Yasmin* (*not her real name) came faithfully to my prenatal group throughout her whole pregnancy. She is the daughter-in-law of a woman our team had helped about five years earlier (she came to believe in Jesus but six-months later died of cancer). Yasmin and her husband live in the far end of the slum, right next to the toll road that runs by our community. The picture at the top of this shows the view from the toll road. If you look carefully in the middle of the photo there is a woman wearing a black T-shirt- this is Yasmin in front of the shack her family lives in.
Yasmin was nearing her due-date and one day showed up at our doorstep in tears. They did not have money to pay the midwife. What would they do? Her husband used to sell kebab’s but since corona shutdowns, he had lost that job and now relied solely on scavenging recycling. They had barely enough to eat, let alone save for the midwife fees (ranging from $100 to $175). Yasmin’s first baby had died a year earlier, after only living a few days. I could tell she was very fearful about how things would turn out with this baby.
I discussed things with my husband, and we decided that when the baby was born her husband could bring the bill to us and we would help pay (some as a gift and some as a loan that they could pay back as they could).
During the prenatal group, we always have one lesson on the importance of breastfeeding. I stress the health benefits, cost effectiveness, and safety of breastfeeding compared to bottles. Imagine my continual disappointment and anger when women are not helped to successfully breastfeed, but are given formula by the midwife! This is what happens over and over again to the women in our community. Yasmin was no exception. The midwife declared, “she had no milk yet,” fed the baby a bottle, and sent them home with formula.
I visited the day after they came home from the midwife’s house. I could see they were clearly struggling to get the baby to nurse, so I came back later with a pump. But a week later Yasmin returned it to me.
I visited a few times after that. The baby does not seem to be growing well, probably because they can not afford much milk. A girl in my current pregnancy group reported that Yasmin is giving the baby sweetened condensed milk now, instead of formula (common here because it is much cheaper).
My heart aches for these young mothers.
This week six women came to the prenatal group. Of the six who attended, four are under 20 years old (15, 17, 18, and 19)! Would you pray that the Lord would connect our community with a better midwife? Pray for these girls/women who are raising their children literally surrounded by garbage. Pray for these young brides, often dropping out of school to get married. First marriages are unlikely to last more than a few years, and divorce is sky high— leaving a trail of broken families and traumatized children tossed back and forth between parents or ending up with grandparents once their mothers remarry. Pray for Jesus to transform people’s lives in our community. We so desperately need Him. Pray for Yasmin and her husband and their little girl.
Lord, have mercy.
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