As some of you remember, we have been given bags of rice (from Food for the Poor) to give to hungry patients so I thought I would write to tell you about some of the recipients. In just a little more than 1 week, it has provided meals for over 150 people. One family came in with their twin 2-year-old girls and it wasn’t until the end of the visit that I noticed that one of them had the faintest dusting of copper tips on her hair. I took a closer look and yep, it was definitely one of the tell-tale signs of malnutrition so I asked the parents how things were going at home and if everyone was getting enough to eat. The father gestured to his bandaged left hand and said he had been injured in an accident at work and had been unable to provide for his family of 10 for more than three months. He said they didn't have enough food to go around but they were doing the best they could. I immediately thought of the rice we had been given and knew I had to give this family as much as they could carry so they could spend any money that they did have on more nutritious things like beans and vegetables. We also invited the father to come back to be seen at our adult clinic this Saturday so we could have a look at his hand and we gave him more rice.
A few months ago we were visited by a local pastor who told us he runs an orphanage. He said he only has beds for 12 children but that he feeds between 100-150 kids each day and has a small school room on his property so kids in his area can have an education. He came to ask if we would do a village clinic at his orphanage and brought us a few of the kids living at his orphanage to examine. At that time we had several clinics scheduled with other churches and schools but I told him I would call him soon. I was struck by how small the boys were for their age and asked him if they had enough to eat. He said they usually can give the children rice twice a day but beans were only a couple of times per week. Unfortunately I misplaced his phone number and had been trying to locate him all this time but then he stopped by on Wednesday of this week! We were able to go and see his orphanage, to meet some more of the kids living there and set up a time to do a village clinic next week with the visiting ND students from Bastyr! We also gave him a 100lb bag of rice so that maybe he can buy a few more beans for a while.
On our way home from the orphanage, we walked by Rosenaka’s house to check in and see how she and her family were doing. Rosenaka is the sweet little 2-year-old girl that some of you may recall we thought had been a burn victim but really just had a raging case of impetigo. Her mom, just like every time we see her praised god for what we had done for her daughter and told us how happy she was to see us. This woman has a smile the size of Texas and the two of them are two of our favorite patients. She told us that little Rosenaka had gotten a new kind of rash in the last few days but when she put our Ringwerbs formula on it, it seemed to be clearing up. We asked her to come in to our clinic the next day so we could examine her and give her some more immune support. This poor little thing just doesn’t seem to have the immune defenses she should have and seems to get really sick with every little bug that comes along. When she came into the clinic we could tell that the rash was healing but that she had scratched at it quite a bit and that it was likely something like chicken pox or another viral exanthem (rash that comes with a virus). I gave her a month’s worth of vitamins instead of the usual week's worth, re-dosed her vitamin A, got her on some more vitamin C, re-dosed probiotics and gave homeopathic sulphur because of the intense itching she was experiencing. We asked her mom how many children she has and she said 6 children, 3 grandchildren and she and her husband. That’s 11 mouths to feed. She said they usually have white rice once per day and rarely get anything else. So we sent them home with two Ziploc bags of rice for now since she had to carry them and her daughter and promised to deliver more soon. I asked if she would then be able to buy beans and vegetables and she wasn’t sure but that they were grateful for the gift of rice anyway. I’m really hoping we can get some beans with the next food shipment, especially for this family.
If 1.5 bags of rice can feed more than 150 people, imagine what we could do with your donations. Any amount whether $5 or $5,000 will get us closer to one day ensuring that all our patients always have enough to eat. www.mamababyhaiti.org/donate
Thanks for reading!
Dr. Sarah
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