Baby Richard

The 'aunty' Charity in the photo is holding baby Richard, the newest addition to the Calders' Orphan home. He was born approximately one month ago and was brought to the orphan home by his granny accompanied by the mother. Since the Calders were away, Charity and I went to the village where the baby comes from to investigate why this child could not remain with its relatives. Apparently the mother of the child was refusing to nurse the baby and the family had witnessed her throwing the baby. The granny had a huge concern because this mom is suspected of killing a previous child. The granny went on to say that that child had been doing well but was found dead one day with the mom, blood running from its mouth.

I spoke with the mom, Gertrude, and she responded in Tonga. The information was translated for me but it was loose pieces of information incoherently strung together. She had no explanation for her behaviour. The granny says Gertrude goes through spells where she "faints" and where she is "busy, busy". She also has times where she chases men. The granny asks, "What can we do?" I suggested the best that could be done is for her to visit the clinic, be provided some medication (depo provera), and get an HIV test. Beyond that there is not too much available. The only psychiatric medicine at the clinic is valium and drugs like risperidol are only available to those who can pay and likely would only be found in Lusaka. The other problem would be in getting her to take it regularly even if it was accessible.

The baby came to the orphan home with the name Mapenzi, the Tonga word for trouble. I suggested that we change it to something more positive, like Richard. The aunties went for it!

We will follow on the progress of both mother and child. Gertrude just happens to be the sister of one of our sponsored students, Glenger. I ran into Glenger yesterday and pretended to not know of her history. He said it is difficult to describe Gertrude in English. He says she has troubles. He also gave the same story of the death of the previous child. I told him his new nephew, Richard, is now at the Calders.