NO FOOD FOR ABANDONED CHILDREN

MBABANE – A place where they are supposed to be taken care of, fed and given medication has turned into a living hell.

This is the sad story of seven abandoned children housed at the Mbabane Government Hospital who have been starved for the past two days. On Sunday and yesterday, the situation had not changed. Misery was written on the faces of the children when a visit was paid by this reporter on Sunday at Ward Eight. The children are usually fed five times a day by the hospital; at 7am where they receive thin porridge, at 10am they get bread and tea and at noon they are served lunch. They are also served tea at 3pm, and 5pm they get their evening meal.
One of the children identified, who has a disability which confines him to bed was also not spared from the hunger.

He was found crying until the other children went to the kitchen to request for food on his behalf. Information received from the other children who were found inside the ward, was that they had not been informed of the new changes by the hospital but received information from the kitchen staff who told them they had been instructed not to offer them food. They said they only had tea at 11am on Sunday, after they decided to go to enquire from the kitchen staff who had not bothered to bring food in the ward they occupied.

Eligible

According to the children, they were told in no uncertain terms that they were no longer eligible to receive any food from the hospital, following a decision which had been taken by the authorities. However, they stated that they were surprised by the latest development because government was paying the catering company to feed everyone at the hospital. “We have not known any other home besides this place. How can they raise us and then dump us because we have nowhere to go?” they wondered. The children said they received information that one of the doctors made the decision and they did not know how he arrived at the position to deprive them of food. “We are surprised as to why we are being discriminated against by the hospital in withdrawing the services of feeding us. We are helpless and do not know where to go,” said the children.

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