Her Name Is Milaine Atimel · by Tamara Davy

Her name is Milaine Atimel, and she is 18 months old. I met her at Sister Rosanna’s clinic when I had gone there to take some pictures and help out where I could. I sat in the clinic with Turbo (Rodrigue Eboko Mbele is the man that takes care of things for me in Cameroon, he is a colleague and friend.) for about 30 minutes before a Sister came to ask me if I wanted to see a girl that was taking the products that I had brought from Health Partners. Of course I went to see the little girl expecting to take some photos and get a happy story of how the products I brought saved the girl.

What I found was far from what I was expecting. Milaine was being held in her mother’s arm. She wore a pink dress and she was moaning; her eyes kept rolling in her head, her mother just kept tapping her shoulder. One of the Sisters came to tell me Milaine’s history. That the child had been brought in last week and that her body was bloated from malnutrition, however, there was something else that I could not see from just looking at the child. She was covered in burns, “as if someone had thrown her in a fire” said the Sister. The Sister asked the mother to turn the child and that was when I saw that her legs were covered in burns. I was also told that the child had very deep bedsores, it looked like someone had left her on her back for days.

The mother is a young woman who was not even twenty-two, and I was told that this was the second child that had died in her care. The last time the woman had come to the clinic for help with her first child, but left in the middle of the night without taking the treatment prescribed, and as a result the child died. Milaine was her second and she is now 3 months pregnant with her third.

The Sister’s did not know what to do, so I suggested that the child be brought back to Belabo to the Sister’s of Calcutta, as they deal with children on a more regular basis. I asked Turbo to bring the child to the Sisters of Charity. Unfortunately they could not help and they were unable to find a vein in order to start an IV drip. They asked Turbo if the child had been baptized as it was in God’s hands now, indeed it had been done that morning. Turbo called to tell me he was bringing the child back to the village clinic.

Milaine died shortly after her arrival at the clinic. She was a beautiful little girl and as I stood there looking down on her sweet face I couldn’t help but feel hatred for her mother who sat there weeping. The death of this child was unnecessary. The mother lived in the same village as the Sisters. They are constantly giving health talks and the clinic is about a quarter of a mile from the woman’s house. She could have brought the child sooner. We are not only fighting diseases but we are fighting ignorance. How do we educate those that don’t want to be educated? What will be the fate of the child that grows in this woman’s womb? If the timing is right, I may be back in time to watch that one take their final breath on this planet.

I asked Turbo when he thought the funeral would be. He said the child would be buried within the next two hours. They wrap the body in leaves, dig a hole about one meter deep and bury the child without a marker. I asked Turbo if a child of that age would have a government ID card, he said no. When Milaine Atimel came into this world, no one knew of her existence, other than a few local villagers and tragically she went out the same way.

I wanted to write about her so that we can remember this little girl who by no fault of her own was sentenced to death because of her birth mother, or her birthplace…where does the fault lie? What do we have to do to make the changes? But then, if they don’t want to change, are we wasting our time? Or is this one tragic case of neglect by one irresponsible mother?

It had also recently been asked of me if I thought there would be an investigation. The child was obviously neglected and may have even been burnt by fire or boiling water. It was clear to all involved in this case that the mother was at fault. However, there will be no investigation because the child is buried in an unmarked grave and officials just don’t care. I will be looking into this in the future, it just doesn’t seem right. However, I must be careful because if the women think they will be fined or jailed, they may not bring in their children for help, ever. The worst kind of catch twenty-two! I do have a couple of Pictures of Milaine taken before she died. I have decided not to post them, however if you wish to see what this angel looked like contact me and we can talk.

The update on this story is that I met with the mother, father, brother, chief of the village and Christophe. At first I was going to tell the mother exactly what I thought should happen to her but then I decided to take a different approach, I let her know that I was disturbed by what had occurred with her second child and that I was going to be watching the third one yet to be born. I told her that we would make sure that the child was properly vaccinated and that if there were any serious health issues that we would care for the child. I also made it clear that she was to start attending the health classes at Sister Rosanna’s clinic and that Turbo would come to take pictures of her in class so that I can see her. I told her I had eyes everywhere and that I was watching her. Dramatic I know, but necessary. The mother has promised to attend the classes. The Chief has promised that he will watch out for the third child as well. The father was distraught over the loss of the two children and wants to do what he can to make sure the third survives. The father said something along the lines that he is sad no one will stand over his grave and cry. Meaning his children keep dying. The mother will also have an HIV test so that we can rule that out.

The holiday season is coming upon us and, I ask for those that are religious to light a candle for this sweet, beautiful, innocent child and just say her name…Milaine Atimel. She shared our planet with us for 18 months and she deserves some recognition.

Tamara Davy is the founder of the Okala Foundation, a small non profit, grassroots organization that tries to make a difference.
www.okalafoundation.org