Saturday, May 7, 2011

a new boy...

My housekeeper Khetho got a new son, he was born March 13 and she calls him Sean. Funny how this worked out...
She asked the girls for a boy's name and JJ and Jezz named all the boys in their class... Sean is one of them, and now Khetho's son has besides an African name Mzwakhe also an English name Sean.



I gave Khetho 6 weeks of maternity leave, but the girls were so anxious to see him, that we asked if she would come by the house to show him to us. At 3 weeks old she came by and the girls were so excited to hold him, especially JJ! Jezz was a bit reluctant to hold him, but she would gaze at him the whole time!





Here is Khetho, who by the way, lost all her pregnancy weight by the 3rd week!! She was even a few lbs slimmer than before! How did that happen??





Jabu, Khetho's sister helped me out while she was on maternity leave, so now I have 2 great housekeepers for a while! Look how light the baby's skin is when they are new born. But it will change a bit, this happened to JJ and Jezz as well.



Sean Mzwakhe has also an older brother Khuli who is turning 7 on September 28, but lives with his grandmother in Zimbabwe. And he hasn't seen his little brother yet. It must be hard to not see your children for so long, mostly once a year or so when they are still that small. But that is the custom here in Africa. Most of the kids are raised by their grandmothers and the village they live in. So at age 24 Khetho has 2 boys, who knows what comes next....

Have a good day,
Mireille xx

5 comments:

Leah Maya Benjamin said...

Thats so terrible, to me anyway. Have a child and let it be raised by someone else? Whats the reasoning behind that?

Maci Miller said...

what a cutie pie! So tiny! Love how the girls were all excited about him. Better what it or they will be hinting for a brother! :-) Enjoy the weekend!

Let me know if your plans have changed for your trip in June/ July. So sorry it took me forever to get back to you. I am cool with whatever you want to do!

Maci Miller said...

About the grandparents raising the children. I think that is fairly common in parts of Thailand, too.

Maci Miller said...

About the grandparents raising the children. I think that is fairly common in parts of Thailand, too.

Mireille said...

That is pure out of survival Leah. The mother's have to go back to work, and since the grandmother's are at home, they can take care of their grandchildren. In poorer countries they don't have social services to take care of the people, so they have to fend for themselves. It is not that they want to give away their baby, it is out of necessity! Think about it how lucky we are!!

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