JOSE

She is 4 1/2 years old and weighs 23 pounds.  She has already lost 3 pounds of “water weight” from her kwashiorkor.  She was referred to us from Children’s Health Ministries. She has been having signs of kwashiorkor for about 1 week now.  The tops of her feet were so swollen they were leaking water when she arrived.  Her mama buys items in bulk and resells them for a profit and her papa works in an office.  She has lost 3 siblings to death and has 5 that are living.  The family lives in a 2 room home made of sticks, clay and tin.  They do not have running water at their home or a flush toilet, but do have an outhouse.  They purchase their water from a vendor that lives near their home.  The day she was admitted she had nothing to eat and the day before she had some meat.  The families average monthly income is around $150US.  They traveled by motorcycle and taxi for 4 hours to arrive at the clinic.  She was started on the F-75 therapeutic milk and then graduated to the medika mamba program.

LUCKNELSON

He is 21 months old and weighs 12 pounds 8 ounces.  He was in our outpatient medika mamba program for a few weeks but continued to decline so was admitted into out inpatient program.  His parents are farmers and grow banana in their gardens.  The family of 4 lives in a 1 room home made of cinder block, cement and tin.  They do not have running water at their home or a flush toilet, not even an outhouse.  They get their water from a hand pump that is about a 5 minute walk from their home.  Lucknelson has been showing beginning signs (swelling in feet) of kwashiorkor for a few weeks now. This will be the 3rd time in his short life that he has had kwashiorkor.    He also has a cold & cough and diarrhea.   The day he was admitted he had a pack of crackers and the day before he had nothing to eat.  The families average monthly income is around $80US  They traveled 2 hours by motorcycle to arrive at the clinic.   He was started on the F-75 therapeutic milk and then graduated to the medika mamba program.

LUSMENE

She is 26 months old and weighs 13 pounds 2 ounces.  She weighed more at 12 months old than she does now.  She was in the outpatient medika mamba program and her mama abandoned the program.  She also has a cough/cold, diarrhea and fever.  Her parents are both farmers and grow beans and corn in their gardens.  She has one living brother at home as well.  The family lives in a 3 room home made of tin, rocks and clay.  They do not have running water at their home or a flush toilet, but do have an outhouse.  They get their water from a source that is about a 35 minute walk from their home.  The day she was admitted she had nothing to eat and the day before a plate of rice.  The family traveled about 4 hours by foot to arrive at the clinic.  Their average monthly income is around $60US.  She was started on the F-75 therapeutic milk and then graduated to the medika mamba program.

WENSLEY

He is 2 1/2 years old and weighs 22 pounds.  He has been sick for several weeks with diarrhea, fever cough and cold.  He has lost 2 siblings over the years to illness and has 4 livings siblings at home.  His papa is a Pastor of a Church in their community and his mama buys items in bulk and resells them for a profit.  The family lives in a 2 room home made of rocks, tin and cement.  They do not have running water at their home or a flush toilet, but do have an outhouse.  They purchase their water from a vendor that is about a 30 minute walk from their home.  The day he was admitted he had crackers to eat and the day before soup.  The families average monthly income is around $100US.  They traveled about 1 hour by motorcycle to arrive at the clinic.  He was started on the F-75 therapeutic milk and then graduated to the medika mamba program.

ROSE MITHA

She is 3 years old and weigh 18 pounds 7 ounces.  She was referred to us from Children’s health Ministries.  She has been showing signs of kwashiorkor for about 1 month now.  She also has diarrhea and a cough.  The day she was admitted she had nothing to eat and the day before she had a plate of rice.  Her papa is a farmer and grows beans and grains in his gardens.  The family of 7 lives in a 2 room home made of tin and wood.  They do not have running water at their home or a flush toliet but do have an outhouse.  They get their water from a source that is about a 5 minute walk from their home.  The day she was admitted and the day before she has nothing to eat.  The familes average monthly income is around $100US.  They traveled 4 hours by motorcycle and taxi to arrive at the clinic.  She was started of the F-75 theraupitic milk and then graduated to the medika mamba program.

WILKENS

He is 21 months old and weighs 15 pounds 5 ounces. He has not been eating for the past 5 days and will only drink water. He has been showing signs of kwashiorkor for about 10 days now.  He also has a 102 temp and diarrhea.  His parents are both farmers and grow beans, corn and pumpkins in their gardens.   The family of 4 lives 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.  They have to walk 1 hour to find water at the nearest source.  The day he was admitted he had nothing to eat and the day before he had some spaghetti.  The families average monthly income is around $50US.  They traveled 6 hours by foot and motorcycle to arrive at the clinic.  He was started on the F-75 therauptic milk and then graduated to the medika mamba program.