DAPHNEE

She is 26 months old and weighs 20 pounds.  She has kwashiorkor, fever, cough and worms.   She had been following in the outpatient feeding program for several weeks but has not had much change in her weight and her kwash was getting worse.  Her parents decided to admit her into the inpatient program. She comes from a village that is around a 4 hour walk one way.   Both her parents are farmers and grow beans and corn.   There are 5 living siblings and 2 that have died of fever.  The family of 9 lives in a one room house made of mud, sticks, and brush.  They do not have running water in their home or a flush toilet, not even and outhouse.  The source where the get their water from is a 30 minute walk form their home.  She was started on the F-75 therapeutic milk and then graduated to the medika mamba program.

JOHN PETER

He is 3 years old and weighed 28 pounds when admitted.  He has kwashiorkor and so far has lost 5 pounds of water weight.  He has 6 living siblings and 1 that has died of diarrhea.  The family of 8 live in a 1 room home made of rocks, clay and tin.  They do not have running water at their home or a flush toilet, not even an outhouse.  The source where they get their water from is a 5 minute walk from their home.  They live about a 2 hour walk one way from the clinic.  Both of his parents are farmers and grow beans and corn in their garden.  In the past week Jn Peter has had meat 1 time, rice 3 times, and ate some crackers and drank coffee.  The day he was admitted he had had nothing to eat.  He was started on the F-75 therapeutic milk and then graduated to the medika mamba program.

JOHN

He is 20 months old and weighs 17 pounds.  He has kwashiorkor, diarrhea, fever and a cold.  He was also following in the the out patient program but got worse.  His mama just had another child and is having a difficult time caring for both of them. They are from the village here in Cazale.  This is his third time with kwashiorkor.  There are 5 other living sibling and one that died from fever and diarrhea.  The family of 9 lives in a 2 room home made from tarps and sticks.  They do not have running water at their home or a flush toilet, but do have an outhouse.  Both of the parents are farmers and grow corn and bananas in their gardens.  He was started on the F-7 therapeutic milk and then graduated to the medika mamba program.

JOUVENS

He is 2 years old and weighs 28 pounds.  His mama and papa left about 3 weeks ago to look for work in the Dominican Republic.  They left the kids with grandma who was doing her best to care for them.  Jouvens mama heard he was sick and came back to Haiti the next day arriving late in the evening.  She was here at the clinic first thing the next morning.  In the short time she was gone Jouvens had developed kwashiorkor and was a very sick little boy.  Normally the parents of the children do not stay with them here at the center but can visit as often as they like (due to lack of space).  His mama was so upset at how sick her son was that she asked if she could please stay with him.  It was the best decision we could have made for them as a family to let her stay.  This mama was so loving and caring for her son.  She sang to him every night and promised she would never leave him again.  She followed all of our instructions and cared for him 24/7.

He spend several days on the F-75 therapeutic milk and then graduated over the the medika mamba.  What a difference 9 days can make!  We are sending him home with his mother who will continue to follow in our outpatient program.  We are excited to see him gain weight and heal at home with his family.

This is Jouvens older sister Djounelca.  She also was sick this past week with malaria and bad diarrhea.  She ended up staying 4 days with us and her mom so we could observe her and follow her treatment.  She is doing better now and also returned home with her mama today.

 OSCAR

He is 14 months old and weighs 11 pounds 12 ounces.  He has 3 living siblings and 1 that has died from malnutrition.  The family of 6 lives in a 4 room home made of rock, clay and tin.  The family has a garden where they plant beans and corn.  They do not have running water in their home or a flush toilet, not even an outhouse.  They get their water from a pipe system that is just a few minutes away from their home.  The day he was admitted he had nothing to eat that day and the day before had a plate of rice.  He has been losing weight for the past 2 months and has also had diarhea for several days.  He was started on the F-75 therauptic milk and then graduated to the medika mamba program a few days later.

ROSE-MARIE

She was in admitted in Feb of this year weighing 9 pounds.  She has had a hard road to recovery battling TB and fighting fevers that got as high as 108.  He papa came back to visit her at the end on August and decide that she did not have a sickness that a doctor could treat.  He believes someone is putting a curse on her and went to get the  curse removed.  Within 10 days of coming back she was in very bad shape.  She had already developed kwashiorkor and was very weak.  Her father wanted to continue with her one more week.  When he returned again she was down to 8 pounds – she is currently 26 months old.  He decided at this point to readmit her into the inpatient program.  She is still with us and fighting to overcome her kwashiorkor and malnutrition.

Psalm 119:28