Help 60 Vulnerable Children Stay in Their Families

Thursdays have become famous for the #TBT hashtag - Throw Back Thursday so we thought we'd look through our old photos and provide updates on a couple of little ones.

First up is Ann. Ann was 4 months old and just 3.5kgs when she was brought in to the St Andrews Baby Unit. Her mother passed away from a heart defect shortly after Ann was born and her grandparents were elderly and unable to care for her. They had no source of income to buy formula, resulting in Ann being malnourished. As you will see from her transformation picture, Ann is definitely not malnourished these days! In fact she's a healthy, happy little girl who now attends nursery school and is doing well.

Our other update is from Emmanuel. Born on Christmas Eve, Emmanuel was brought to the unit at just two weeks old. His mother was a school girl and an orphan whose grandmother wanted her to complete her secondary education. Emmanuel had problems with reflux and began losing weight instead of gaining it. Thanks to one of our supporters, the unit was able to buy extra formula and double Emmanuel's intake so that he received some nutrition. As soon as he started being weaned on to foods his health problems disappeared completely. Emmanuel has been in nursery school for one term now and has impressed the teachers with his work.

Thanks to everyone who has supported Ann, Emmanuel and many others during their time at the St Andrews Baby Unit. Without your support, none of this would be possible.

The baby unit is currently at capacity with fifteen children under its care. There haven’t been any new arrivals since our last update but progress has definitely been made.

Little ones Grace and Ann are now crawling and Natasha whose smiling face appeared in the last update is now sitting up and trying to crawl. Natasha also enjoys visits and cuddles from her older sister who grew up in the baby unit and is now living in Kandara Children’s Home main home.

Anne and James are two of the oldest children and have been attending the nursery school that was started by Vision Africa in the grounds of the children’s home. They have now been joined by Emmanuel who started school this term. One of the lovely things about the partnership between the baby unit and the nursery school is watching the children from the baby unit going back after school and teaching the younger children the songs that they have learned.

Another great piece of news is that three little boys are in the process of having their adoptions finalised. While they have received wonderful care at the St Andrews Baby Unit, they will all benefit from being placed with loving families of their own. The hope is that Grace will soon follow them. Grace was abandoned and handed in to a pastor’s wife who took her to the authorities and she was placed at the baby unit. The pastor and his wife have now started to go through the relevant process to foster Grace and we hope this will be successful.

They say it takes a village to raise a child. Our village is international and involves many people with big hearts. We would like to thank you for being part of this and supporting all the children under the care of the St Andrews Baby Unit.