One of our neighbors drove up on his motorbike, asking if I was busy. After a quick apology, he asked if I would be willing to give a lady that was in labor a ride to the hospital. He had heard from another of our neighbors that the mom was 'almost ready to give birth'.
We made the short drive down to the little shack the parents were staying in. The dad was a laborer at one of the houses being built in our area. He had come from another island in order to get employment, and the mom had come to visit him for a few days. She was barely 7 months pregnant. Before the mom could get back to her home village, she went into labor.
When we arrived at their shack, it became apparent very quickly that the baby had already been born less than 5 minutes before our arrival. So the ride to the hospital for the mom turned into a ride to the hospital for the whole family. In the picture, one of our neighbors is carrying the baby as we drive to the local hospital.
The baby was tiny, just under 2 kilograms (just at 4 pounds). After some difficult first hours, the baby was taken quickly to a bigger hospital and put in an incubator.
I wish the story had a good ending. The mom and dad were scared about being unable to pay the high hospital bills. They left the island and went back to their home village. They avoided calls from the hospital and as of writing this, they still have not come to check on their baby. You might be wondering about adoption? We were too, but babies born into a situation like this cannot be adopted because there is no agreement from the parents. We were not even allowed to see the baby because we were not family. Children that are abandoned are put into government orphanages. It's a sad story, but we are hoping for a good ending for the little girl who was left before being named.
