In 1978, a hospital in Bogotá, Colombia, has a problem. Many babies are born too early. They are very small. The hospital does not have enough incubators.
A doctor named Edgar Rey tries something new. He lays a baby girl on her mother's chest, skin to skin. The baby stays warm. Her heart is calm.
People call it kangaroo care, like a kangaroo and its baby. A big study in 2021 found it saves lives: deaths of small babies fell by a quarter. In 2022, doctors everywhere began to use it.
Today, Amira has her baby in a different hospital. Her son is big and healthy, not early at all. Still, the midwife lays him on her chest, skin to skin, for one hour. Soon he finds the milk alone.
The best incubator in the world costs nothing. It was there all along.
Every Journeva story exists at four levels — same plot, same characters, richer language each step. Here is how this one begins at each level.
A2 · ElementaryIn 1978, a hospital in Bogotá, Colombia, had a problem that money could not fix. Many babies were born too early and too small, and there were not enough incubators. …
B1 · IntermediateIn 1978, a hospital in Bogotá, Colombia, had a problem that money could not fix. Far more babies were born too early and too small than there were incubators to keep them warm. …
B2 · Upper intermediateIn 1978, a hospital in Bogotá, Colombia, faced a problem that money could not fix: far more babies were arriving too early and too small than there were incubators to keep them warm. …
Read it in a language you already know to check your understanding — every Journeva story is written in all five.
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