Day 4: Malnutrion Tuesday

Today we went to Pastor Mercedez's feeding center outside of the dump. There we set up similar stations as at Nueve Generacion to do medical checks. The difference between today and Monday was that we were going to see many more kids, they would have very little hygiene, and they would be more difficult to keep in order. We used the same note card system for Kelly to keep and measure for malnutrition and a group will follow up in 6 months.

Right across from the feeding site

people waiting to be seen

Fluoride station getting ready

The fluoride crew!

We saw a lot of children with sore throats, coughs, ear aches, and stomach aches. Elaine was absolutely indispensable because she was able to further assess symptoms in Spanish as well as educate people in Spanish. We had children's Tylenol, benadryl, and cold medicine to give the kids 1 does of if their symptoms indicated it.

Mom (purple) and me (pink) assessing 2 babies. As you can see in this picture the kids are very bundled up. I asked Elaine about that and she reminded me that this culture bases a lot of their medical treatments on "hot and cold" theories. We saw a lot of bundled up babies despite the heat because that is all that their mothers know to do. Educating against tradition can be really difficult and tricky to not offend.

Where the kids receive their meals. We were in a gymnasium adjacent to it.

Amy had a Polaroid camera that she used to take pictures of the kids while they waited.

Fluoride for everyone above the age of 3 or 4! :)

Our team with Pastor Mercedez in the center.

Toward the end of our time doing the stations I had a lady who was holding a baby come up to me with her note card. At the bottom of her note card it said "Malnutrition" I then looked up to compare the weight with the age. The baby before me weighed 8.1kg which is 17.82 pounds, and the age said 2. In shock I pointed to the baby and said "dos?" and she replied "si." My heart sunk. I hoped that there was a misunderstanding. I sent her to talk to Elaine because I couldn't not do any treatments for the baby but Elaine could get a better picture and educate her. Later Elaine informed me that the baby was 2 years old. The baby appeared to be less than a year old: he did not talk, he did not walk, and he was obviously very small. This baby was not a baby, he was a toddler. Elaine told me that this baby was neglected by his caretaker while his parents savaged in the dump. The caretaker did not feed the baby for so long that the baby started to eat his own feces. The parents ended up abandoning the child and left him with his aunt, which is the woman who brought him to us. The pastor knew this child and his aunt. She said that the problem is that when they give the aunt formula to feed the child they do not follow the instructions and they dilute the formula to make it go further. Elaine tried to educate the aunt but the aunt ended up becoming frustrated and defensive. The pastor will continue to do what she can but it is hard to know what will happen to the child and if he survives he will be delayed and at disadvantages for his entire life because of the developmental delay he is experiencing now.

After doing medical measurements at the feeding site we went back to Dori's Promise. Mom, Karen, Kelsey, Elaine and I had the privilege of treating the special mothers (the women who take care of the children at Dori's promise) by massaging their hands, painting their nails, giving them bracelets (from my trip to the Philippines in 2010), and sharing a devotion with them. 

Then we went down and joined the kids in the yard where they were doing Zumba and playing on the play set. I was reunited with my buddies Elvis and Alex.

Elvis and me playing on the playground. We were acting like ninjas and then I would act like I was karate chopping him and then I'd start tickling him. His giggles and Alex's giggles are music to my hears and a song in my heart. :)

They didn't want to smile at first so some tickling was necessary, which why I look like I'm talking :)
These 2 boys seriously melted my heart. I have never felt this kind of love before.

Once the kids were tucked into bed we went out to an authentic Guatemalan restaurant for dinner! It was delicious!