Sometimes grief causes people to not be able to move forward, while at other times it acts as a call to action. That’s exactly what it was for Daniel Rateng, the Random Acts Regional Representative in Kenya. After a family member’s miscarriage, Daniel’s sense of loss motivated him to help a mother of a newborn. That would be a way to honor the baby that his family lost. So, he knew that he wanted to reach out to help others and how.
The next step was to identify who. Looking around at his local community, Daniel noticed that teenage mothers needed support. Even though teenage pregnancy is not uncommon, these young women face stigma rather than getting assistance from schools, family, and society as a whole. Some are kicked out of their homes. There is also no support from the fathers, who deny responsibility or remain unknown. Babies are born to mothers unable to provide clothes or baby blankets. Instead, they use torn sheets or their own t-shirts in an attempt to provide such necessities. This is a group of people that needs help.
To find an individual to support, Daniel reached out to the local community hospital. Once he explained his purpose, the clinical staff was happily surprised. No member of the public had previously reached out to them before to do such an act of kindness. While he waited for the staff to identify a new mother who needed help, Daniel went shopping with funds he secured from Random Acts. He looked for essential newborn items from his list, and also a few that were just too cute to pass up. Then, he packaged them up and added a note of support.
Once connected to a new mother, Daniel delivered the items to her home while a few siblings had come over to visit. The young woman was grateful, and he knew that he had helped the baby get off to a good start. If you would also like to help newborns where you live, you can do your own act of kindness. Learn more about how here.
