'As many clothes as I can carry': Labrador City teen collects clothing for Dominican newborns
A Labrador City teenager is giving back — in the form of baby clothes — to a maternity hospital in the Dominican Republic where she volunteered this past summer.
"Babies grow quickly, so there's a lot of baby clothing left," Maggie Drover, 16, told CBC News.
Drover spent the last week of a three-week hospital work experience trip working at Dr. Francisco Gonzalvo hospital in the city of La Romana. She said it was a struggle for staff and families to find proper-fitting clothing for newborns.
"We were working at regional hospitals," Drover said. "I would imagine that a lot of the people there simply couldn't afford to buy the clothing that fit the child properly."
Right from the get-go, she said, she saw the need for more and better clothing. In the first birth she witnessed, the baby was underweight and the parents only had clothing that would fit a three- to six-month-old.
"It was just too large for the baby," she said. "They had a hat but they didn't have any socks or mitts.
The first natural birth I watched, I cried. It's just incredible. - Maggie Drover
"When we're holding the babies we use heating lamps, and his hands were just turning blue because they weren't warm enough."
When she got home she decided to do something about what she had experienced. She knew her family had leftover clothes that they didn't use after her cousins grew out of them.
"There's a lot of people that can make use of that," she said.
'For the little ones'
She started a group called Para el Chiquitos — Spanish for "for the little ones" — to collect clothing and monetary donations to bring back to the hospital.
"My original goal was $1,000 in monetary funds but I'm just looking to take as many clothes as I can carry," she said, adding the community has already come out in a big way.
"I was very surprised to get brand new clothing as well. I've had people come straight from Walmart carrying great big bags of brand new clothing. It's incredible."
The Grade 12 student was touched by the experience and says she wants to work in obstetrics.
"Nothing compares to being the first person to hold a brand new baby," Drover said.
"The first natural birth I watched, I cried. It's just incredible."
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