I thought
it would be good to write an update to let new subscribers know about the Nourishing the Needy and
also give an update on how it has been going for us. But most of all I want to
take this time to express sincere thankfulness to God who stirs people's hearts
to pray and support through monetary aid this specific program so that these
little infants, sometimes skin and bones when they come in, can survive. I love
children and there is nothing harder than to see them come in barely able to
utter the faintest sound, only big tears rolling down their cheeks. Sometimes a
few more days without help would have meant death as a certainty.
Who is on
the Milk Program? Babies
whose mothers have died, often from eclampsia. Sometimes they had the baby in a
different hospital, but they get infections etc shortly after and die. At times
the babies are born right here in the clinic and the mom is sick, she doesn't
have milk or very little. Sometimes the mother had a sickness that required a
kind of medication that isn't good for the baby therefore the baby needs a
different source of milk. Sometimes the mom runs of and leaves her new born and
the rest of the family to fend for themselves, often times the dad isn't with
them either, so relatives have to take care of it. These are just some of the
reason that we sign the children onto the milk program.
How do we
know if the people that come in are honest? I'll just mention some precautions
that we take. If the mom is alive but can't nurse the child, and she is too
sick to come in, she has an infection, or different ailments that are
treatable, the relatives usually show up with the baby. We won't turn them
away, we give them 2 days worth of milk and tell them that they need to bring
the mom in, even if they have to carry her in on a stretcher from many hours
away. It has worked well. Especially if the mom can be seen at the clinic and
given medications to clear up the infection and is soon able to nurse the baby.
Therefore we do not need to put it on the program full time. We have herbal supplements
that tremendously help a lot of ailments.
If a baby
is put on the milk program and the mother is alive, we require that she comes
in throughout the next pregnancy for prenatal check-ups, to make sure
everything is being done to prevent her from getting sick and us needing to put
that child on the program as well.
Sometimes
we have someone bring a child in and we suspect it isn't the mom, Shana will
ask them to nurse the child, that brings forth a quick shocked look if she
isn't the mom. If it isn't we won't chase them of, we will do everything we can
to help the child, it always turns out well.
At times
it has happened that the mom didn't come in for check-ups, or she had the baby
at a different hospital but then sends relatives with the baby, and we know
that is was a preventable sickness that the mom has, we will ask them to pay as
much as they can each time they come. Sometimes it's 5 Haitian Dollars ($0.57USD),
sometimes it's 20 ($2.30 USD) It keeps them accountable. Each situation is different, but
we try them all, and have them pay whenever they can.
Currently
we have 19 children on the program, there are a few that are handicapped,
mentally, some with cerebral palsy and such like illnesses, and they have been
and will be on their for a long time. But each child is closely monitored. They
are required to bring the child in on a continual bases, each child has a file,
when they come in we pull their file, check the last weight, then weigh him/her
again. For the most part we see continual weight gain. If we don't we have a little
chat with the caregivers, and if we don't see a change in weight within a few
weeks, they get removed from the program. There are different reasons for that,
sometimes they could be selling the milk for money, sometimes they don't accept
the child and don't take care of it and use the milk on their own children or
themselves, etc. But these situation are few and far between.
Are the
babies that are on the Gospel to Haiti website, the only ones we give milk to? No, in fact we give or sell milk
powder almost every day or at least on average 3 or 4 times a week. Moms come
in with infants that are needy or need a quick boost for a couple weeks or even
a month or two, and we will help them along a bit.
This is
not always easy to do, because of the lack of funds to buy extra milk powder
for that reason. But we try never to let a child leave without some kind of
help. We are thankful that we have always gotten by each month. God is
faithful, and trusting Him with that need, He has proved Himself mighty and very
faithful.
Sponsorship
or donations for the program. We currently have 7 out of the 19 children
sponsored. It's a one year sponsorship, 100% of the funds donated are sent to
the field. It can be a monthly, quarterly or one time donation. The sponsorship
is $40.00USD/month, $120.00USD/quarter and/or $480.00USD/year. We also accept
any donations, it is used to buy extra formula for babies that we help.
We
buy two kinds of formula, one is called Celia, it is quite expensive but it has
a huge amount of everything good in it and has worked amazingly for 0-6 months
of age, then we buy Bonju Formula, that is rich in Vitamin A, Vitamin D and
Calcium, that is given for the ones 7 months and up. Both formulas are rich in
all manner of good stuff, therefore the cost is higher, and we feel it's good
to make sure if we help them we help them in a way that builds their bodies up
from the start.
Each child
that gets put on the program we also put on the Nourishing the Needy blog on
the gospel to Haiti website, we take pictures and keep updating the pictures on
a continual basis, and we keep updating the weights. When or if a child dies
for any reason we will automatically assign the sponsorship over to another
child that isn't sponsored until the year is over.
Again I would like to say thank you to all of you
who have supported this program, also all of you who will in the future. Each
breath these children breath is a breath of thankfulness. And you are storing
up treasures in heaven. If you feel lead to sponsor a child, or even send
donations whenever you can, please feel free to contact Donavon for sponsorship
information and signup sheets, or any other questions regarding the program.
Email: gthmission@gmail.com
Mailing
Address: Gospel To Haiti
PO Box 3.
Richland Center WI 53581
