Malnutrition clinic

Last week, I felt disconnected from my culture. While my Facebook friends (and much of the US) were deciding which day of the week to eat a chicken sandwich, I was working in the pediatric malnutrition clinic at the hospital. I saw a two-year-old that weighed 10 pounds.

10 pounds. Most children born in United States when they are born weight 7 or 8 pounds. To give you more prospective, Charlie is 15 months old and weighs a little over 20 pounds (and she is on the lower end of the scale). A two-year-old weighed 10 pounds. 10 pounds. I know because I weighed him myself. 10 pounds. 10 pounds!

I cannot get this little boy out of my mind. His name is Bartholomew.

I have never seen such a sight. He is a little taller than Charlie which only exaggerates the profound effects of a body starving for nutrition. I have used the phrase “skin and bone before,” but I have never actually seen a person that quite literally was little more than skin and bone. I could count every bone in his protruding ribcage as well as every vertebra on his spine. His body was so thin that his head looked grossly disproportionate and misshapen.  His arms and legs were straight rods. A skeletal pelvis was where his cute little baby bum should have been. It was the pelvis that got me- it really did look like a skeleton.

The reasons for malnutrition in Meskin, Cameroon are complex. Only 4% of the population has jobs, the rest live off the land and eat what they can grow or barter. August is a difficult time here because the harvest has not yet come and stored crops from the last growing season are dwindling. It is not uncommon for women and children to go two days without eating. When they do eat, they mostly eat millet with maybe some oil and a little flavoring.

August is also difficult because the Muslims are fasting for Ramadan- nursing mothers also which often causes their milk supply to drastically decrease.  

The lack of nutritious food is compounded by other poverty related problems. Often children here are on the smaller size already because their mothers do not know how to or cannot properly feed them,  then the children develop chronic diarrhea which makes their little bodies unable to absorb nutrition, then they might get malaria which sets them back even further. The problem spirals out of control.

When asked how many children they have, almost every mother responds something like this, “I have five, but two have returned.”

Returned. My stomach drops and my palms sweat every time I hear that phrase. I have one. What if she “returned”?

Malnutrition affects almost 800 million people according to the World Health Organization. If you were like me before I moved to Africa, chances are that you do not know one person that has a severely compromised nutritional status. 800 million people - a problem this big almost weighs too daunting to even attempt to help- unless you see with your own eyes.

Last week a friend of mine posted this picture on her Facebook.

I am not even going to touch the great chicken debate- and please don’t let it distract you from the message of this picture. The accusation has been made, and sadly we Christians are guilty as charged as evidenced by the staggering number of malnourished amongst us.

Thankfully, when we allow him to, God can use us to make a difference! Last week Bartholomew gained over 2 pounds with the doctors and nurses caring for him, educating his mother, and providing food! And almost every week a child graduates out of the malnutrition program because their weight and nutritional status has improved. Nothing is impossible with God!

For more information about the hospital here and how you can help, here is the website: http://www.mcwanet.org/

My Job is to measure the kids's arm (it is one of the factors used to determine how malnurished they are). I also play with the babies when Carrie does the real work! She is a champion for those in need.

This is Yanga. He keeps us and the mothers in line!