Left to die

WHILE the rest of the country and the world prepares to celebrate the joyful festive season with family and friends, one tiny soul made its entry into this world all alone, abandoned by its mother soon after birth and left to die on the outskirts of Port Moresby.
But fate had other plans for this unwanted newborn, which was discovered by a woman passerby wrapped in blankets and hanging in a bag next to a rubbish drum near the ATS market bus stop, on the northern fringes of Jackson International Airport.
A woman walking along the Eight-Mile/ATS junction found the baby around 5am on Tuesday.
The baby, a boy, looked to have been abandoned immediately after birth because he still had his umbilical cord attached to him and was covered in blood.
The woman heard the sound of an infant crying and, upon closer inspection, was shocked to find the baby inside the bag.
She said she took the baby home and washed it with warm water, before tying the umbilical cord with a string.
She then took it to the Port Moresby General Hospital to have it weighed and treated, and also to have its umbilical cord cut and tied properly.
Although she did not give her name, the woman, who is understood to be from Enga, said that if anyone wanted to claim the child, they would have to pay her K20,000 because she was the one who rescued the boy and wants to keep him.
Gordon police station senior supervisor, Sgt Martin Mehaio, said the woman had reported the case to them but they could not do anything at this stage because they did not know who the mother was.
He said this made it difficult for police, but he appealed to the public to come forward with any information.
Sgt Mehaio said that such cases of abandoned babies rarely occur or get reported, so he was hopeful that someone would know the baby’s mother.