Month: November 2022

Little Feet but big steps forward – International World Premature Day

One in ten babies worldwide is born prematurely. Less than 5% of them have access to neonatal intensive care, surfactant, ventilator support or incubator care.

Today, November 17, Haydom Hospital celebrates its tiny survivors and their parents on International World Prematurity Day. Wearing purple means showing responsibility and solidarity toward premature babies worldwide.

Haydom’s premature care unit was all decorated in purple today. There was a welcoming ceremony for the arriving parents and their ex-preemie babies, followed by lectures. Both babies and parents received small gifts, lemonade and cake from Haydom Hospital staff on their special day.

Everyone was celebrating life today.

By the way, a universally used simple non-electrical method of keeping premature babies warm, known all over the world, is kangaroo mother care – In this method, the premature baby lies skin to skin on its stomach on the parent’s bare chest wrapped only by a cloth. This prevents infections, increases the survival rate and stabilizes the body temperature of the newborn. For this we are still urgently looking for comfortable recliner chairs for the mothers in Haydom.

You can easily support this with your donation here.

Furthermore, we are still looking for funds for the purchase of:
1.) Foldable comfortable recliner deck chairs for the mothers during the kangaroo mother care (4 chairs for 50 Euro each)
2.) New Warmilus, non-electric infant warmers for newborns (100 Euro each)
3.) New Bubble CPAPs (500 euros for each device)

Let’s wear purple today and show color for Haydom’s premature and preemie babies worldwide.

It ROLLS – Kids Camp and Medical Follow up Week October 2022

After a short summer break, the time had come again and in Haydom it was time to roll – under the motto “No Bounderies” more than 60 children and their parents came to the aftercare week in Haydom.

Not only all bounderies have been overcome, but also hundreds of kilometers, whether by bus, motorcycle, wheelchair or skateboard. The focus of this week was on mobility and self-determination.

Together with the local team and Dr Theresa, the children were given medical care and the parents were taught the necessary skills in continence management. Special attention was paid to teaching the older children to catheterize themselves, which is an important requirement for going to school. Our little heroes mastered this under guidance brilliantly.

Then it got action-packed, because not only basketballs and wheelchairs but also skateboards, children and parents rolled over specially built ramps and obstacles. Under the supervision of two professional skaters from Arusha, who run a skate park there, and accompanied by music from large loudspeakers and lots of laughter and good humor, not only barriers were overcome, but also fears and a lot of prejudices.

Self-determined mobility and movement is extremely important for the development of every child. This is often denied to children with Spina Bifida, as many often do not own a wheelchair or cannot use it properly in everyday life. However, the fact that a wheelchair is anything but an obstacle and that it can be used to do cool tricks and skate at speed over ramps was more than impressively demonstrated by the kids.

In addition to the skating talents, there were also little basketball heroes and sports stars. Once again it became clear that sport unites and helps to cross borders, which often start in the head.

Together with the local team and in cooperation with the team of Smallsteps_Skatepark, a skate and sports park for integrative sports and integrative skating will be built here soon. For this Haydom-Friends e.V. and its partners are looking for more active sponsors and supporters to realize this dream. It has already come true a little bit when you look into the shining eyes and laughing faces our Haydom children today.

House of Hope – An Update

Finally the time has come – the papers are signed and it is official.

The land to build the center for Haydom’s children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus and their parents has been titled to Haydom Hospital and thus to our Spina Bifida Project.

Together with the lawyer and the administration of the hospital, the owner and our team we visited the property, which is located only 20 minutes walk from the hospital at the bottom of the scenic Mount Haydom.

On almost 4000 square meters a refuge for families and children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus will be built here very soon. The children and families will receive aftercare here and be prepared for their return to their villages. The house is also to become an important meeting place for parents, who will exchange information about the special needs of their children and encourage each other.

In addition to the house, a small garden is to be built on the property, where vegetables will be grown for the children’s own use and for consumption. In addition, an inclusive playground for the children is planned.

We are incredibly excited and look forward to making progress and perhaps welcoming families to the new House of Hope as early as next year. The contract was signed under a beautiful and old Baobab tree, there could not have been a more sacred witness than this shady giant. A colorful foundation stone was laid together to mark the beginning of the construction of the house.