|
|
Global AIDS - Papua New GuineaSUFFER THE CHILDREN IN PNG - 17 UNWANTED BABIES BURIED
|
| NO mother's tears were shed nor father's comforting hands extended. No farewell. No family flowers. No friends. No relatives. Only a woman with a heart of gold and a priest who walks close to God - accompanied by a team who cares were there to say goodbye. |
 |
The remains of 17 tiny human beings buried at the 9-Mile Cemetery outside Port Moresby after lying in the city morgue sinceJanuary this year.Some of them were still born, others died soon after birth - the oldest being four months old.
As the small coffins were taken out of the St John's Ambulance they were laid alongside the top of the graves dug specifically by National Capital District Commission staff for them.
| Two of the babies died of HIV/AIDS which they contracted through their mothers who have tested HIV positive and are still alive- but not present at the burial. At their burial Father Jude Ronayne-Forde from the Franciscan Order who runs the Bethany Hospice at 16-Mile outside of Port Moresby. He appealed to the community not to be harsh on their parents. He committed their souls to God in prayer after which the coffins were placed in the graves - three to a hole except one grave which had two coffins. Following closely behind Fr Jude was Patricia Moripi and Beno Kohai who were in the small party accompanying the babies throwing fresh flowers into the graves. |
 |
Fr Jude who works with people living with HIV/AIDS said the parents of those babies most likely faced great hardships in life and the easiest way out would have been to abandon the babies after they died.
| He said Papua New Guinea needs doctors who specialise in looking after children with HIV/AIDS and hoped this would happen soon. "Let's have hope," Fr Jude said. Tessie Soi who heads the Friends Foundation which buried the babies said there was an urgent need for those caring for people living with HIV/AIDS to fine tune what they are doing to offer better help to those they are caring for in the community. In September Ms Soi and the Friends Foundation buried 24 other babies at the same cemetery whose bodies had not been claimed by relatives. |
 |
She plans to return to the cemetery on November 20 which is the International Children's Day to plant flowers on the graves of the babies.
Post-Courier managing director Bob Howarth who also witnessed the burial said the media had much work to do to bring out the human face of the tragedy of HIV/AIDS and not just reporting statistics on the number of people living with HIV/AIDS.