Mother lets baby born without eyes die of starvation

ayodele johnson

August 30, 2017 7:28 AM

The community where the child was born is of the belief that it will bring misfortunes to them.

A baby girl believed to be of bad omen due to its physical abnormality of being born without eyes and a deformed nose, has been left to starve to death by its mother in Kenyas Mombasa county.

The woman's uncle, Hassan Dzuya, told Daily Nation News that his niece had refused to breast-feed the infant as everyone is afraid of getting close to the child.

A strike by nurses in the town had forced the family of the infant to resort to self delivery which resulted in a disappointment to them.

Dzuya also believes that the baby is most likely going to bring misfortune to her parents and the community, a reason why it was condemned to death according to the Mijikenda practice.

“Everyone is scared of the baby. They think it’s bad omen. In our traditions, when such a child is born, we take it to a secluded sacred place and leave the gods to deal with it,” he said.

Before being made to starve to death, the family of the deceased, its mother's uncle in particular, took it to the Port Reitz District Hospital for examination at the facility but they were turned away due to tensions in the health sector.

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According to reports, the devastated mother who already has three healthy children gave birth to the baby prematurely.

The Daily Nation suspects that the infant suffered from Anophthalmia, a condition in which one or both eyes do not form during pregnancy. When both eyes are affected, blindness results.

ayodele johnson