Baby Wash Mondays

One of the things I enjoy doing is serving at the Baby Wash Clinic. The Baby Wash Clinic is located in Giza, near the famous pyramids.  It is an interesting ride from Maadi to Giza! We have to take the Ring Road which is a busy road, where heavy laden trucks carrying limestone blocks as big as a storage shed, trucks stacked twice their heights with tomatoes, and stock trucks transporting camels and water buffalo in their open back ends--compete with taxis, donkey carts and personal vehicles--often for the same space. Throw in 20 pedestrians darting across the road at every corner, and you can imagine, maybe what our drive is like.
 We turn off the main highway onto a canal street. The road is a divided road, with the water canal flowing down the middle of the street. The canal is an eco-system all its own...dead horses, vegetation, garbage and who knows what else is broken down into basic elements by bacteria, fish, turtles, and other scavengers. These canals are the water supply, so not only do people sometimes fish in them, they also use the water for crops and in their homes. (Cairo does have water treatment systems, but not everyone has plumbed water.)  We travel down the canal road past many little shops to the Pepsi sign where we turn onto what is now a very bumpy dirt road.
A few turns later we come to a stop before the worn metal gate of the clinic. People are already lined up outside to see the Dr. As we move down the hallway toward the Baby Wash Room, many eyes follow our movements. Some eyes are the only part of the person we can see-they are completely covered women. Others have eyes rimmed with Kohl to ward off evil spirits. When I look into their eyes sometimes they twinkle, sometimes they dart away, sometimes they appear hostile. Some have no hope in them-those are the eyes that bother me the most.
Volunteers at the Baby Wash Clinic are multinational. Mondays are the day the English speaking women volunteer. The French volunteers come another day and so on with the Germans and the Italians.The Clinic operates on funds donated by these nationalities. We work through the Maadi Women's Guild,  associated with the English speaking churches in Maadi. The Medical Clinic is operated apart from the BWC, but it is in the same building, and a Sister seems to be in charge there.

When a new mother brings her baby to the Baby Wash Clinic, she has either heard about it from a friend or has been referred by the Dr.

They bring their baby four times. We weigh the babies, wash them from head to toe, give them a physical examination and lots of love and attention! If we notice something out of the norm, the woman can go down the hall to see the doctor. Each time the woman brings her child, they receive a gift from us...a motivation to return the following week! Some of these ladies come a great distance to see us and it is best if they come all four times so we can evaluate the health and care they are giving their babies. The first week they receive a undershirt, socks, and diaper cover. The second they get a galibeah...sort of like a two piece pj set; the third a sweater and knit pants set and the fourth, a blanket. We take their photos so they also get a good photo of them with their child. After the baby is washed and dressed, the moms go into an adjoining room where they are given a parenting class.
Today we washed 14 babies. Last week we washed 9. I have been told that sometimes there are more than 20! It is a wonderful experience to get to show love to these babies and to encourage these new moms-some who are so young and who don't have someone to teach them, and those who do a great job as well! We all like being told our babies are beautiful!