Distressed mother abandons baby at pastor’s doorstep

Correspondence from the Eastern region

Residents of the Kpong suburb of Ayikpala in the Eastern Region Sunday morning woke up to the chilling news of a baby abandoned by its mother in the latest incident of inexplicable reasons behind infant desertions around the country.

Contrary to the disheartening norm in most cases where such infants, dead or alive are usually left unattended to at rubbish dumps, close to and most bizarrely dumped in public toilets with the likely intention of ending their lives, the mother in the latest incident appears to have targeted a “responsible” family to assume the obligation of the upkeep of her newborn.

The unidentified mother abandoned her newly delivered baby girl at the doorsteps of the resident pastor of the New Covenant Apostolic Church located at Ahodwo, a suburb of Kpong.

The man of God (name withheld) woke up on Sunday morning, the 16th of July, 2023 to find the hapless baby, wrapped and placed directly before his doorstep, accompanied by a note underscoring her distress.

Assemblyman for the Kpong Ahodwo Electoral Area, Hon Raymond Gborson told GhanaWeb that he received a call just before daybreak from the resident pastor concerning the abandonment of and discovery of the baby at his doorstep.

“This morning at around 5:30 am, the resident pastor of apostolic church called me that he woke up this morning and found a baby wrapped in a cloth, placed at his doorstep, he’s living on a storey building so they climbed the stairs to the storey-building and placed it one step into his room so when he got up this morning, he opened his door, he saw it and then he called me,” he narrated in an interview.

The appearance of the newborn corroborates the note left by its mother that she was delivered on the night of Saturday, July 15th, 2023 and dumped there after its delivery with the umbilical cord still uncut. Indicating this, Mr. Gborson noted: “They just gave birth to the baby without bathing her, her umbilical cord was also not cut.”

The infant found hale and hearty was subsequently sent to a health facility within the community where a midwife successfully severed its umbilical cord and administered the necessary medical attention.

The suicide note written on a piece of paper and assumed to have been left by the desperate mother for the pastor’s family but with no personal details, was placed right under the baby. The note sighted by this portal sought to explain the reasons for her strange behaviour and her confidence in the family to ensure a proper upbringing for her daughter.



Rather disturbingly however, the woman at large expressing hope in the family of her daughter’s foster parents to give her a good life failed to explain the reasons for her actions except to disclose her potential suicidal ideations.

It read: “By the time you will finish reading this letter, I will be dead and gone, please take care of this baby as your own child. Please, I regret doing this but that is the only way this baby can have a chance to live, please. She was born just yesterday night, please take care of her. I’m sorry please forgive me. God bless you.”

Asked if the mother could be from the community, the Assemblyman answered in the negative, adding that no information of that sort had come to his attention as of now.

Police from Kpong were called to the scene where after an assessment and in agreement with the Assemblyman, temporarily left the baby in the care of the family of the resident pastor as arrangements are underway to involve the DOVVSU for the next line of action.

Mr. Raymond Gborson appealed to members of the general public who may know the mother of the infant to help trace her to save her from her suicidal intentions and possibly reunite her with her child.

Meanwhile, the resident pastor was unavailable for comments.