LET US SAVE MORE BABIES
Sister Maria Goretti, together with her fellow sisters and a group of volunteers, runs the Saint Luke Centre, a hospital for mothers and their children in Uganda, which thanks to the donations from the Maltese, Gozitans and Australians, Missio Malta and Missio Australia have built in recent years. Although she is old and has colon cancer, she still goes to work every day and assists those in need in this hospital. Despite feeling weak, Sister Maria says that as long as she lives, she is ready to keep working, whilst God allows her.
The Saint Luke Center welcomes mothers who are about to give birth and offers the service of early vaccination in children, among other services and programmes. Not a day goes by that this hospital is not crowded with mothers! Over time, the center continued to be renovated and enlarged to accommodate more people, and an ambulance was bought to reach those who live in remote areas. However, other things are still missing so that the centre can function better, and the lives of many babies and mothers do not continue to be lost during childbirth. Each new birth brings great joy, but unfortunately, sometimes this joy does not last long because the baby dies for one reason or another.
A particular case is that of baby George who was born prematurely, and could not drink normally, so more complications arose. The only hope for the little one to have a chance to live, was to be placed in an incubator, which, by the grace of God, the hospital has, but for these incubators to work electricity is needed. Unfortunately, the area where the hospital is located has frequent blackouts for long periods. Baby George did not live long and died a few days later in his mother’s arms. George’s life and that of many other babies, could have easily been saved, if the hospital had electricity to run the incubators. All they need are solar panels so at least they have electricity all the time.
