video

video slideshow

malnutrition in the world

This is a map I found that was very interesting. Note that Haiti is the only country in the Western Hemisphere with statistics equivalent to Sub-Saharan Africa (you may need to click to see it better).

We're back, but keep reading. I still have a lot of pictures and thoughts to post!

updates

Mandy and I have finished our malnutrition clinic work. Other folks have arrived and will arrive now to carry on the work. We leave the country on Tuesday, July 15h. Our originally plans had us set to leave on July 24th, but we moved that up a bit. Some circumstances made this a good option for us. Thanks to all who have followed our journey. I probably only have a few more posts left. Here's some things that have happened lately and some of the kids we've worked with...



Edgerson. This is the kid that we saw and brought to the hospital (see previous post). On Thursday, he was released from the hospital in St. Marc. David and I took a "tap-tap" (Haiti's public transportation) to St. Marc and brought he and his mother back. His pneumonia seems to have cleared up. We've started him on the peanut butter medicine for malnutrition. I'll post a new picture of him soon.




This is Kendley Paul. He came to our clinic on Tuesday severely dehydrated. We took him to the hospital in Pierre Payen on Wednesday. Unfortunately, he passed away on Thursday morning. He so dehydrated that he was too far gone. It really is unbelievable that a child (in this case, a one-year old) can die because there simply isn't clean water to drink.





Meet Faina. She is a sweet 4 year old little girl. On Tuesday, we officially graduated her from our program. This is a before and after picture. Medical research from Meds and Food for Kids lead us to believe that now her health can be maintained on a standard diet. Statistics indicate that she shouldn't ever slide back into malnutrition again.

Summer Reading

I'm currently reading Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World. If you have any interest in international aid/relief, specifically medicine and health, I would recommend it highly. The focus of the book is Farmer's groundbreaking work in Haiti. This book is very provocative and even disturbing, but a worthwhile read. It was the perfect book for me to read while down here. Here's a few quotes I found interesting:

"If disease is an expression of individual life under unfavorable conditions, then epidemics must be indicative of mass disturbances of mass life."

"Medical education does not exist to provide students with a way of making a living, but to ensure the health of the community."

"The Haitians peasants answered with a proverb: 'Bondye Konn bay, men li pa konn separe,' in literal translation, "God gives but doesn't share." This meant, as Farmer would later explain it,
"God gives humans everything we need to flourish, but he's not the one who's supposed to divvy up the loot. That charge was laid upon us."

Would love to hear some thoughts....

Clinic update coming tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

Edgerson

This is a child who came to our clinic. His name is Edgerson. The mom didn't know about our malnutrition program, but she came because he was very sick. We felt that his life might be in danger, so we took him to a hospital in St. Marc (about 45 minutes away).

Turns out, he was severely dehydrated, has two hernias (one umbilical the other in his groin) that could become life threatening, severely malnourished and had a severe case of pneumonia. We are currently helping the mom pay for all the hospital expenses. When we told her that he needed to go to the hospital immediately, she said that was impossible. She could never afford such a thing.

So far he has received IVs, several regiments of antibiotics, spent three days in the hospital, has been hooked up to oxygen, had chest x-rays and malaria testing.

The cost? About $60 so far.

A little bit of money goes a long way in Haiti.

"just one"

Meet Reginald. At first, he may look like a happy, healthy and normal 2 year-old Haitian boy.

Look closer...

You will see a boy who was very malnourished just 5 weeks ago. He was grumpy, irritable and unhealthy. His eyes were dull. He had bumps and rashes on his skin. Poor sanitary conditions at home had led to chronic diarrhea and worms. His health had been stolen from him at the age of two.

The work here is very hard. One of our patients died this week. Sometimes mothers fail to return for their weekly appointments. Our malnutrition program isn't perfect. We don't have a flawless system down. We run in to all kinds of obstacles.

I think it's worth it.

"If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one." - Mother Teresa