12/09/2026
🙏🏻
SHE WAS ABANDONED IN THE BUSHES WITH HER UMBILICAL CORD STILL ATTACHED 💔💔💔
This week, The Project Rahmah Team was honoured to answer a call from Sister Anand at the Eersteriver Hospital.
A baby girl had been abandoned by her mother. Her umbilical cord was still attached. She had been left in the bushes, where she could have died.
But she didn’t.
She was found by the Eersteriver security watch team, who took her straight to the hospital so she could receive the medical care she needed.
We received the news after 9pm on Tuesday night. There was no discussion between myself, Ameer and our other director. No hesitation. We were going to do everything within our capacity to make sure this baby had what she needed to begin her life.
We immediately went shopping for her baby toiletries and I reached out to the Tableview and Blouberg moms’ groups that I am part of. The response was overwhelming.
Mothers stood together for a child they had never met. They donated clothes, blankets, nappies, pacifiers, towels and so much more. They reminded us that sometimes, community is the difference between someone feeling forgotten and someone knowing they are not alone.
This morning, we went to the hospital to deliver everything. The doctor on call granted us access to the NICU, and I was blessed with the opportunity to hold her for a little while.
I told her that she was born on purpose and for a purpose. That she is loved. That there is a community of people supporting her and praying for her. That her beginning does not have to define her ending.
She was one of the calmest and most beautiful babies I have ever seen.
I cried from the moment I laid eyes on her until we left not only because of what had happened to her, but because of everything this experience forced me to confront.
I work with women who have experienced trauma every day. I also come from a background of trauma myself and while nothing can excuse leaving a helpless baby in the bushes, we have to be honest about the society we have created.
We cannot only ask, ‘How could a mother do this?’
But we also have to ask:
What happened to that mother before she reached that point?
Was she afraid? Was she alone? Was she being threatened? Was she carrying shame that did not belong to her? Did she believe that telling the truth would destroy her family? Did she feel that she had nowhere safe to go?
We may never know the full story, but we do know that a society which teaches girls to protect the family’s reputation at the expense of their own safety is failing them.
A society that makes young women feel that pregnancy, abuse, trauma or difficult circumstances must be hidden is failing them.
A society that only responds after tragedy, instead of creating safe spaces before tragedy happens, is failing them.
We need to do better for our girl children.
We need families to choose their daughters over public opinion. We need homes where difficult truths can be spoken without fear. We need communities where women can ask for help before desperation becomes their only option and we need to understand that compassion does not mean condoning harm. It means being willing to look beyond the action and ask what pain, fear or hopelessness may have existed before it.
Today, Baby X is receiving care. She is being watched over by doctors and nurses who are giving her the best current care. She has clothes, blankets, toiletries and a community that already cares deeply for her.
Her story is still being written.
May she grow up surrounded by people who remind her that she matters. May she never question whether she belongs in this world. May her life be filled with the love, protection and dignity every child deserves and may this experience teach all of us that we cannot wait until a child is abandoned to decide that children deserve support!
We have to build a society where mothers are supported before they reach breaking point, where girls are believed before they are broken and where no woman feels that she has to carry an unbearable truth alone.
At times, saving a life begins with a blanket, a nappy or a kind word, but lasting change begins when we decide to create a world where people feel safe enough to ask for help.
If you’d like to gift Baby X any essentials items or donate baby items for all the other babies we work with on a weekly basis, please send us a WhatsApp on 0685627558.
Help us make a difference where it matters most🌹
Mercy always wins 🤍
Yours in service,
Zaakirah Mohamed 🖌️🌹
