Outrage as baby dumped meters from Glenwood baby safe
Likhon iThemba has vowed they would step up their efforts and educate everyone they possibly can about the baby saver after a baby was found in the garbage across the road from the safe.
THE Glenwood community has reacted with outrage after the body of a baby was found in a garbage bag outside a block of flats on Helen Joseph Road last Thursday, directly across the road from a baby saver (safe) which was installed at the Hop Shop earlier this year.
Heather Rorick from Bulwer Safety and Urban Regeneration Forum said she had received a call from the caretaker of the block of flats to say that a man rummaging through the block’s green bin, which had been put out for rubbish collection, had come across the body of a baby boy.
“I immediately contacted Umbilo SAPS and rushed out to the scene. Upon arrival I saw a crowd of people around the bin. SAPS arrived and covered up the little baby boy. The man that had been scrummaging in the bin told me he had come across a bag of some sorts inside the bin under some dirt. When he opened the bag he found the body of the baby boy. He had not been dead long as the body was still warm,” she said, adding that the baby had been around two weeks old and that the alleged cause of death was suffocation.
“To throw him out with the trash makes my blood boil as there are absolutely no excuses whatsoever. The shocking thing is this mother could have walked literally across the road to the baby safe, placed her healthy baby boy inside, and walked away giving him a chance in life,” she said.
ALSO READ: Baby safe installed in Glenwood
Leanne Lorrance from charity Likhon iThemba, which runs the Hop Shop and installed the baby saver due to the high numbers of abandoned babies and foetuses found in the area this year, said they arrived at the shop and noticed a bit of a commotion around the baby saver.
“Concerned we quickly jumped out the car and noticed the police van we had parked behind. There next to us on the pavement was a dead baby. A beautiful little boy perfectly wrapped up in a little blanket, literally 10 meters away from the baby saver. Our staff at the shop were upset and angry. It is so frustrating and we kept thinking, ‘what if?’ We questioned whether this baby could have been saved, and whether our baby saver was not visible enough, and how a baby could be found literally across the road from where the baby saver is,” she said.
She said they had vowed to step up their efforts and educate everyone they possibly could about the baby saver.
“We have a designer working on the art work, flyers and info graphics and will be printing flyers to hand out in the community, as well as doing talks at universities and at King Edward Hospital. We want mothers to know that we are also here for them to talk to,” she said.
If you would like to donate towards the costs involved in this project or would like to volunteer to hand out fliers, contact Kim on 083 232 5501.
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