Adventures in Ghana: Mama Laadis part two: First delivery from the UK

Baby Alfie* is the new, adorable addition to Mama Laadis. At two months old he’s a darling, loved by all and already shoehorned deep into the family that is Laadi. As is tradition in Ghana the older children (when not at school) take on the role of caring for him, as they do with the other small children. It’s clear that this bond is a deep one. I was at Mama Laadi’s one afternoon only to see the older children arriving back from school and being greeted with a running jump from one of the smaller girls, Molly*. Like a child greeting her mother… It’s clear that even though these children are not brothers and sisters by blood, the bond runs deep. Maybe that’s due to the sometimes very tough backgrounds they have. Not all I have found out are entirely parentless. All are however, unwanted.

Molly is 3. She was born to a mother who was considered to be a witch by her local community. In small, rural, isolate village communities, like the one she was from, to be a witch is a terrible thing… a death sentence. It’s exactly what her mother, and her mother’s mother got. Both were killed by their own community. Molly’s father disowned her and the child was threatened with death by the community she was born into, for if your mother is a witch, then so are you. Molly is a bright, bubbly 3 year old, full of personality and a huge smile and the ability to climb on and up anything… including me… like no other child I’ve known. I leave Mama Laadis battered and bruised, usually with Molly having spent the vast majority of her time either perched on my knee or clinging to my back. The very first time I met her, some months ago now, my lasting memory of her was her need to be ‘backed’. Children in Ghana, in Africa, are carried in this way by women; wrapped tightly to the woman’s back in colourful cloths, up to the age of two or so. Some children are backed past this age, especially if walking far or sick. For Molly, it seems like a piece missing from her childhood and a desire to be held close she cannot shake. She craves a mother’s love.

Baby Alfie’s story is different but equally sad. His mother is ‘insane’. Defining words like insane and retarded in Ghana are not akin to how they would be defined in the developed world. This will not be a clinical term. The health care system here leaves much to be desired, the mental healthcare system… well, I’m not sure there is one. Which ponders the question; if she, Alfie’s mother, were born in, say the UK, would she still have her child? The Chief of her community took away her baby, for his safety. No one has owed up to being Alfie’s father and one wonders if it’s because his mother was taken advantage of given her ‘insanity’… we’ll never really know. Alfie is an alert, happy, content, well fed 2 month old with a huge surrogate family of 45 brothers and sisters who have already fallen in love with him.

These are just two examples of these children’s sad stories… some are orphaned; others are from families who just couldn’t care for the child or children (there are siblings at Laadis). All these children benefited from gift delivery number 1 (there was too much stuff to take all at once!). Here are some pictures of some of your gifts reaching those children.

*names have been changed