In Usa River, there is a magical place called Cradle of Love. It is an interim care center for babies up to 2 years old. Children are mainly sent here when their mothers die and the fathers or family can’t care for the infants. Occasionally, they also receive abandoned babies. The children are divided into four rooms; newborns, crawlers, wobblers and toddlers. Of course, my first stop was the newborn room. There were seven babies, the oldest was 9 months. While we were there, one of the babies, Joseph, was being visited by his father. We were not able to ask his situation, but it was pretty safe to assume the mother had passed away and Cradle of Love was caring for Joseph until his father was able. It was obvious that the father cared very deeply for Joseph, which was comforting to see. There was one infant, baby Lauren, who’s mother had HIV and they suspect that she may have it as well, but it is still too early to tell. Lisa Marie, Krissy and I spent quite a chunk of time snuggling all the babies, who were all smiling and happy. There are only two or three caregivers in the newborn room, so the extra love for the babies was much appreciated. At times, we all had two babies and passed them back and forth so that we could each have time with every one. I could have stayed in that room all day, but I had to give everyone else a chance, so I wandered over to the crawlers room.
It was dinner time in the crawler room, so I quickly grabbed a bowl of porridge and started to feed a baby. I had little Jessica, who was such a beautiful little girl. She didn’t smile, but held so much emotion in her tiny little brown eyes. I wasn’t able to learn her story, but at maybe a year old, it was clear her life had been a hard one. After eating we went outside to look at the monkeys playing in a nearby tree. Jessica’s eyes began to grow heavy as I rocked her side to side, and soon enough she was sleeping peacefully in my arms. I wondered how long it had been since someone had held her as she fell asleep. All of these precious children deserved, at the very least, to nuzzle up against a warm body and drift away.
Cradle of Love is a very clean, nice facility and they do the best they can with the children they take in. It was such a pleasure to go care for these innocent children who have ended up in with the short straw in life. Although they are so young, it is clear they are rejuvenated and affected by the love that comes their way from volunteers. I can only hope all these sweet babies find good homes quickly… Otherwise I’ll have to move to Tanzania.
