Plumpy'Nut Progress

Major Gains...
*2-4 pounds within 2 weeks* Seriously? While I was educating people about nutrition in America, the mentioning of weight gain rarely warranted a celebration. However, when children in Niger, Africa are dying due to severe malnutrition, any increase in weight reflects improvements in health and chances of survival. When this happens, a celebration is definitely deserved. Since the initial assessment of the children and distribution of Plumpy’Nut in the village of Gueladio, two weeks have passed.



Weigh-Time...
Returning to Gueladio to re-weigh the children excited me but part of me was nervous that the parents may not have followed instructions, causing the children's weight to be unaffected. It was the moment of truth. Would this baby’s health benefit from packets of a peanut butter like paste? Could something so simple save this life? I placed the child on the scale and intensely but quickly watched the needle until all movement was stilled(most babies hate the scale), all while hoping this number would indicate a step on the healing road. With anticipation I recorded his weight, compared it to his initial weight and SMILED, realizing the answer…yes! Plumpy’Nut does work. This baby has already benefited, and it has only been 2 weeks. He is not the only one. Dave, a missionary mentioned “I had no idea this would be so rewarding.” And I agree.

Don’t despise small beginnings…
We re-weighed the 11 babies who were severely malnourished, qualifying for Plumpy’Nut. All, except two of the children gained between 1-4 pounds in just two weeks. This is incredible! A couple of praiseworthy facts can be inferred by the increase in weight. Firstly, the babies are becoming healthier! Secondly, the mothers are properly giving their children the packets of Plumpy’Nut and are not consuming the product themselves or letting any other children do so. The mothers also followed the instructions to bring back their empty Plumpy’Nut packets and their patient cards. We were very impressed.

Heart struggle...
There were 2 babies that did not gain weight, unfortunately. One’s mother stopped giving it to her child because he was vomiting but we are readjusting the amount so his body will be more inclined to handle it. The other mother claimed to give her baby the Plumpy’Nut, yet it’s highly unlikely because there was no change in weight. That was hard on the heart. I’m excited about the progress in the other children though. We also assessed more children and added a few to our Plumpy’Nut treatment list. The others who didn’t meet the requirements for Plumpy’Nut received multivitamins.

Although we didn’t have a short term mission team here helping this week, the missionary team worked together, by weighing, measuring, distributing and praying.
A missionary Hope, who helped with the Plumpy’Nut clinic said “the miracle of Plumpy’Nut” and she’s right, this product’s ability to restore the nutritional integrity of the children is a miracle.
In poverty stricken lands, finding water alone is hard but trying to find clean water is nearly impossible. Some therapeutic formulas to treat malnutrition require the recipients to add water before consuming the product, which can often lead to sickness.
Plumpy’Nut is a ready to use therapeutic formula which doesn’t require any preparations besides opening the foil packet (and eating).

It breaks my heart that children are in this malnourished state to begin with, however my heart is even more thankful that the Lord is using Plumpy’Nut to heal his children. And knowing that He is capable of healing them instantly, I wonder why, yet appreciate that he uses other avenues of healing and has privileged us, (his other children) to be part of that healing process. We will go back in 2 weeks to reassess the children. Pray that they’d continue to be restored, that we'd have wisdom and that they’d know the love of Christ through this nutrition project.

“He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.” –Psalm 146:7

Full of thanks...

Us AG missionaries will be having Thanksgiving together at the Teagues. I’m continuing my family’s tradition of running a 5k ‘turkey trot’ on Thanksgiving morning. Hope and Daniel have agreed to join me thus far. Instead of a chili, slightly rainy and crowded race, we’ll have the company of a few people and the bright sun, while covered with its warm effects. I’m ready to run. Oh, and am so thankful!