WYCE Blog

Mothers and Babies Group

Wendy and Lettie set up a Mothers and Babies group on the 24^th January where there was a big turnout for the first session. Once Wendy had explained the purpose of the group and how they hoped the group will continue after they had gone home the children and the mums appeared to show an appetite for interacting using the relevant toys and they seemed to settle in very well. Towards the end of the session Wonjo Juice and fruit were given out to a very happy group. Samba was very pleased that the group had started as it will help the children to settle in school more easily.

The group is still going strong but with a more manageable size of group as the weeks go on, it has also been noticed that when the mothers can't make the group an older sibling of the child has accompanied them instead which shows their commitment and enthusiasm for the group and we are very optimistic that the group will continue to be very strong.

Gemma Cousins

Ambulance Update

After its arrival in Madina in December, the ambulance has been sitting in the lodge waiting for the correct paperwork and a driver to be employed from the village. This will obviously go a long way to helping the residents of the village in getting them quickly and safely to the hospital should the clinic here be unable to treat them.

As it’s a right hand drive vehicle, special permission was needed before it could be used so, consequently, it took a bit of time to get the paperwork finalised and registered as one of our NGO vehicles. Thankfully now, this is all in place and we now have our NGO plates and consent to use it.

Last week, saw the employment of Malang Touray as the WYCE ambulance driver. He will be trained in basic first aid will have a full medical prior to starting his position in the near future. In addition to this he is a skilled mechanic which will also come in very handy. He is also a pretty nifty footballer which will help in the many games WYCE plays!

Tony Cunningham

First Birth of 2008!

On Thursday 31^st January at about 12pm while having a meeting, we were quietly interrupted by Yusupha (WYCE Lodge Supervisor) asking if it would be possible to collect his wife and take her to the clinic. Within minutes we were at the compound and boarding the car was his wife and two midwives! We drove slowly and carefully round to the back entrance of the clinic where Awa cleared the way to allow for the birthing bed to be manoeuvred into position.

Yusupha (Health Manager) arrived with volunteer Wendy and Trustee Lettie to offer assistance. All was calm and quiet, in fact so relaxed it felt like we had simply gathered for a social occasion!

We waited for an hour or so before being advised that we could be here for sometime… We decided to leave under the provision that someone would inform us of any developments!

Although I would never assume that I would be able to observe a birth, we were reminded that, while it was acceptable for Wendy and Lettie to observe, I could not due to not having children of my own.

As happens here, an assortment of other activities waylaid my return to the clinic, however, when I did return several hours later I had the pleasure of meeting Yusupha’s 20 minute old beautiful baby girl. A week later she was given the name Kaddy.

Fingers crossed she is the first of many babies that will be born in the clinic in the coming year.

Emily Johnson