A girl named Panda
Here in Africa you need heaps of money. Not that there’s so much great stuff to buy, no. It’s just to deal with all those people you come across who need money.
On Monday a taxi driver told me that he needs money for his newborn baby. His wife does not succeed in breastfeeding and they have no money to buy milk. That’s no surprise if you know that one bottle of milk over here costs as much as one day’s salary. (900 CFA or 2 dollars). And then I’m talking about ordinary milk. A newborn needs formula, which costs heaps more.
On Tuesday a woman standing at the traffic light begged for money for her kid who has astma. Those medicines cost more than a months’ salary, and that is if you are lucky to have a job. (35,000 cfa, or 70 dollars).
On Wednesday… enough of that, let me tell you about this baby named Panda.
Yesterday our babysitter Marie told me that she’d had a telephone call to inform her that her daughter, fourteen year old Naomi, was sick and that Marie needed to send some money.
This daughter is living some 300 kms from Abidjan with some great-aunt because the father ran away before she was born and as a single mother Marie had no means to survive, so she left the baby with some family and went to the city to look for work and after many different jobs from orange juice vendor to cleaner, she ended up as a babysitter with us.
How sick was Naomi, I wanted to know. Because sending money to another town is very difficult since the post has been on strike for months now and just turning up at the bus station and giving an envelope to someone traveling that direction is not always a safe option. So maybe it was better if Marie traveled there herself with the money.
So Marie called some family living near the great-aunt, that had a telephone. They told her that Naomi was sick, that she was in the hospital. But they could not say more.
Hospital? Marie started to look pale.
Well, even if they don’t like to tell us what is happening, let’s just keep asking them, I suggested.
So Marie called again.
Naomi was in the hospital, they said, because she’d needed an operation, but they could not tell her more.
Marie was getting really pale now. Not that many people over here survive an operation, just think of all the infections and complications that can follow…
Was Naomi OK? I looked at Marie who picked up the phone and called again.
Yes, they had to operate Naomi because there was a baby in her belly and they could not get it out. But they could not tell us anything more.
A baby stuck?? I thought of what Marie had told me about her own pregnancy and of what’s happening all the time: once a girl finds herself pregnant and alone -the usual scenario- she tries to get rid of the fetus and that does not always end well, because it is not good for you to drink poison or to put sticks in your belly.
Well, I said, if that’s what happened and Naomi survives it, then at least you don’t have the worry of a living baby on your hands.
So let’s find out if Naomi is Ok.
Marie called again. Yes, Naomi was Ok. And the baby too.
What, the baby had survived?
Yes, but because Naomi’s body was too small (fourteen years for real but because of malnourishment you’d give her rather nine), well, because her body was too small the baby had to be taken out by cesarean. This operation cost 100,000 CFA (roughly three month’s average salary), so they needed Marie to send that money to pay the hospital.
No worries, we told them, the money would be on its way.
Great, so the one who’s paying can give the baby its name, they told us.
Marie looked relieved and specified that it should be Niko and Remi to name this baby.
Niko was delighted: Elise Sophie Panda, she said - she is crazy about pandas these days.
I hope the name will bring the baby some luck, it will need it to survive, because not only is Naomi very young, she’s being used by the great-aunt to work in her rice business to produce and sell attieke (a favorite rice dish), day and night.
Marie explains that according to African traditions, once a child is given away, you cannot claim it back that easily. So Naomi and her baby are now in the hands of the great-aunt. Marie preferred to send her brother to deliver the money to them and is in no hurry to go there herself. She says that she will go visit them in august, when we are on holiday. After all, she says, it is all in the hands of God, and God is great.
Abidjan, 8 June 2007
On Monday a taxi driver told me that he needs money for his newborn baby. His wife does not succeed in breastfeeding and they have no money to buy milk. That’s no surprise if you know that one bottle of milk over here costs as much as one day’s salary. (900 CFA or 2 dollars). And then I’m talking about ordinary milk. A newborn needs formula, which costs heaps more.
On Tuesday a woman standing at the traffic light begged for money for her kid who has astma. Those medicines cost more than a months’ salary, and that is if you are lucky to have a job. (35,000 cfa, or 70 dollars).
On Wednesday… enough of that, let me tell you about this baby named Panda.
Yesterday our babysitter Marie told me that she’d had a telephone call to inform her that her daughter, fourteen year old Naomi, was sick and that Marie needed to send some money.
This daughter is living some 300 kms from Abidjan with some great-aunt because the father ran away before she was born and as a single mother Marie had no means to survive, so she left the baby with some family and went to the city to look for work and after many different jobs from orange juice vendor to cleaner, she ended up as a babysitter with us.
How sick was Naomi, I wanted to know. Because sending money to another town is very difficult since the post has been on strike for months now and just turning up at the bus station and giving an envelope to someone traveling that direction is not always a safe option. So maybe it was better if Marie traveled there herself with the money.
So Marie called some family living near the great-aunt, that had a telephone. They told her that Naomi was sick, that she was in the hospital. But they could not say more.
Hospital? Marie started to look pale.
Well, even if they don’t like to tell us what is happening, let’s just keep asking them, I suggested.
So Marie called again.
Naomi was in the hospital, they said, because she’d needed an operation, but they could not tell her more.
Marie was getting really pale now. Not that many people over here survive an operation, just think of all the infections and complications that can follow…
Was Naomi OK? I looked at Marie who picked up the phone and called again.
Yes, they had to operate Naomi because there was a baby in her belly and they could not get it out. But they could not tell us anything more.
A baby stuck?? I thought of what Marie had told me about her own pregnancy and of what’s happening all the time: once a girl finds herself pregnant and alone -the usual scenario- she tries to get rid of the fetus and that does not always end well, because it is not good for you to drink poison or to put sticks in your belly.
Well, I said, if that’s what happened and Naomi survives it, then at least you don’t have the worry of a living baby on your hands.
So let’s find out if Naomi is Ok.
Marie called again. Yes, Naomi was Ok. And the baby too.
What, the baby had survived?
Yes, but because Naomi’s body was too small (fourteen years for real but because of malnourishment you’d give her rather nine), well, because her body was too small the baby had to be taken out by cesarean. This operation cost 100,000 CFA (roughly three month’s average salary), so they needed Marie to send that money to pay the hospital.
No worries, we told them, the money would be on its way.
Great, so the one who’s paying can give the baby its name, they told us.
Marie looked relieved and specified that it should be Niko and Remi to name this baby.
Niko was delighted: Elise Sophie Panda, she said - she is crazy about pandas these days.
I hope the name will bring the baby some luck, it will need it to survive, because not only is Naomi very young, she’s being used by the great-aunt to work in her rice business to produce and sell attieke (a favorite rice dish), day and night.
Marie explains that according to African traditions, once a child is given away, you cannot claim it back that easily. So Naomi and her baby are now in the hands of the great-aunt. Marie preferred to send her brother to deliver the money to them and is in no hurry to go there herself. She says that she will go visit them in august, when we are on holiday. After all, she says, it is all in the hands of God, and God is great.
Abidjan, 8 June 2007
posted by Griet at 5:59 PM
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