I am heartbroken over the news that a baby was rescued from a toilet in Hargeisa few days ago and relieved that the baby is safe. I am heartbroken over the agonizing decision that led a mother dispose of her precious baby after giving birth. How hard did she embrace the baby, kissed it or perhaps breastfed just once before she threw it in a latrine?
I am a mother and I cannot fathom the events or the circumstances that would drive a new mom do this to her baby. However, I am not here to litigate her state of mind what sins led to her pregnancy but cringe at the thought of the monstrous her act of discarding her precious baby in a toilet hoping it will drown in excrement.
Even though this is an act by a single individual, on the whole, it reflects on the dark corners of our souls, the isolation this young mother must have felt is a testament to harshness of our nature.
Would things have turned out different if this young mother had access to counselling services that could have guided her to give up the baby for adoption or safely hand it over to one of the few orphanages anonymously?
What about if she had access to contraceptives? before you assume that I advocate we should be ok with people’s sexual activities outside of the sanctity of marriage, I am not.
I am not sure how often this happens but I would imagine it is not the first time and there is a likelihood that many of these discarded babies do not survive or get rescued.
It is convenient to sidestep this uncomfortable topic of teen pregnancy and what leads to it but she was not alone in making that baby. There is a gentleman walking about in Hargeisa who is equally responsible and probably saw the news reports of a baby rescued from a toilet on his social media before he moved on to browse the next post on Facebook.
Let us give our young girls access to reproductive health and education to at least give them a chance to avoid committing a mysterious act against a precious baby who deserves to be loved and cherished.
About the Author Anonymous female.
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