Child

Oct 14^th 2015

Child

Yesterday we had clinic, Sr. Julian told me about a child she sent to the hospital the day before that was severely malnourished. When clinic closed Bob and I took Sister and Johnny to town to check on the child and have lunch to discuss the upcoming medical mission.

Sister and I went to the hospital first and found the child needed to go to a larger Hospital in St. Marc ( a little over two hours away). The ambulance only went as far as Gonaive (which is an hour away). I suggested that I take the child in the  morning because it was already one o’clock in the afternoon; I was told it was an emergency and the child may not live thru the night if she didn’t get medical care right away. So I said I would take her right away Bob had thing to do at home so he took a moto back to the apartment and Johnny traveled with me.

This child’s whole body was completely swollen, this is malnutrition I have never seen, and frankly don’t completely understand. It was explained to me that the next step was for the skin to crack and there was a real threat the child would have a heart attack. I really want to do research on all this information when I get home and have internet.

The child lives with her grandparent that are obviously very poor people but love their granddaughter a great deal. I was urged to drive as fast as I could over the horrible road to Gonaive. Then the rest of the way to St. Marc is a crazy highway that everyone is driving at about 90 kilometers without any rules. Mentally driving here takes a lot out of you; there is so many things to look out for kind of like in the video games the kids play. We arrived in good time and got the help the child needed, paid for the hospital and prescriptions, leaving the grandparents money for the next few days. It was 5:00pm so we needed to head back. Driving at night is even more difficult and dangerous in Haiti. We made it back safely Bob had waited dinner for us and so we sat down and ate.

On the way back Sister told me she really wanted to open a nutrition Clinic. I told her years ago we had one but the sister in charge of the Clinic was transferred and the Sister’s that came to replace her did not continue the clinic. I agree that a Clinic or Clinics are needed but there are more children born each day that will require these services. The problem needs to be attacked from many different angles. We have already started on trying to improve agriculture so crops will be more successful and family’s will have improved incomes, families having gardens in their yards, and there needs to be education on nutrition. Nutrition is much more than simply giving someone something to eat so they are not hungry. I have heard of mothers melting a candy in water to replace a bottle so the baby will stop crying. I have said many times you see mothers giving their children a piece of sugar cane to replace a meal.  Spaghetti noodles are very cheap here and often this is what a family will eat with a little oil and maybe some onions. These things do not offer nutrition.

So the work continues and each day we gain deeper insight into not only the problems but possible solutions. I have been working on a grant over the last several months. I have had difficulty finishing the grant because I have not had a whole clear picture of what our plan is. We have all these pieces but putting them all together into an end goal has been difficult. But now God has opened my eyes to see clearly how all these pieces are necessary for a whole. We cannot bring about a lasting change without all of these pieces becoming the way of life here.

Thank you for your interest and your prayers,

Denise