God Orders Our Steps

 Alta Verapaz, where we live and work, has some staggering statistics.  The average daily wage is about $6 to $7, if they have work at all.  Over 60% of the population live below the poverty line which is set at $2.50 per day.  Only 15% of the population finish elementary school and the majority of the population is illiterate. 

If that isn’t overwhelming enough, over 50% of the indigenous children under the age of 5 are malnourished and amongst children, the main causes of death are diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition. 

This past week the problem of malnutrition has been front and center.  Within a span of a few days I encountered 3 babies who are severely malnourished.  I don’t mean underweight…I mean skin and bones. 

The first was in the Health Clinic.  I blogged about her already – the nameless one – but sadly the saga continues.  The family brought her into the clinic, but the clinic has very little they can offer this baby.  At 4 months of age, she weighed only 4 pounds.  The nurses gave the baby some antibiotics for an infection and 1 can of formula.  The care of the baby is up to the parents.  The child has not been weighed nor has her food been monitored since arriving.  She is not doing well.  I have been visiting every day and thanks to some of you and your generous donations, have been able to supplement the formula, buy diapers, clothes, blankets and purified water so they can use clean water to mix up the formula.  The sad reality in this situation is that the mother of this tiny little one doesn’t want her child.  The clinic will be sending the baby to a hospital in San Cristobal for severely malnourished children and the mom will not be going with the baby.  I don’t understand this situation, and honestly I don’t know how to process it all, but my heart breaks for this little baby who is unwanted and in really rough shape.

The third day I was in visiting this little one, another mother from the same community had arrived with her baby, also malnourished.  Her little boy is 5 months old, 8 pounds and has a cleft palate and lip.  He is struggling to feed.  The mom started out nursing but the baby couldn’t latch on well and so the family started giving him a bottle.  They would sometimes have enough money to buy formula and when they didn’t have formula they gave him warm water with corn mush mixed in.  She came to the clinic to ask for help.  I left her a can of formula and told her I’d be back the following afternoon to see how they were doing.    

The next morning we were in Coban, and ran into friends of ours – John and Donna Reynolds – missionaries in San Cristobal.  I mentioned to them about the babies, specifically the little guy with the cleft palate.  They” just happened” to know a man who organizes medical teams to do cleft palate surgeries in Alta Verapaz and had his phone number.  I called him right away and he “just happened to be in our area” and got baby Edy on the list for surgery in May.  Now we need to fatten him up so he is strong enough to survive the operation and recovery time.  Again, thanks to the responses that I received from a Facebook post, I have enough funds to buy formula for Edy, too, while he recovers his weight and prepares for the operation.  When I told the mom that her little boy was going to get the help he needed, she was overwhelmed! 

When we were in Coban, I also picked up some medicine that can help nursing moms increase their milk.  I wanted to try it with the mother of the first malnourished baby, but she isn’t interested in trying anything, so I had the medicine in my purse.  I actually forgot it was in there, until this afternoon.  We were out at a birthday party for the 8 year old daughter of one of the guys who has been working out on our property. 

While we were there, a young mom came in with a tiny baby.  I asked how old the baby was and they said 2 months, but she wasn’t growing.  I started talking to the mom and found out that she doesn’t have much milk and the baby was already showing signs of serious malnutrition.  I remembered about the medicine in my bag.  I talked about some of the basics with respect to breast feeding and then specifically about the medication and I am hopeful this will help. 

I love how God orders our steps.  With each one of the above situations we were in the right place at the right time in order to help.  I am thankful that He is ordering your steps, too, and nudges hearts to give so that we can help these little ones who have no voice.