One month ago, our Outreach team brought these little ones to the Mokhotlong hospital.
The nurses lined all three of them up...side by side...in one hospital baby bed.
Perhaps because they were so small and all fit in one...perhaps because the hospital only has a few of these beds and many more babies to put in them.
Snuggled in the warm Child Ward, these three sisters slowly gained weight...a gram at a time.
The hospital would not release them until they reached 2 kilograms...just 4.5 pounds.
Upon reaching that milestone, the biggest returned home with the mother...the smaller two have joined our safe-home family for the time being.
After all, the mother was only producing enough breast milk to sustain one little life.
Although they have been with us for about a week, I have yet to see either one of them awake.
They stir and scrunch their little faces on occasion...but sleep still demands all of their time.
They too will return home when they are strong enough.
We will teach their mother how to make formula, provide her with nutritional supplements so she can breast feed as much as possible, and facilitate their medical care.
...
All three of these tiny girls bear names reminiscent of the rain that fell to the earth on the day of their birth.
Pulane...Puleng...Mapule.
Rainy...during the rain...girl of the rain.
When I think of these names, I feel renewed...much as I do when the rain has washed away the sorrows of the world bringing a fresh start.
A new day.
A new life.
A new beginning.
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