Everyone Told Me to Leave Him Out to Die

“Everyone told me to leave him out somewhere to die. But I just couldn’t. He is my son.”

Looking true malnutrition in the face is hard, very hard. There is a flood of unidentifiable emotion.  Part of me needs to stare in disbelief, part of me needs to turn away because it is too hard, part of me is angry and demands a quick fix. Though the morning at the Mother- Baby Clinic had been overwhelming in its own way, it was nothing in contrast to our afternoon at the Nutritional Clinic.

We had spent much of the morning travelling to the Mother-Baby Clinic. The long dusty roads deep into the countryside leaft me thinking again about just how vulnerable a woman or child would be alone on these roads and paths.  How could a new Mom walk for hours in this heat for water, with a baby strapped to her chest?  A motorbike carrying two women ran alongside our World Vision truck. I gasp “She has a baby in that blanket!”  Cradled in a pair of arms between the women, wrapped in a white quilt with tiny pink and blue figures on each little square, lie a baby, undeniably less than 10 pounds, his face covered from the elements with the corner of her blanket.  I look back at the film of dust covering every ounce of my black suitcase.

Crammed in a hot church with 70 prenatal or postnatal mothers waiting for their check ups, I talked with one mother who had gotten up at 6am to travel to the clinic on foot with her nine day old baby girl. She would then wait in line for hours to ensure her baby was healthy and that she, as the mother was also healthy. The success of the program had brought her here. I talked to four young women also waiting their turn to monitor for high blood pressure, anemia and fluctuations in weight, all of them with two month old babies.

“Are you all friends?

It will be nice to raise your babies together.

Is this your first baby?”

No, no, no, these babies were their third babies. I can hardly believe it, they are just young girls themselves.  I ask them if their husbands brought them to the clinic this morning. No, their husbands work in Port-au-Prince to send money home to them. These three young women raise their large families together, supporting and relying on each other for their needs. It is beautiful and sad all at the same time.

It was hard not to contrast those plump happy new born babies and healthy Mama’s to the afternoon visit to the Nutritional Clinic.  We arrived and saw a half a dozen mothers on the veranda with their children sitting on their laps.  The nurse explained to us that these babies have suffered severe malnutrition and come to the clinic for regular checkups monitoring their weight, the circumference of their arms and legs and for another dose of “Plumpy Nut” a nutritional peanut based paste.

One Mom with a baby girl with a significant disability was struggling to pull the carrier off her baby’s legs, so I went over to help her. The carrier is used to hang the baby from a set of scales hung in a sturdy tree. As I tugged at the leg loops I was shocked as the tiny girl’s stomach peeped up out of the carrier and a hernia the size of a large ball protruded from her stomach. Her mother showered her with kisses as she tried to make her comfortable again.

“May I tell you my story?” Another mother speaks up.  “When my son was born he was very sick. I could not understand what was wrong with him and he would not get well or grow. Everyone told me to leave him out to die. But I couldn’t. He is my son.  I was certain he would die and so I had another baby and when he was born I heard about the Mother-Baby Clinic.  I took both of them with me when I went for the check up and they discovered my first son was malnourished. Within just a few weeks of visits he is now healthy and strong. I am so thankful for the clinic.”

This happy, smiling little toddler whom I was playing peek-a-boo with just moments ago, could have been left out in the elements to die if not for this mother’s love and the World Vision Nutritional Clinic.

These stories are hard to see, these babies who are still in the “at risk” zone of malnutrition.  But the nurse explains to me that she sees 1400 children, 14 of which were malnourished and now they are down to 6. Less than 10 percent of children in this area are now suffering with malnourishment.  I give this nurse a squeeze “You hold their future in your hands.”

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