*We have started a new charting system for the children that are admitted into our care.  We hope with talking more to the families and finding out more about them and how they live their daily lives. Then we can better help them with education and suggestions to help the children when they return home to stay healthy and not become malnourished again.  There will be more information with the intake photos and post to help you understand more about each child and the lives that they are leading.

JENIFER

He is 3 years old and weighs 33 pounds.  He is suffering from a severe case of kwashiorkor.   His mama and papa both have left him and are in the Dominican Republic working.  They have been gone  for about 2 years and have not called or sent funds for Jenifer’s care.    Jenifer is staying with his aunt who does not want to care for him, but she says there was no one else so she has been doing it.  Most of the time when patients come to the clinic, they are dressed in their best clothing and are as clean as they can be.  It was shocking to see how neglected Jenifer was.  His head was caked full of dirt and he was just not clean at all.  The aunt says all of this is not her fault.  She did not ask for this job and the parents are neglecting him because they do not send money back to her to care for him. Jenifer lives in a 4 room house and there are 10 people that live there.  The source where they find water is 1 hour from their home.  His legs are peeling and very swollen from the kwashiorkor.  He was started on the F-75 therapeutic milk and stayed on that product for 4 days.  After his digestive system was working well and he was absorbing the milk, we switched him to the medika mamba program.  He is a sweet little boy that has been neglected for many months.

JN SAUVER

He is 13 years old and weighs 47 pounds.  He lives in a 2 room house with 5 people.  He has 5 sisters and 4 brothers.  He has one siblings that died from diarrhea.  His parents both work in the fields and gardens planting produce.  They mostly plant corn, grains, and sweet potatoes.  He often feels like he cannot eat even when foods are placed in front of him.  This past week, he ate plain white rice 5 times and had soup 3 times.  He normally eats one meal a day and has coffee with bread in the morning.  The only protein in his diet this past week has been 1 day when he had a small piece of chicken.  They have no eggs, milk, peanut butter, vegetables or leafy greens to offer him.  He is currently on the medika mamba program.

JOIFINA

She is the brother of Jn Oda who is pictured in this post.    She is 5 years old and weighs 28 pounds.  They live in a thatch roof, 2-room house and 8 people are living there.  The parents both work in the fields and gardens planting corn, beans and sweet potatoes.  They do not have a latrine or toilet at their house.  The family cooks one meals a days which is normally rice and beans.  In the past week, Joifina has not eaten any meat, eggs, milk or vegetables.  She drinks coffee each morning and does not eat dinner.  The day before she came she had 2 spoon fulls of cracked corn and nothing else. She is the only living girl and there are 3 boys, 2 children have died as well.  Their mother is also 9 months pregnant.  Joifina is currently on the medika mamba program.

JULIEN

He is 2 years old and weighs 16 pounds.  His family of 4 lives in a two-room house made out of rocks.  His mother has had 4 children and lost one child.  The father plants grains, corn and beans in his gardens.  He has never had peanut butter or peanuts to eat,  they are just to expensive to purchase.  The family has a cow so he drinks milk each day but not a lot.

  In the past week, he has had soup to eat 2 times.  This past week, he has mostly drank coffee and ate 1 pack of crackers each day.  His mama tells us that he refuses to eat much else.  He frequently vomits what he has ate and it seems to be a fight to get him to take anything.

He was put on the F-75 therapeutic milk for 5 days and then was switched to the medika mamba program.  We had to put a feeding tube in to get enough milk and mamba in him for the day.  He is improving slowly and beginning to eat some food.

ISME

He is 2 1/2 years old and weighs 20 pounds.  He lives in a 3 room house made of rocks with a tin ro0f with 6 family members.  He has one sister that is living.  His dad works as a farmer and plants beans, corn, grains and yams.  They walk 20 minutes to the nearest water source to carry water back home.  They do not have a latrine or toilet to use at their house.  In the past week, he has not eaten any protein at all.  He has a good appetite and wants to eat, but the family does not have much food. On the day he was admitted he said to me, “My mama told me when I got here there would be a blanc that would give me meat.  Are you that blanc?”

We are currently very low on some medications for the children in the ICU and Rescue Center.  We need to make a purchase of meds for the month of December.  Some of those medications are liquid vitamins, antibiotics, iron syrup, worm medications, diarrhea meds, eye drops, injections, ointments, cold/cough meds etc.  We have made our order out by faith that we be able to purchase these meds this week.  The total cost for medication for all 88 children in the RC this month is $745.25.  We would be so happy to have this need met so that we can continue to give the kids medication this month.  If you would like to make a donation for this need, please include a note or memo that says “RC medication” so that we can direct the funds towards this need.  You can donate through the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of the blog or send donations to Real Hope For Haiti/P.O. Box 23/Elwood, IN 46036.

Thank you so much!  If you have any question please email licia@realhopeforhaiti.org.

UPDATE:  THE NEED HAS BEEN MET!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!

Update: So far there has been $215 given towards this need for “RC medications”  That only leave $530 left to meet this need! Please remember to add “RC medication” in the memo so that it will go towards this need. THANK YOU SO MUCH!