Babies Where They Shouldn't Be.

Last week Ina read a story in the paper about a baby found in a rubbish bin in a nearby suburb. It was in a black plastic bag with the top tied, but somehow managed to survive and was taken to the hospital by the person who found her.

On Thursday, Ina and I went to a children's home we'd toured briefly but wanted to spend more time in. Getting there involved a 30-minute walk to the main road and hopping in a "taxi" (read: mini-van that seats 12 but is usually carrying about 27 by the time you get in) to Wynberg. I'm fairly sure the driver was stoned, and a bass-infused rendition of It's Ya Birfday was on repeat. The fare collector proceeded to yell "Wyna-Wyna-Wyna-WYNBERG!!!!!!!!!!!" out the window every 2.5 seconds for the next 10 miles, in an unsucessful effort to score more passengers (as if the van could hold anymore). Once in Wynberg, we caught another taxi to the suburb of Ottery. That fare collector asked Ina quite bluntly to marry him (they always go for the short girls.. *sigh), to which Ina replied "I can't, I'm going to Ottery", which everyone in the taxi thought was hilarious. We arrived at the kid's home in time to get everyone up from naps and help with the bath and pajama routine.

At some point in the afternoon, Ina was handed a little girl who'd just been discharged from the hospital. She was calm but obviously still recovering from malnutrition and some sort of skin condition. The white hospital name band around her ankle read "Unknown Female." After asking the House Mum about her, we discovered this was the rubbish bin baby from the paper last week. The most bizarre thing about it was that she was at least 8 months old. Sad as it may be, desperate mothers dump fetuses and newborns in the trash all over the world on a regular basis, but as the House Mum wanted to know, who gives birth to a gorgeous baby girl, cares for, bonds with, feeds, and nurtures her for 8 months before deciding to put her in the trash??? It's completely baffling.

We had such a good time with all the children. As different as South Africa may be from Kenya, I was happy to find the kids still call you "Aunty" here.