A clinic we work with,calls us to ask if we can accept a baby into our program. He has eye problems, and his mother is still very young.
After searching for a while (there are no street names here), we find Liam and his family’s iron sheet house. He’s four months old, and it’s clear he has an eye problem; you don’t need a doctor to see that. His mother just turned 18 and became pregnant while working as a domestic worker in Nairobi. She’s a quiet and shy girl. In the house, which consists of two small rooms, about 3×3 meters, lives Naomi with her son, brothers, sisters, and parents. Liam’s grandmother gave birth to her sixth child shortly after her daughter gave birth. At 36, she’s already a grandmother. Fortunately, Naomi lives with her parents, as she doesn’t know much about the situation herself.
The first thing we do is take Liam to the specialized eye hospital, an hour’s drive from Kisumu. There, he’s diagnosed with congenital glaucoma. Not a pleasant diagnosis! While they’re preparing him for surgery, they discover he’s anemic. He’s sent back to the state hospital in Kisumu for a blood transfusion. We’ll skip the hassle of arranging blood for Liam, because in Kenya, you can only receive blood if you bring your own donors. If you have a rarer blood type, you have to find someone who has that blood type and is willing to donate.
While Liam is still waiting for surgery, we’ll bring him a bag of food every week. His anemia is likely the result of insufficient (nutritious) breast milk. The family is struggling, and Naomi says she has little breast milk. We ensure there’s enough food available for the family. Normally, we have a standard food package for everyone, but we’re making an exception and giving them extra, especially since there are many people in the family and two mothers are breastfeeding.
Weeks pass, but finally, Liam can have surgery on his eye. After the operation, he stays in the hospital with his mother for one night, and the next day they go home with a bag full of medication. His grandmother makes sure he gets eye drops daily. In between, there’s a checkup, and then they can come for the other eye. That surgery is also performed; it’s already been four months! You can imagine how despondent it would be to have to figure all this out and arrange it yourself. Our colleagues often know how to handle these things because they do it regularly. But for a family struggling to make ends meet, it’s almost impossible. We went to the eye hospital at least five times with Liam. The insurance didn’t fully cover the surgery, and we ended up paying over €250 for the procedures and medication. This family struggles to provide even one nutritious meal a day for the children. The father doesn’t have a steady job and has to find ways to earn money every day. Their children are regularly expelled from school for unpaid fees. Such a worry for such a family. We are grateful that we were able to help them with food support and medical care. Whether Liam will regain full sight in the future is still uncertain, but we did what we could.