The Baobab Home

Debora and Ester

The newest members of the Baobab family are Debora and Ester. Debora is a 16 year old orphaned girl who has spent more than half of her life on the streets. Ester is her 2 month old daughter. Debora’s  mother (also named Ester) died at birth and her father died when she was about 6. She has had to result to some pretty desperate measures to survive. Debora and Ester spent the first two weeks of Ester’s life in a police station because the hotel where Deb had been living was too dangerous ( I saw it and can attest). Debora was offered money to sell Ester but refused. They came to Bagamoyo in the hope of finding Ester’s father, but ran out of the money that a police officer had given them. They were brought to Social Services and the Baobab Home was called in.  At first Debora told us that she was in high school but in the first week her real story came out.

Debora has had postpartum uterine bleeding and volunteer Kate of Australia has accompanied her on several doctor trips. We have been reassured that she is now on the mend. Baby Ester is thriving. As soon as Debora settled in, Ester fattened right up. She is a delightful baby and everyone is trying to help Debora to be a good mother.  She asked us to  help her to respect the Tanzanian traditions of 40 days postpartum confinement, head shaving and kohl make up between the eyes to ward off evil.  Debora is an incredibly determined young woman and quite confident. We have a job lined up for her at a new hotel in Bagamoyo. We hope that this will be good training for her. Marit, our volunteer from Norway, taught Debora to make some wonderful bread which Debora now makes for the Baobab family.

Right now we are raising money to find Debora’s extended family in Iringa, Tanzania. She knows the full names of a paternal aunt and uncle and the town where her father is from.  We are quite sure that we can connect her to her father’s side and we are hoping that her paternal family can tell us about her mother’s family.  If anyone would like to contribute, travel and bus fares are estimated at $100 and food and lodging for the search team (Martha, Mgana, Debora and Ester) is estimated at $65 per day. We expect the search to take about 3 to 4 days. Any contributions gratefully received! Asante!