Baby News

April 28, 2019

Baby News

Several people have asked me about the baby.  Has it been born? 

To recap…Elizabeth, John and Janet’s Maasai friend, defied her father and got a university  education. She runs a little store in a town near the Kenya border. Sometimes, she is contracted by an NGO to visit Maasai tribes to help educate them about health care and change their rituals about such things as female circumcision. Her teenage sister Ngaisi, who got married a couple years ago, lives in a Boma at Longido with her husband and in-laws. (Boma: A variety of huts made of sticks and mud surrounded by thorny bushes to protect the community. See my blog from Safari Day 3, posted on February 3 for photos of the one I visited.) Ngaisi was nearing the end of her high-risk pregnancy when Elizabeth left to the backcountry to work with an NGO. She was off the grid and unable to communicate so we have been waiting to learn the fate of Ngaisi and the baby. Before we left, Janet and I put together a baby kit for Ngaisi and left it with Sharon, a friend, to take to the maternity hospital for Ngaisi. (See my blog dated March 19, 2019)

Over the last month, Janet has received a few emails from Elizabeth and Sharon. Here are excerpts from those emails…. (Elizabeth pecks out her messages on a phone so they can be a bit disjointed.)

Sunday, April 7, 2019

Hello Janet
I will be taking Ngaisi to hospital tomorrow because her due date is 8th. I am back on 5th and I'm going back on 9th so that is why I have to take her before. Who has her khanga and diapers so I can communicate with her and bring them to her before I disappear?
Cheers
Elizabeth 

Tuesday, April 9. 2019

Hello Janet,

Greetings from Longido. I am fine with my family and yesterday I went hospital with Ngaisi and her mother in law but they said it might take her another 14 days or less. I spoke with Dianne but she said the bag hasn't arrived yet in hospital. Sharon has it and she gave me Sharon's number which I spoke with her and I will tell her when we will be ready to pick up the bag.

She is healthy and her HB has increased from 11 to 12. She is eating vegetables and milk and she is not working hard.

I am so happy that you arrived home safely and please pass my greetings to your family and John.

I am still doing the research, thank God, but this time I am where I can be reached so from now onward I will let you know when I am not available.

Stay Blessed.

Elizabeth

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Hi Janet,
Just to let you know I’ve had no update since the initial call I received from someone to check if my phone number worked. I took your gift to Maternity Africa yesterday. Although your friend showed up for the antenatal clinic about 10 days ago (or whenever that was), she has not been back to deliver yet.
That’s all I know. :)
Sharon

Saturday, April 27, 2019

Hello hope you doing fine and you enjoyed your Easter very well. Sorry I was not in the area where network is the problem.

On 22nd of April midnight Ngaisi had her baby girl where she could not attend to Maternity hospital but was in Longido and she had a very quick labor. I came back on 24th and it is when I heard the good news. The coming week I will visit her. It is raining and the floods are about to be like last year and it is windy.  I will brief you when I visit them. Sometimes I can't reach them on phone. Will share when I visit.

Blessings,

Elizabeth 

So there you have it.  Ngaisi didn’t get on a pikipiki and bounce over 9 km of rutted road to get to the highway to take a vehicle to Arusha for a couple of hours to catch a daladala to go to the hospital to have her baby.

In Tanzania, children are the security for the parents since they will support them in their old age. That’s why having lots of children is a good thing, especially since some of them will die young.  A girl child will bring a bride price and add to the wealth of the family. This baby is the first child of the first wife so I don’t know if that brings her more favor or not.

If I hear more about Ngaisi, I’ll post again.

Here’s a photo of Janet, Ngaisi, and Elizabeth taken in January.