By Melissa Williams-Platt | Founder and Trustee
This project report is written at a time of much gratiitude and thanks, since as we approach the end of a very taxing year, due to Covid-19, with the continued and generous support of our donors, Footprints 4 Sam has continued to make a very real difference in the lives of our beneficiaries. Our impact at Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital has been noteworthy and if you would like to take the time, please listen to the new video recently loaded on our project page so that you can hear the voices of the doctors we work with and listen to their own personal impressions of Footprints 4 Sam and the work we do to improve the lives of patients, parents and health professionals.
Rahima Moosa Hospital is the only Mother and Child Hospital in South Africa. This government hospital in Johannesburg, delivers over 14000 babies per annum, which is over 60 babies per week. The healthcare team are currently achieving this under very trying circumstances where the building is literally falling apart around them. The last few weeks have seen the hospital without water for days on end and Footprints 4 Sam due to the generosity of our donors and suppliers was able to supply porter toilets to service the needs of parents and health professionals and Hippo Rollers to transport water from the Jojo Tank outside the hospital to key areas within the hospital. Sadly, when the water finally came back on after a few days the ailing infrastructure was put under severe strain and many essential areas of the hospital were flooded, putting enormous pressure on an already resource stretched hospital. Add the added burden of Covid-19 and one can truly imagine what a year it has been for this incredible team of professionals.
We have been blessed in South Africa that Covid-19 protocols have been very strict and the pandemic has largely been contained and as a result we were able to complete the renovation work that we were doing pre Covid-19 in the Kangaroo Mother Care Ward at Rahima. Our focus has now shifted to the neonatal ICU, which following the floods due to the old rusted pipes is now in desperate need of critical intervention and an urgent upgrade.
Footprints 4 Sam would like to thank our donors for their generosity to date and as we now head towards #GivingTuesday we ask that you please keep our project in mind should you be wanting to make a difference on 01 December.
In the meantime, please visit our website www.footprints4sam.org and if you are a keen sport enthusiast please join us as we celebrate hope, connection and life as we launch the Footprints 4 Sam World Giving Series - Challenge #1 , a virtual sports event in aid of building this all important NICU. The beauty about the Challenge is that it is run through an APP and allows participants to connect again after a year of isolation and many hard earned lessons of how grateful we should be for all that we have.
Words can never thank you enough. As a valued member of the Footprints 4 Sam Family - Together we can continue to change and save lives!
With Love,
Melissa (Sam's Mum)
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