They are hungry, even on Easter

 

 

The past few weeks have been busy at the El Roi Baby home and clinic with six new arrivals. Can you imagine welcoming six new babies into your family within just a few weeks? Baby Solomon and Prosper arrived as tiny, but perfect newborns, straight from their young mother’s wombs.  The four girls that were placed with us after that arrived severely malnourished with bodies “wasted” and I can tell you that three of them were starving to death.

 

It takes a LONG time to starve to death, and it’s a slow and painful death. There are two main types of malnutrition, both leading to death if not stopped and properly treated. The first is called  Kwashiorkor, which is very common here in Eswatini. It is often overlooked in the community because a child might look like a healthy (even chubby with a big belly) baby, but the child is protein deficient and the chubbiness is actually fluid build-up in the body, which can lead to organ failure, heart attack and death.  

 

 

The second most common type of malnutrition is called Marasmus, more easily identified because of the obvious body wasting presenting as skin and bones.

 

This week we saw both. Two of the three girls had obvious Kwashiorkor, which we often treat with a special formula called F75 and F100, then move them to a special diet that we have designed called “The Jonathan Diet”, created for our own boy named Jonathan. It is a high protein, low carb diet. But 2-year-old Nsiki presented with Marasmus, and our pediatrician explained that based on the markings/bruising across her whole body, the orange color of her hair and her teeth that are breaking off in pieces, that Nsiki would have had Kwashiorkor (deprived of protein as a baby), but as the time went on, and a new baby sister arrived, she was simply deprived of all food, causing her body to start to waste away.

 

 

At the age of 26 months she can hardly walk, has very little energy to roll or crawl. Her baby sister (10 months) is in better shape, only because she had some breast milk in the early months and had less time to starve.

 

THIS is one of the results of the Covid-19 pandemic in Eswatini. This global pandemic has upended life as we all knew it, but for the unseen, unknown children living in rural Eswatini it just means pain and suffering, and to their families … hopelessness.

 

We don’t typically accept children over the age of 2 years, but these girls presented the size of, and developmentally that of a 1-year-old. So, we welcomed them home. Over time they will get strong and one day be laughing and playing with the others. But for now we monitor them closely, provide medical treatment, special food and lots of love. We love them back to life.

 

 

I know that this probably isn’t the kind of happy Easter blog that you were hoping to read, but it is what it is. For those of you who believe in the death and resurrection of Christ, and celebrate it this weekend with friends, family, chocolate and a table overflowing with food, I beg you to pray for the children of Eswatini (and the world) who are suffering terribly with NO food, NO family, No access to healthcare, NO hope, except in Jesus himself.  But who wants to hear about Jesus when you are starving to death?

Even this Easter weekend so many children will be hungry.

If you would like to do something to help our children, and those who are still to come in 2021 I ask that you consider sponsoring a child today or make a one-time gift to help us provide the extra care that these hurting children so desperately need.

 

Child sponsorship in Canada:  http://bit.ly/hfahopestartsca

Child Sponsorship in the US:  https://www.heartforafrica.org/HOPESTARTS/

 

“When he finally arrives, blazing in beauty and all his angels with him, the Son of Man will take his place on his glorious throne. Then all the nations will be arranged before him and he will sort the people out, much as a shepherd sorts out sheep and goats, putting sheep to his right and goats to his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:

I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.’

“Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’

“Then he will turn to the ‘goats,’ the ones on his left, and say, ‘Get out, worthless goats! You’re good for nothing but the fires of hell. And why? Because—

I was hungry and you gave me no meal,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
I was homeless and you gave me no bed,
I was shivering and you gave me no clothes,
Sick and in prison, and you never visited.’

“Then those ‘goats’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn’t help?’

“He will answer them, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me.’

^“Then those ‘goats’ will be herded to their eternal doom, but the ‘sheep’ to their eternal reward.”

Matthew 25:31-46

Live from Eswatini … Happy Easter everyone.

 

Janine

 

PS – our Easter service will be on the Heart for Africa Facebook page at 9AM Easter Sunday. Please join us!

Looking at our children’s health through the lens of COVID-19

With 261 children living at Project Canaan we have a lot of health issues every day. We deal with “the normal” HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, asthma, boils (lots of boils!) and allergies, but we also have bicycle accidents, playground falls from kids just being kids.

COVID-19 has not appeared on campus yet, that we know of, but knowing that it is hiding in the bushes around us makes all of the above more complicated, and tense.  Two weeks ago, Miriam had a serious bike accident resulting in a head injury and broken tibia and fibula.  It took ten days before she could see the only orthopedic surgeon in the country for surgery, and that was at a private hospital, and another two days for us to get a one sentence report of what surgery had been done. 

Earlier this week our little boy Simeon (3.5 years old) suddenly had a seizure while on the playground, which lasted 2-3 long minutes.  He was unresponsive for a long time and was taken to a different private hospital and was admitted. They found a chest infection and tonsillitis and he was admitted for treatment, and they decided to do a COVID-19 test.  The results take five days, so we should have them tomorrow.  Several days later, when he was ready for discharge, he started vomiting, so is still in the hospital.

Yesterday we had TEN babies from the El Roi baby home go and see nurse Hannah with high fever and coughing.  Our children’s campuses have been on lockdown for two weeks now and any staff presenting with a fever in the AM (all staff are monitored daily) were sent to quarantine out of an abundance of caution. And yet, here we are with ten babies sick in one house.  Could it be?

Kitchen preparations for Easter breakfast.

Last night at midnight I was called by Anthony to tell me that Roderick (one year old) couldn’t breath and after being given oxygen and then nebulized, they were rushing him to the same private hospital Simeon is in.  I could hear him in the background gasping for air and it sounded like an adult saying “Help me! Help me!”  When they arrived at the hospital the doctor said it sounded like he had a chest infection and he was admitted. He will get a chest x-ray today. 

And then there was the day this week that a senior staff member presented with acute abdominal pain, possible appendicitis, and was rushed to a third private hospital for care.  On a prompting from the Lord, we sent her to see an OBGYN, who found a 4” x 4” ovarian cyst that had two twists in the fallopian tube and did emergency surgery.  I simply don’t know what would have happened to her if she had gone to a government hospital for care at this time.

Ovarian cyst removed this week.

If you are like me, living during this time of fear and uncertainty, you likely wondered how COVID-19 might be involved in or impact any or all of the cases above, and the truth is, we just don’t know, but I think about it a lot. We pray for protection over our children and staff daily, but the truth is there is a monster outside our gate who wants to come in, and he is here to kill and destroy.

Tomorrow is Easter and the timing is perfect.  We will focus our eyes on the resurrected Christ, knowing that He is our protector, He is El Rofi (the God who heals) and He is El Roi (the God who sees). Please join us for our live Easter service at 9:30AM EST on the Heart for Africa facebook page – I know you will be blessed. 

Today's craft at Kid's Club.

If you would like to give a very special Easter gift to a loved one, please consider making a donation to help us with our mounting hospital bills.  You would be giving the gift of life, and isn’t that exactly what Jesus did for us?

Please click here for the emergency medical fund in the US.

Please click here for the emergency medical fund in Canada.

Live from Eswatini … He is risen indeed!

Janine