About the work carried out at Musoma Children’s Home!
An average of 20 children are taken care of at the children’s home. All children are between the ages of zero and two and they have all lost their mothers at childbirth.
Most of them are newly born when they are taken into the care of the children’s home and many of them have a very low birth weight. Others arrive at the home a month or so after having lost their mothers at birth and most of these babies arrive severely undernourished. There is a lot of work involved in taking care of these little ones, they need attention and food around the clock. Babies whose mothers survived for a while after childbirth, and that have been breastfed, have a much better start in life.
|
 |
| |
|
|
The kitchen is the heart of the children’s home. It is not an easy task to keep track of everything that needs to be done! The children are all between the ages of zero and two and different food has to be prepared for each age. Most of the smallest babies have their own specially prepared milkmixture and individual feeding times. |
| |
|
The bigger children gather around the table where every meal is a feast. They are served nutritious and carefully prepared food, adapted to each agegroup. The nursemaids are attentive and make sure that everybody gets their fill. |
 |
| |
|
|
Keeping the children clean is also a demanding job. Apart from the morning and evening bath there are plenty of diapers changed both day and night, and lots of laundry which is a daily chore. |
| |
|
The weather is good most of the time and the children can be outside both mornings and afternoons. To give good care to the small children around the clock demands a wholehearted commitment from both staff and management. |
 |
| |
|
 |
A lot of work is involved behind each child that reaches the goal of moving back to his or her relatives. The infants, deprived of mothers milk, lack the protection that is sorely needed here. Not even at the children’s home is it possible to completely protect them from tropical diseases and infections. |
Staff
Lisbeth Granlund is the manager of the children’s home. Working alongside her, with the care of the children and the running of the children’s home, are around ten Tanzanian colleagues.
An experienced nurse and trained nursemaids make sure that the first two years of life are good ones for the children at the children’s home. An important task during this time is to promote contact between the child and its relatives, to whom the child will return after its second birthday.
|
