Blankets for Babies

Friends, family members and interested others have been making blankets for Geoaid Cameroon staff to distribute in Lomie District, Cameroon. The first blankets were made by Dr. Patrick Huff’s mother, Jane. Others joined in and now, over 200 blankets have been given to women in Lomie District. Many of the women receiving blankets are without financial resources to purchase baby blankets and these donated blankets have become a gesture of caring from American women to Cameroonian women.

On a recent trip to Lomie District, GeoAid Cameroon staff members had the opportunity to leave baby blankets at the hospital and health centers in the district. The first blanket to be given away was to a woman who delivered at Lomie District Hospital. She was 19 yrs old and having her second baby. The baby was 3 weeks early, weighed 2lbs 6 oz. and appeared malnourished. There is no equipment at the hospital for newborns with special problems. The immediate problem for this low birth weight baby is maintaining body temperature. The local practice is to wrap the baby in a thin blanket and place used liter plastic water bottles filled with warm water next to the baby. We wrapped this baby girl in a bright colorful quilt and placed her next to her mother’s warm body. The mother brought the baby to the hospital the last day the team was at the hospital to be examined, wrapped in the quilt.

During the visit in Lomie District local traditional birth attendants were interviewed. One of the questions asked during interviews was when was the last time the birth attendant had delivered a baby.  In one village, the traditional birth attendant told us that she had delivered a baby boy that morning and proudly took us to the woman and newborn infant. A blanket was given to the birth attendant and the baby wrapped in the new blanket.  Fifty blankets were distributed in the district health centers and at the hospital.

If you would like to be a part of this effort to provide blankets for newborns in Lomie District, contact GeoAid International through this website:

Many different kinds of baby blankets have been donated from a simple blanket of two pieces of fabric sewn together to hand quilted blankets. We’ll accept whatever you send with the promise that it will go to a mother who needs a clean and warm blanket for her newborn infant in Lomie District, Cameroon. The only criteria is that the blanket be new and unused. To those who have made and donated blankets, many thanks from the Geoaid staff, mothers and babies in Cameroon. Every baby deserves a clean, warm blanket.