THROW AWAY CHILDREN IN THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES

THROWAWAY CHILDREN IN THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES

Have you ever seen someone throw litter on the street?   In the United States it happens all the time. People carelessly                    toss unwanted things on the ground. There is no investment of care or concern for what they discard. They don’t name it or have a relationship with it. It is garbage -- a nuisance they no longer want to think about or have around. In that way Africa is much like the United States. Without care, unnamed and unwanted things are left in the street.

The difference in Africa and other third-world countries is that far too often these unnamed, unwanted things are not garbage – but children! Like the little girl whose HIV positive mother died in childbirth and whose father abandoned her.

She was left on the street near the Police Station. Thankfully, a Good Samaritan picked up this little throw-away and took her to the hospital. There she lay in a crib for eleven months, getting only enough attention to keep her alive…barely. Malnourished, HIV positive and not even able to sit up, this little girl with no name was awarded to the care of an African orphanage in March of 2001. The director of the orphanage was there when she was rescued and gave her what no one else had bothered to give her…a name!

Today she is a happy little four-year-old, giggling and playing with her brothers and sisters in the only real home she has ever known. Watching her sing, dance and clap along when children’s songs are played, you would never imagine this precious child was once a “throw-away.” The best news is that she no longer tests HIV-positive! Because infants of HIV+ mothers have the mother’s antibodies which have been formed against the virus, they often test positive at birth.

The chances of mother-to-child transmission of HIV before birth are lower than they are during delivery and after birth. Several of the transmissions happen as the baby is exposed to maternal blood while passing through the birth canal or afterwards through breast milk. Even though many HIV+ mothers abandon their babies, this can turn out to be a blessing in disguise because they are not breastfed. If the infant is not nursed, the chances of the baby testing negative after several months are quite high. Additionally, if they receive the proper nutrition and prompt medical care, they will be more inclined to remain healthy and fight off infections.

The next time you see a little flutter to the ground, please remember this little girl and the tens of thousands of orphaned and vulnerable children like her around the world who are thrown away every day. We may not be able to save them all, but we can save some.

NOTE: Personal details of the girl, the orphanage and the country have been omitted because many developing countries social services now view NGOs web pages and are challenging them for using actual names, locations, and things that make their country look bad or that help one to identify a child in that country      
 

(thirdworldorphans.org/)

            
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