A coffin

Children's hospital visit in Zambia

As we walked into the preemie ward I saw a tiny baby laying on a blanket being examined by the nurses. The nurses seemed rough as they handled the naked baby. The baby was so small and motionless almost like a doll. There was a woman sitting on a bench behind the nurses, she was sitting all alone and weeping. The nurses rolled the motionless baby back onto her back and continued to talk in their language. Was I seeing things or did the chest rise and fall? I was not certain. The woman on the bench must be the mother, it felt odd that she was sitting alone. I went to her and gave her a new baby blanket my mother had made, then I sat down not sure what to say or do so I put my arm around her and began to whisper prayers for her and her child. I wept  with her as I began to see that her baby was not alive. I felt helpless in the face of her immense pain. The nurses were done their examination quickly and the tiny body was wrapped up and carried out with the mother following; new blanket in-hand. It is the tradition of the Zambians to bury a baby in a new blanket. When the blanket gift was sewn, transported 1/2 way around the world and carried into the children's hospital the thought never crossed my mind that it would be a coffin for a baby. Some things you can't prepare for.