Thirty-one-year-old Hameeda Bacchus’s joy at giving birth to triplets on March 14 was only dampened by the thought of providing for them. However, two NGOs visited the family recently with a quantity of supplies.
The National Islamic Sisters Association (NISA) and Food for the Poor (FFP) turned up at the woman’s Canefield, East Canje home to make the donation. Bacchus, already a mother of four said her husband Mahendranauth Punsammy works as a cane harvester at the Rose Hall Estate and barely earns enough to run the home. She said her three eldest children: Imran, 13, Rasheeda, 12 and five-year-old Farzana Khan live with their grandparents.
However, she and Punsammy are parents to two-year-old Budeshwar and they will find it hard to care for the newest additions: Saudia, Shafeena and Shahara who were born at the New Amsterdam Hospital. The girls weighed two, three and four pounds respectively and were born two minutes apart.
The NISA group, a branch of the Guyana Islamic Trust donated a quantity of pampers, Lactogen and vitamins after Bacchus told them of her needs. Fazela Mohabir, an executive member of NISA told Stabroek News that after learning about the triplets’ birth in the media, the leader of the group Romeela Ishack told the Berbice members to take a “hamper” for the mother.
Mohabir said later another member of the group contacted Bacchus and she informed them that her supplies were running low. Group members from West Berbice, New Amsterdam/Canje and the Corentyne came together and bought the items. Several persons also donated clothing and money to aid the group’s efforts.
Mohabir said after learning about other needs another NISA member contacted Chairman of the Central Corentyne FFP Committee/ President of the St Francis Community Developers Alex Foster for assistance. Foster obtained items such as baby wipes, body wash, clothing, footwear, stuffed toys, a kerosene stove and lamps, feeding cups, bath towels and other items for the family. Rebecca Seegobin and Bibi Ramkissoon, representatives of the group then handed over the hamper to the woman.
Bacchus said her mother-in-law would visit in the mornings and afternoons to bathe the babies but apart from that she cares for them by herself. The woman said she washes diapers all day to ensure that a ready supply is always available but she admits that the task is tiring as she also has other household chores. She also said she breastfeeds at night and that informed her request for the pampers. She quickly added though that “they don’t play bad yet.”
The woman said too her toddler has not displayed any ‘sibling rivalry’ with the girls and that he loves his sisters and wants to “kiss them all the time.” She said on a recent visit to his grandmother’s house nearby he saw the babies on a local television newscast and burst into tears; thinking that someone had taken them away. He immediately returned home to ensure that they were still there.
Bacchus told this newspaper that she was very pleased with the donations and was grateful to the groups. The woman also said Ansa McAl donated a few cans of Lactogen, pampers, a bathtub and towels and an overseas-based woman who saw her in the hospital while visiting a relative gave her a basket for the babies. The girls will soon outgrow the basket, she said, but it has been “a big help to me.”
Both NISA and FFP have promised to continue supporting the family. The charities also encouraged the public to assist. They said Bacchus needed a stroller that would accommodate three babies to make moving around easier.
