More Marasmus

Another morning at the clinic in B. and another 5 year old girl with marasmus (severe malnutrition). It is just heart-breaking to see these kids, so listless and lifeless, so thin and wasted. I felt a bit more confident today with how to treat her and what advice to give her mother about her feeding, the best we can do under the circumstances. So I have another little one for you to pray for: Omo is her name. The history her mother gave made it sound like she may have underlying tuberculosis, which we are currently unable to test for or treat although that will be Vicki's speciality along with leprosy once our health center opens. Her family lives in a village several hours walk away. They have goat's milk available at home so will make the journey and come back next Thursday to see us at the clinic. Her mother spoke of a shortage of food in their area, which we are hearing from other areas of the county also. This has not been a very good rainy season and crops are suffering. Please pray for increased rain.

The other little girl with marasmus who I've asked you to pray for, 4 year old Martina, came back to see me with her father and grandmother today. I was very happy to see her, looking a little brighter somehow and with a report from her father that she was feeling a bit better. According to the scales, she had gained a little weight but I don't at all trust the scales we have at the clinic so it's hard to say. After what I've learned this past week from Vicki and my malnutrition book, I was able to give her more medicines to cover likely infections and also high dose Vitamin A, to build up her immune system and prevent corneal ulcers from xerophthalmia associated with Vitamin A deficiency. Her father reported that he's giving her the goat's milk but that he hasn't really increased the frequency of her meals so I tried to stress the absolute importance of these small, frequent meals every 2 hours. She's going to come back to the clinic tomorrow so Vicki can see her also and so we can make an appointment to visit them at the grandmother's where they're staying and discuss feeding in more depth. Please continue to pray for Martina's healing and growth and for wisdom for Vicki and I as we try to help.

Last week I also asked you to pray for the 1 year old boy with kwashiokor. His name is Issa. Vicki and I haven't seen him since last Thursday as we weren't able to go to his village for the health teaching on Saturday because of a problem with our translator. We are going to that village tomorrow afternoon for visitation and Bible teaching so we're hoping to find him and follow him up.

Please pray that there will be nutritional intervention for children started in the county. We've been talking to the Sudanese man who heads up the work of an NGO in B., the organization that funds the clinic. He was interested to know that we've had several severely malnourished children at the clinic and said that their organization wants to start nutrition work here. Today he "happened" to be at the clinic when Martina and her family came in so he talked to her father and found out where they're staying. Please pray that this organization would make this a priority and that many malnourished children would receive help.