was! Thank you Jim for driving our boxes here.

Life is busy here just now. I'm sure it is everywhere. My oh my it is just one month till Christmas and believe me we have a lot of work this end to do!

Laz is staying with us just now for 10 days while Court and Jonte are visiting the US family and making their wedding official and changing their - or I should say her - name. We are having lots of fun together and staying very busy. However, of course I am still managing to squeeze in a visit to the hospital everyday.

THE BABIES:
   Last time I wrote, there were 7 babies. At the start of last week the number went to 5. Then at the end of last week 3 more found themselves being placed in foster families (how happy I was!). Just 2 remained a little 3 month old girl and a tiny boy who has just turned 5 months.
   Oh my heart breaks for him. He is skin and bones. His beautiful face looks like that of an old man who has led a sad and lonely life. He is stiff and twisted and his faint cries would bring tears to your eyes as he yawns and extends and is clearly in pain. The first time I saw him was the last day I wrote here. His eyes were vacant. Big brown and empty. No eye contact. Clearly neglected and starved he had no energy to make any movement or noise.
   Now when I walk in the room and speak softly his name his little lonely eyes look for me. I know that he sees me. I know that he knows I love him. I hate that I can only be with him for an hour of the day. He needs love. He needs holding. He needs to feel that someone is there. He needs more regular feeding. He needs to not lie there soaked through, ignored because some feel he will never amount to anything. How can anyone write off a person so soon into their life. It is not fair. He needs someone to fight for him. I hope that I can make a little difference in that struggle. I wish I could do more.
   Today a 3 week old girl came as well. The nurse came in with her "Oh the mother says she doesn't need her" she spoke as she walked into the room. I have come to hate those words. I hear them so often. They make me angry! As the days get colder I know I will hear them more.

Babies

Winter is coming and the nights draw quickly in. It was dark outside when my mum and I arrived at the hospital last night to be with the babies. As we climbed the stairs sad cries came through a locked door.

I have been unable to go to them for a month due to a persistent cold and a crazy work schedule. The last time I had been there 4 babies lay abandoned although 2 (I had been told) would within the next few days go to foster families.  Imagine my surprise to find that now 7 babies lay alone and unattended. The youngest was barely a month old and the eldest not more than 6 months. WHY?

I can't put photos up. I don't think I can even explain properly the sight, the feeling, the desperation of walking into a room where you know the precious children are unwanted and not properly cared for. I think I have said this before but the only person to care for them is the lady who is cleaning the whole 4 floored building and helping the doctor and nurses do rounds and give medications. She barely has time to feed and change them let alone cherish them.

I can see the sadness in my mothers eyes as she looks at one of the babies and says "imagine how it is that no one looks into your eyes and thinks you are the most beautiful thing they have ever seen". But someone does - we're here I replied. But for two hours on one day in a month. How can that be enough. It isn't.

They need so much more. So much more than the few minutes they get to feed through bottles with holes so large that the milk flows into their hungry mouths. So much more than the 3 changes they get a day because there are not enough diapers, creams or wipes for them. So much more than a hospital crib with a bright fluorescent light blinking above. So much more than the pathetic start to this life they have been given.

It is heart breaking and yet here I sit typing it down knowing that today they lay unheld, unloved, unwanted. What a cruel start they have been dealt.