Kensly Vil, a little baby about a year old, is from the village of Bwaleje. He is with his mother, Rosemitha Sama. His father is Jeral Vil. Madamn Rosemitha used to do some small things to make money, like selling oil in small cans and selling small cans of rice (ti marmot cans). Because her husband is not always here with her, she has been taking money from her “trade money,” that she pays back, and she has been using it to buy food for Kensly.

This has ruined her trade. Every day, Madamn Rosemitha has tears in her eyes because she sees nothing she can feed her child. They both sleep hungry every night. When she wakes up, she has to fix a “salty drink of water and salt.” So, they can both drink a lot of this “saltwater,” to get them through the day.

All of this has caused Kensly to become malnourished. They live in a single-room home built with blocks, but, unfortunately, the house is not theirs. Now, Madamn Rosemitha has noticed that Kensly has had diarrhea for several days. What little bit of hair he has left, has lost its color. His upper limbs are dry, and his lower limbs are swollen and shiny, a description of Kwashiorkor Malnutrition.

She had remembered that once when Kensly was sick, she had taken him to the Love A Child Clinic and was never charged a penny. So, she took him to our Malnutrition Clinic. At the clinic, the pediatrician told her that Kensly has “Acute Malnutrition” and weighs 7.5 kilos, has chronic diarrhea, and has begun to have retardation, and could not walk nor talk. Although she was sad, she was happy because now, her child would get good care.

For her, Kensly is in God’s hands, right here at the Malnutrition Center and she is thankful he is alive. He will be placed on special formula and we will see how we can help Madamn Rosemitha, to “help herself.”

Sherry

P.S. We wish to thank all our wonderful partners for making this Malnutrition Clinic a lifesaving place for babies and small children. You are saving lives!