I have one-year old baby in my office. He was found today locked alone in the house, abandoned there for who knows how long. Mthobisi, a Thandanani social worker, went with the police to get him today and now he is sitting in my office.

He is a sad baby. He just sits quietly, looks around. He doesn't smile, he doesn't play with the toys I gave him [in fact, he actually picks them up and gives them back to me]. It is really sad. I am the only one he comes to; when I open my arms he gets up and walks over. When I hold him and try to put him back down, he holds on for dear life. But he doesn't cry. He just lets go and keeps sitting on the floor.

Apparently they found him in a mess. He has clothes on, but his clothes smell really bad like a farm-- he literally smells like a chicken coop. It is a very potent smell. He has no diaper. He has small sores around his face and sick eyes.
It makes me angry that someone would abandon their child like this. And apparently this is the third child that this mom has done this to. Although I now smell like chicken poo from hugging him, I am really happy that this baby feels safe around me. I offered to keep him for the night, but Mthobisi had just found a children's home for him a few minutes before. We are going to get some food for him and see if we can at least change him into fresher clothes, get him a diaper, clean him a bit.

So many kids here are orphaned because their parents die, and then there are the kids that are basically thrown away... and that is a sad and selfish way to orphan a child.

Tags: orphans | social work | abandonment