Mupwa's Babies: Then & Now

Remember Mupwa?  (No?  Read about him here, here, and here.)

Last March, he was distraught because his tiny new twin girls looked like this:

Stuck in plastic incubators at the big (expensive) hospital.  

This situation was so important and so concerning that I even wrote about it here.

I will never forget the haunting images of those babies in boxes or the face of their papa when he told me what was happening.

______________________

The other day, we had a celebration.  Because this is what those babies look like now:

That's Nsimba and Nzuzi or Katherine and Miriam.  They will be one year old next month.  A milestone worthy of a fête. (I think we polished off four plates of cookies, twelve samosas, and three cartons of juice.)

Enjoy their baby faces today.  I know Mupwa and N'Landu will.

The big sisters requested photos too, giving me their best "angst-y model" poses:

I told them they were allowed to smile.

Which they thought was a ridiculous request, but agreed to anyway:

Mupwa and N'Landu sure look a lot happier here: 

Then they did one year ago, here:

(Well...Mupwa says he smiles when he's stressed. This was taken at the NICU by Johan.)

And because of that, we are really, really glad.

Tweet

Weekend List!

Jill's List:

I'm so interested in this article.  My exposure to modern day standardized testing is very limited. Thinking. Thinking.

Trying to learn French?  Frantastique subscriptions are 20% off this week! (Here's a review.)

Screenshot from Frantastique.

Combining the faces of people who are genetically related.  Craziness ensues.  Mind blown.

And these people aren't twins.

Oh shit.  Oh, nice!

Vlisco's hero fashion.

Found this gem of a bronze pendant hidden in the case at Je Gagne Ma Vie here in Kinshasa.  Never been to this great shop where the profits directly support the artists?  Go this weekend!

This is so weird and gross.  Even more disturbing is the fact that the story keeps popping up... (Go here for a calmer perspective, thanks to a reasonable reader!)

How to be present for a friend experiencing loss or tragedy.  An important piece.

Sigh. Celebrities and their "African adventures". I had a hard time with this article. (Thank you, Alice.)

Let's Save Africa! - Gone wrong.

Sarah's List:

Breaking news: Froot Loops are all the same flavor.

That's right. There's no lime, grape, orange, lemon or cherry. Just the same sweet cardboard flavor.

  by  Andréia 

Here's what happens when you give poor people money.

The Central African Republic's got a new president. And she's a woman.

  by  Free Grunge Textures - www.freestock.ca 

Here's a list of all the other women running the world. And a map.

Pink equals a female head of state. (Thank you, filibustercartoons for the image.)

Everyone over-thinks social interactions. Except for people outside the United States. The rest of us suffer great peril.

Just two friends sayin' hey in France. No big deal.

  by  simpologist 

40 Maps to Help You Make Sense of the World. Especially #36. Ah, that world just makes so much more sense now...


Dove has a new ad about selfies that's so good it debuted at Sundance.

Pretty sure this is a selfie by Dove.

  by  Canned Muffins


God Loves Uganda now playing in DC. Won't someone see it for us and write a review.

Tweet

Incu-Twins

I am furious at Johan.

And it has nothing to do with bugs.

I am angry because he got to go see the twins in the NICU yesterday.  Not me, the baby nurse.  That would be far too logical.  No, Johan was the one forced to don a gown, three shoe covers (one for his head), and a mask - all under the hateful glances of nurses furious at his accidental breaking of visiting hours rules.  Johan was the one who got to take photos of the chubbier-than-we-expected twins in their separate plastic incubators.  Johan got to offer halting congratulations to Landu, Mupwa's exhausted wife - who I'm sure was less than pleased with her husband for randomly bringing a near-stranger with a camera into a crazy stressful moment of their lives.  

It is so not fun to be one week postpartum.  Especially, I imagine, when NICU is involved.

I'm so mad.  And Jealous.  With a capital "J." 

However, the good news is that Johan was there because he was giving the family a ride home from that hospital joint - a couple of weeks earlier than expected.  Which, of course, meant more financial stress for Mupwa in the short term - but better in the long term.  He was freaking out. Landu was freaking out.  The house isn't ready for two babies!  We need to rearrange the furniture!  

Meanwhile, the twins slept soundly in what Johan described as a completely silent nursery.  

Mupwa I.

I grilled him for details:  Silent?  Completely silent?  Surely there were beeping monitors!  Whispering nurses.  Mewing babies.  Alarms?   Nope.  He swore that the click of his phone camera and the crackle of his gown were the loudest noises in a room ringed with silent babies in boxes.   He didn't see any eerie blue lights, hear any beeping alerts, or notice the sigh of a ventilator.  He added that he was so unbelievably nervous and uncomfortable that his own pulse was crazy loud.  The combination of a very displeased hospital staff and the unexpected role change from chauffeur to major life event photographer just about did him in.

But not quite.  He still managed to take these beautiful, sort of haunting photographs of life inside a Congolese NICU.

It's possible that Katherine and Miriam are among only a very few Kinshasa babies who have had their portraits taken while still ensconced behind hospital walls, tucked away in donated baby compartments.  A few other images exist, but not many.  

*I had a chat with Mupwa about if he was comfortable with me writing about his babies and putting photographs of them on the Internet.  After telling me that he actually got stopped on the street a few weeks ago and asked if he was "Papa Mupwa who builds Tikki Torches," he said he hoped the "whole world would share in [his] joy this way."  One of the ideas behind Mama Congo is to have a place to record "stories of mamas, stories of families, stories of life."  This is a perfect example of a story that we get to tell.

Tweet

Two Babies: A Congo Birth Story

Mupwa has two babies now.

Remember Mupwa?

His two little girls were born on Monday:  Miriam and Katherine.

They look exactly alike, except that Katherine has a small mark on her left cheek.  I told Mupwa he was lucky - some parents of identical twins resort to toenail polish and color coded clothing.  For months, Mupwa believed he was going to have two boys.  He has known their names for months.  Three ultrasounds declared each time that his wife was growing " Les Deux Garçons."   So, when two tiny girls appeared, it was a shock.

The thing is, right now, those little babies are at one hospital while their mother is stuck in another.

Though their birth month was to have been March, these babies are so tiny.  Just under 2 kilograms, or 4ish pounds, each.  They needed special care and were immediately taken to a fancy downtown hospital, where a neonatologist practices.  Their mama is still sitting in the hospital where she gave birth, somewhat of a hostage. They simply won't let her leave until Mupwa coughs up $300.

That's a lot of money for a jardinier and this situation is very common at cash-strapped clinics and hospitals in developing countries. (Read about Loretta's story here.)

Loretta.  From PRI's The World.

Sometimes, they let the mom go, but keep the baby until the bill is paid.  True story.

This afternoon, Mupwa's head was covered in flour.  He explained - a bit sheepishly - that Mama Vida, Mamitscho, and Mama YouYou threw flour on him to celebrate the babies being born.  They are happy for him - two babies!

He said he wished he felt like celebrating.

However, the reality of crushing hospital bills, the confusion of a makeshift NICU, and knowing a little bit what it takes to raise two babies on a gardener's salary in Kinshasa sours the excitement.  As we talked in the afternoon sun, and I saw sweat caking the flour on his brow.

Tweet