A heavily circulated news item out of Guyana revolved around the discovery of a newborn baby at Nandy Park. Many were shocked – and rightly so. In that case, the baby was found dead, wrapped in a plastic bag. An elderly woman made the discovery on the afternoon of May 10, and alerted the authorities. Police in that country have since reported that the matter is being looked at as a homicide.
Days later came another report of an abandoned baby, and this time in Saint Lucia. Police were called to the community of Morne Du Don on Friday morning, where the baby had been found, also in a bag.
One of the first videos circulated shows the baby inside a large shopping bag, moving around while group of onlookers question what kind of person could abandon a baby.
“Boy that person needs jail… a little boy… it’s how long that child has been out here. That person have heart…” a man can be heard saying.
The video quickly made the rounds on social media, leading some to share their thoughts on the matter. A young man posted,” Life blessed you with a baby and that’s what you doing? Why not put the baby up for adoption?”
Another wrote, “It looks bad, and it is, but let’s not rush to judgement. We don’t know anything about the mother who left this baby there. We don’t know anything about her mental state. For whatever reason, this woman did not choose to have an abortion, which many would stand up and criticize in just the same way. Maybe she was watching and waiting for someone to come get the baby… who knows. I pray this baby receives all the help he needs to survive after this.”
“What if the baby didn’t make it,” yet another commenter added, touching on the reality that the baby found in Guyana did not survive much like many other babies in similar scenarios.
More videos have since circulated shedding more light on what happened after the discovery. In one of these, a group of men by the roadside surround the baby boy protectively, as he lay on a blanket placed atop an old car.
“Nice little boy like that,” a male voice says in the background, as some of the men in the group tend to the baby. The baby’s arms stretch upward, reassuring everyone involved that there is still time to save a life.
Sirens precede the arrival of the ambulance, and the men gesture with their hands for the ambulance to hurry and come closer.
“Not now they calling y’all!” someone shouts in the background. “If the child had to die the child die already.”
The short clip ends with people watching from the side-lines as the emergency response personnel take over. The men who’d been helping all along still stay close, monitoring the situation.
The Vulnerable Persons Team from the Royal St Lucia Police Force is currently investigating the matter. The baby is doing “just fine,” according to a police source.
At times such as these with hands needed to be sanitized and folks asked to be at least
six feet apart, yet the good shepherds of Morne Du Don with smokes in mouth, did a good
dead today; Their good dead will be rewarded; there is some good in most of us, thank God.