“The Rock in the Water Does Not Know the Pain of the Rock in the Sun.”

This little toddler, Woodmaydgi Amboise, was 18 months old and brought to our Malnutrition Clinic, after taking him to four other malnutrition clinics and hospitals. This mother, Anna Marcelus, lived not far from us at the border in a town called Fond Bayard. She got pregnant three times and lived with a man who did little to help her feed the children. Madamn Marcelus made a living by selling food products.

There were two families living in one small blockhouse, only big enough for “one family.” There was “never enough food to go around.” Madamn Marcelus had been giving her baby, Woodmaydgi, expired milk to drink! This is what hunger does… it makes parents and children do things that normally, they would never do!

Baby Woodmaydgi arrived a day ago with a cough and Kwashiorkor Malnutrition. Our doctor was getting ready to send him for tests for TB, when he died last night. The baby’s mother had already taken him to four different hospitals/malnutrition centers.

We called Madamn Marcellus to take the body of her baby home. She was crying because now, she has lost two children, most likely to malnutrition. What a sad story. There is a Creole proverb that says, “The rock in the water does not know the pain of the rock in the sun.” You and I are the “rock in the water.”  

Sherry