Compassion poured out to abandoned child

HEARTS went out to the precious little baby girl who featured in our last front page story after being ‘dumped’ in the Empangeni CBD by her parent/s.

Hopes that she might have been ‘forgotten’ there in the festive season chaos, or that she might have been the victim of her parents’ over-indulging faded when after a few days there was still no sign of the infant being sought by her carers.

The assumption is then made that she had been deliberately abandoned. (It is possible, of course, that she may have been snatched and then ditched on the pavement.)

The first instinct is to be judgemental of the mother.

Who knows why a woman might abandon a child born from her own body?

Young, unmarried and afraid? Unwanted by a violent father?

Or simply left in the hope that whoever finds her might be able to give the little girl a better life than what lies ahead in one’s own dire personal circumstances.

The sad fact is: this was not an isolated incident.

The Zululand Observer has reported on a number of such abandonments, including newborns being thrown into pit latrines and placed in garbage bins.

Not all have ‘rescue’ outcomes. Sometimes the tiny bodies are found, still and lifeless.

What a tragedy that any baby should be unwanted, in a world where so many couples would do anything to be able to have children.

It’s even more tragic that a mother unwilling or unable to keep her child apparently has nobody to turn to in her agony, and that the baby is the victim of her loneliness or despair.

The truth is, there always is someone who cares enough to help, always somebody to turn to.

Besides government agencies staffed by caring social workers, there are institutions like LifeLine, Zululand Mental Health, Reaching Out and others who are ready and able to counsel and assist.

There are also faith-based organisations and churches which can share the burden and provide answers.

The police themselves are not insensitive to human suffering.

Getting rid of an unwanted child should never be an option.

Not only does it make the child the innocent casualty of the parent’s mental state, it also has legal, punitive implications.

In the latest case, the small baby was found in time and taken into protective care.

There is no shortage of people willing to open their arms, hearts and purses to a tender young life.

Perhaps a greater plan is being played out; for no human being ever born is purposeless or ‘unwanted’.

We pray for a blessed future for this tiny creation.