March 19, 2019
Maasai Baby
We’re waiting for the baby to arrive any day. Yes, remember last
month I wrote about Elizabeth and her sister, Ngaisi, who came to visit. They
came again for another prenatal check and they stopped by so we could make a plan
about what to do when the baby comes. It’s a bit complicated.
Elizabeth had planned on making sure that Ngaisi got to the
hospital in Arusha when the time came.
However, the difficulty is that she, Ngaisi, lives in the family Boma
with her husband. In order to get to the hospital in Arusha, she must call a
piki piki (motorcycle for hire) to take her several miles to the road where she
can catch a bus to Arusha—a couple of hours-- where she can get a dala dala to
get to the hospital All of this while she
is in labor. NOT!
To complicate matters, Elizabeth was leaving (has left) because
she had a contract with an NGO to go to villages and assist with education and
treatment of an eye disease common to Maasai people. She would be (is)
completely off the grid and can’t help Ngaisi get to the hospital at all.
What to do….. Elizabeth made arrangements for a van to pick
up Ngaisi (not sure where) and take her directly to the hospital. Then, Ngaisi is supposed to send Janet a text
message telling us that she is in labor. (She speaks only Maa-- not English or Swahili. Elizabeth pre-programmed her phone with the message.) Then Janet and I are planning to go to
the hospital to visit her and give her the “Newborn Layout Set” that we put
together.
Here’s a photo of the layout for Ngaisi. Can you identify
everything?
1.
Kotex Pads
2.
Baby Oil
3.
Panties with bows (hee hee –so cute)
4.
Polka Dot Kitenge Diapers
5.
Blue Kanga (for carrying the child on her back)
6.
Orange Kanga
7.
Pear soap (for washing the diapers)
We got some kitenge cloth at the place where we got the
kanga and the woman in the store cut it for diapers. Then Janet washed it in
gentle soap to get all the sizing off and to soften them up. Here they are
drying.
So,
what about baby? We were expecting to hear by now. What might have happened?
**Ngaisi
went into labor and couldn’t make it to the van?
**Her
husband convinced her to have a Maasai midwife help her deliver (even though her
pregnancy is considered high risk)?
**She
had the baby and didn’t contact us?
**Or
anything is possible…..
Stay tuned. There might be more to tell….
