Dear Liza

Dear Li,

    You've asked me before what you could do to help here and I now I have the solution. As you know, I live by the malnutrition clinic. I do not have fast enough internet, otherwise I would send you some of the before and after pics of the babies they treat.

     The Kings Village clinic is different and awesome because women of all tribes are welcome to come live at the clinic while their babies are brought up to weight. All the women live in a compound together, they each have a little mud hut and in the middle is a summer hut (its open, its just a thatch roof) where the women come and cook together.

     A couple weeks ago we had a baby left of the steps of the clinic. They thought the mother was young and has traveled south for work (This is called kayayo and it is a problem in Northern Ghana. Young girls go south to sell goods off their head, often they sleep on the streets and are targets for theft and rape. Then, they cannot afford a ticket home.)

     They found the mother in a near by village, she had gone south and someone found her and put her on a bus home. She has been wandering the bush ever since, not wanting to return to her family. She is young, I saw her today, no more than 13 years old. When they got her back to her village, the family learned where the baby was and came to get it back. The baby is underweight so clinic staff said the mother and child were free to stay at the clinic, but they would not return the child without question.

     I just saw the baby, she is beautiful. Anyway, it made me think of you because I know you now have a soft spot for babies, kids and mothers. I noticed the diapers they are using, and I was wondering what you did with Zoe's old reusable ones? Because the clinic could use them for just such an occasion. I'm sure they spend so much on diapers and I talked to Matron and she said they would be appreciative.

     I am starting work next week with the women, they are taught about nutrition and how to properly care for the babies when they take them home. Peace Corps is putting on a Food Security Camp here and including the women in income generating activities like soap making, moringa powder, food storage and gardening.

Love,
Lys