Miracle baby Rositha is Mozambique treasure

CHIBUTO – Her mother calls her the miracle child, the state says she is a national treasure and tourists travel from around the world to take her photograph.

Four years ago, lady luck was kind to Rositha, who was born in a tree as floodwaters raged around her in Mozambique. Images of Sofia Pedro and her child – just one hour old and still attached to her mother by her umbilical cord – were splashed across the front pages of newspapers globally.Sofia had spent her fourth day in the tree near the town of Chibuto, along the swollen Limpopo River, when she gave birth to her daughter.They were lifted aboard a South African helicopter after a doctor was winched down to the tree to cut the umbilical cord.”She’s a miracle girl.It was a deeply scary and nervous experience but we knew we would make it,” Sofia recalled at her home in Chibuto, 300 km north of the capital Maputo.”We lost all our earthly belongings at the time,” she said.Charities have since hosted the pair in the United States, where Sofia has raised thousands of dollars to secure the child’s future.Rositha was one of the lucky ones in March, 2000.Hundreds of people were killed in the floods and as many as 100 000 people were displaced.STAR STATUSNow Rositha is in pre-school and only vaguely aware of her star status.She sits quietly in her mother’s lap listening to her memories of the floods, glows as her mother smiles on recalling her first and only trip to the United States where she gave talks on surviving a major African disaster.Then she runs off to play at her mother’s request as television cameras roll.”Rositha is still big news and her mother struggles to understand that her life was totally changed by the floods, that she is now a famous personality,” said journalist Charles Mangwiro of Radio Mozambique.Sofia finds it difficult to deal with the fame, especially because it involves giving hours of her time with no immediate material benefit in return.”People drive in, ask no questions, take pictures and go.Sometimes we don’t know who they are or what they are doing.We think they sell these things and we do not share any of the profits,” she told Reuters.Sofia and her family – a husband and three other children – live in a house built for her by the government in Chibuto, which is itself a dilapidated and dusty hamlet.She complains that the structure is ageing fast, the roof is leaking and its taps are dry.Sofia says they have already spent the money the government has given them on basic living costs, and wants access to Rositha’s trust account to be able to take her to school when the time comes.FORMER PEASANT FARMERThe government says it has given Sofia, a former peasant farmer, a job at its social welfare department, has found employment for her husband and pledged to meet all Rositha’s school bills until she goes through college.”Rositha is like a national treasure.We have done everything to ensure that she does have a comfortable life and the government is fully responsible for her education,” said Agostinho Pessane of the Ministry of Social Welfare.”The family has access to two bank accounts while a third account is held in trust for Rositha until she reaches age 18 because that was the condition of the donors,” he told Reuters.The 2000 floods and subsequent cyclones in the following two years inspired a flow of hundreds of millions in donor dollars for the improvement of infrastructure in Mozambique, where economic growth has averaged 10 per cent in the last decade, one of the fastest in Africa.But like Sofia and her family, half of the southern African country’s 18 million people live in abject poverty and it is listed as one of the poorest countries in the world.The UN’s 2003 human development report ranks Mozambique 170 out of 175 countries in its index, which measures factors such as education, life expectancy and adjusted income.Rositha is oblivious of all these goings on.”I am happy to play.Next year (I go to) school,” she said.In a country where banks are few and far between, and rural peasants keep their cash under their mattresses, Rositha has reason to smile.She has cash waiting for her when she turns 18.- Nampa-ReutersImages of Sofia Pedro and her child – just one hour old and still attached to her mother by her umbilical cord – were splashed across the front pages of newspapers globally.Sofia had spent her fourth day in the tree near the town of Chibuto, along the swollen Limpopo River, when she gave birth to her daughter.They were lifted aboard a South African helicopter after a doctor was winched down to the tree to cut the umbilical cord.”She’s a miracle girl.It was a deeply scary and nervous experience but we knew we would make it,” Sofia recalled at her home in Chibuto, 300 km north of the capital Maputo.”We lost all our earthly belongings at the time,” she said.Charities have since hosted the pair in the United States, where Sofia has raised thousands of dollars to secure the child’s future.Rositha was one of the lucky ones in March, 2000.Hundreds of people were killed in the floods and as many as 100 000 people were displaced.STAR STATUSNow Rositha is in pre-school and only vaguely aware of her star status.She sits quietly in her mother’s lap listening to her memories of the floods, glows as her mother smiles on recalling her first and only trip to the United States where she gave talks on surviving a major African disaster.Then she runs off to play at her mother’s request as television cameras roll.”Rositha is still big news and her mother struggles to understand that her life was totally changed by the floods, that she is now a famous personality,” said journalist Charles Mangwiro of Radio Mozambique.Sofia finds it difficult to deal with the fame, especially because it involves giving hours of her time with no immediate material benefit in return.”People drive in, ask no questions, take pictures and go.Sometimes we don’t know who they are or what they are doing.We think they sell these things and we do not share any of the profits,” she told Reuters.Sofia and her family – a husband and three other children – live in a house built for her by the government in Chibuto, which is itself a dilapidated and dusty hamlet.She complains that the structure is ageing fast, the roof is leaking and its taps are dry.Sofia says they have already spent the money the government has given them on basic living costs, and wants access to Rositha’s trust account to be able to take her to school when the time comes.FORMER PEASANT FARMERThe government says it has given Sofia, a former peasant farmer, a job at its social welfare department, has found employment for her husband and pledged to meet all Rositha’s school bills until she goes through college.”Rositha is like a national treasure.We have done everything to ensure that she does have a comfortable life and the government is fully responsible for her education,” said Agostinho Pessane of the Ministry of Social Welfare.”The family has access to two bank accounts while a third account is held in trust for Rositha until she reaches age 18 because that was the condition of the donors,” he told Reuters.The 2000 floods and subsequent cyclones in the following two years inspired a flow of hundreds of millions in donor dollars for the improvement of infrastructure in Mozambique, where economic growth has averaged 10 per cent in the last decade, one of the fastest in Africa.But like Sofia and her family, half of the southern African country’s 18 million people live in abject poverty and it is listed as one of the poorest countries in the world.The UN’s 2003 human development report ranks Mozambique 170 out of 175 countries in its index, which measures factors such as education, life expectancy and adjusted income.Rositha is oblivious of all these goings on.”I am happy to play.Next year (I go to) school,” she said.In a country where banks are few and far between, and rural peasants keep their cash under their mattresses, Rositha has reason to smile.She has cash waiting for her when she turns 18.- Nampa-Reuters