Today marked another departure from the safe-home. Mpho went home.
He first came here shortly after being born on June 6, weighing less than 4 pounds. He was born a twin, but his twin died. He’s been here ever since, the bo’me caring for him through many stages of his development. From less than 4 pounds, he is now more than 13 pounds.
We’ve all grown fond of Mpho, who looks on everything with big, curious eyes and who, more recently, has been quick with a smile for you if you say his name or tickle him a bit.
He still has the chronic skin rash that has frustrated the bo’me and local doctors alike since his coming to TTL. But we are hoping it will clear up back home, with less soaps and less baths.
I’ll miss Mpho, a friendly, familiar little face in the play room. I’ll even miss his cry, which I had learned to distinguish from the other babies’ cries and which he had a particular talent for making known throughout the safe-home.
But he is healthy, and strong, and is now going home stable after a harrowing birth and an uncertain beginning to life. And that’s what it’s all about.
The TTLF Fellow is a representative of the North American organisation The Tiny Lives Foundation. Based for one year in Mokhotlong, Lesotho, the TTLF Fellow serves in an administrative support capacity for the Basotho charity TTL.
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