On Monday 7 th of February a little baby was brought to our home by an auntie. The little girl was born 5 days earlier. Her mother died in the process of giving birth. The mother was HIV+ and the baby came 6 weeks too early, while she was at home. The baby was fed with only water, for all that time!! Her weight was not even 2 kg.
There was no name for the baby, because it was uncertain who the father of the baby was.
Our staff member Simon went with the auntie, back to the family in the village, to sort everything out, while we took care of the little girl. She looked a bit yellow and very tired and fragile. We fed her every hour 10 ml milk, with a syringe, she was too weak to suckle from the bottle. We also started her directly on the ARV's, the medicines which slow down the growth of the HIV virus. Because the mother is HIV+, we need to treat the child as soon as possible, it will make the chance that she is also infected with the HIV virus much smaller. But the test will be done later.
When Simon came back with all the signatures of the father and local elder, he also came back with the name: ESTHER.Esther is a beautiful little girl, today, we are 2 days further, Esther can drink now from the bottle and she is able to drink 25 ml in one go, she doesn't look yellow anymore.
We have big hopes for Esther!
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