By Hou Akot Hou
Parents of quadruplets, born at Aweil State Hospital in Northern Bahr Ghazal of South Sudan, are appealing for assistance to raise the children.
45-year-old Anei Anei’s wife Ayak Koryom Majok, a 28-year-old woman, gave birth to the quadruplets on Sunday.
Mr. Anei, a subsistence farmer, is seeking support from authorities and well-wishers to help raise his children, as he struggles to feed his family amid poverty.
The blessed father said that he is like other ordinary residents of the state who hardly make ends meet.
All he hopes is that well-wishers will come to their aid since the babies need nourishment.
Anei further said they are happy with the great gift but worried about how to take care of them (the babies) as they are financially weak.
“We are glad for the gift as a family, and we see that these are gifts to the people of Mading Aweil and South Sudan as a whole,” he said. “I am appealing to everyone to support us,” he said.
“We know that our country is facing economic woes, and as a result, people struggle on their own, but the government has to lend a helping hand,” Anei pleaded.
The quadruplet’s father maintained that it would be much better if the government advocated for those four babies’ support by consulting partners like Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs).
“The government can step in to support these babies by contacting the organizations. Even one child is a big problem for us parents who are destitute, let alone the four that we have received,” he decried.
For his part, the director of the Aweil Civil Hospital, Santino Jan Tong, said the babies are sound and well.
“It depends on how their monitoring situation unfolds. But their signs indicate that they are fine; no worries,” he assured.
The quadruplets include two boys and two girls. All four babies were born healthy with varying weights, according to health workers.
The first baby weighs 1.2 kg, the second 1.9 kg, the other 1.4 kg, and the last weighs 1.6kg.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a baby boy at birth should weigh 3.3 kg, and a baby girl has to weigh at least 3.2 if the baby has completed the nine-month pregnancy period.