I spent my morning weighing babies

I spent my morning weighing babies. Our health project has partnered with the Block ‘B’ Clinic to offer the under five clinic services to the residents of Block ‘C’. This is where the FORGE Health Services is located but there is no clinic in this block. Its important that children are weighed to make sure they are gaining enough to be healthy as they grow, as well as making sure they receive their vaccines. The ‘B’ Clinic officer brought and administered vaccines while myself and our FORGE workers weighed the children. After this, Mary, an FHS employee, gave a talk on proper child nutrition. I can’t even begin to describe to you what an amazing program this is.

This morning I held in my arms a set of tiny baby girl twins. I snuggled them into the carrier and weighed them on the hanging scale; they weighed four kilos and four point five kilos each. I held them gently and marveled at these new lives. They were the tiniest most beautiful little girls. And then I found out they were six months old.

Of course there were plenty of children who were at the correct weight or at least very close, but I have never been so faced with the reality of malnutrition in my life. I have also never so fervently prayed that people were listening as I did before Mary gave her talk on nutrition to the waiting mothers outside. And believe me, when Mary talks people listen. Mary is an Angolan refugee and she has this way about her that shows how much she truly cares and also how important the information she gives is. She is friendly and passionate and extremely intelligent, and she’s darn good at her job. And still, I prayed that everyone listened, as if their child’s life depended on it.

Looking at the faces of the women gathered with their babies, I couldn’t help but wonder how many of them were under 18 years old, and how many of those already had at least two children. I couldn’t help but wonder not only how many could not afford to properly feed their children but also how many just didn’t have the knowledge to know what was necessary. At 16, would I have known? What other knowledge might they be lacking access to? Are they being taught about early marriages? Are they being taught about their rights as women? Are they being taught about STI’s and HIV/AIDS? Are they being taught about saving for their future and learning skills to generate income to send their children to school? FORGE is teaching all of these things. The refugees I work with every day are there, first hand teaching and training and changing lives. Every. Day.

And so you see, I need more days to be here. Not because my presence is so important, but because I need more days to be inspired by the refugees I work with and live amongst. I need more days to see refugees teaching refugees about issues and skills that will transform their lives and the lives of their children. I need more days to feel useless as I watch these brilliant people empower their communities.

So I’m staying a few more days. I know many of you were expecting me back in January, but FORGE has offered me the chance to extend my contract until August of 2010, and I’ve decided to humbly accept. I have more to learn, more knowledge I need to access that can only be found here, and more mornings I need to spend weighing babies.