Newborn baby abandoned in bushes with umbilical cord still attached gets a second chance - IOL

A newborn baby girl found abandoned in bushes with her umbilical cord still attached has received urgent medical care and an outpouring of support after Project Rahmah mobilised a community to provide everything she needed.

A newborn baby girl abandoned in the bushes with her umbilical cord still attached has been given a lifeline after a security watch team found her and rushed her to hospital.

The baby was discovered in the Eerste River area in Cape Town and taken to Eerste River Hospital, where she is receiving medical care in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

The discovery prompted Project Rahmah founder Zaakirah Mohamed and her team to step in, quickly mobilising their community to provide the newborn with clothes, nappies, blankets, toiletries and other essentials.

The project is a Cape Town-based community initiative that provides practical support to vulnerable people in times of need.

Mohamed said Project Rahmah received the call from Sister Anand at the hospital after 9pm on September 8.

She said there was no debate about whether they would help.

“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.”

The team immediately went shopping for baby toiletries, while Mohamed reached out to mothers’ groups in Tableview and Blouberg.

The response, she said, was overwhelming.

“Mothers stood together for a child they had never met. They donated clothes, blankets, nappies, pacifiers, towels and so much more.”

For Mohamed, the response demonstrated the power of a community coming together when a vulnerable child needs help.

She said the mothers reminded her that support could make an enormous difference to someone who felt forgotten.

The following morning, Mohamed and the Project Rahmah team went to the hospital to deliver the donations.

The doctor on call granted Mohamed access to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), where she was able to hold the baby for a short 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.”

Mohamed described the baby as one of the calmest and most beautiful babies she had ever seen.

She said she cried from the moment she first saw the child until she left the hospital.

While the circumstances surrounding the abandonment were distressing, Mohamed said the incident also forced her to reflect on the circumstances that can leave women feeling isolated and desperate.

She works with women who have experienced trauma and also comes from a background of trauma herself.

“While nothing can excuse leaving a helpless baby in the bushes, we have to be honest about the society we have created.”

Mohamed questioned what may have happened to the mother before she reached the point of abandoning her baby.

She said society should ask whether the woman was afraid, alone, threatened or carrying shame, and whether she believed she had somewhere safe to turn to.

Mohamed said the incident should prompt broader conversations about how families and communities support vulnerable women and girls before they reach breaking point.

“We need to do better for our girl children. We need families to choose their daughters over public opinion.”

She said communities needed safe spaces where women could ask for help before desperation became their only option.

For now, Baby X remains in hospital receiving care from doctors and nurses.

She has also received clothes, blankets, toiletries and other essentials donated by members of the community.

Mohamed said the baby’s story was still being written and hoped she would grow up knowing that she mattered.

“May she grow up surrounded by people who remind her that she matters. May she never question whether she belongs in this world.”

She said the incident should also serve as a reminder that support needed to come before tragedy.

“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.”