peanut butter anyone?

Mamba Mamba Mamba! Tuesday was our first day to run the “Mamba” clinic solo without Bobi (she just moved back to the states with her husband to have their baby). Chelsea and I headed down that morning, still feeling like we were ran over by a semi truck thanks to the stomach bug from the day before (Jess was unfortunately still down for the count). Elsie (the RN from the clinic) and Sarah (a missionary who lives down the road) came to help- Praise the Lord. We had no idea how busy the day was going to be. We saw over 45 kids, many of them gained A LOT of weight this week and are already beginning to look so healthy after only 2-3 weeks of being in the program. A few of the severely malnourished kids came in sick with diarrhea and respiratory infections, so Elsie sent them to see a team of American doctors who are in for the week.

Okay, let me give a spark notes of the “Mamba” program that happens every Tuesday. Bobi (who just moved back to the states to have her baby) has been running the “Mamba” program for the past 2 years, so needless to say, she spent the last three weeks training Chelsea, Jess, and me on everything and anything Mamba. This program is designed by Meds and Food for Kids, who specially designed a formula called “Medika Mamba” that means peanut butter medicine in Creole. It’s produced in a factory here in Haiti and is packaged in .5 or 1 kilo bright green re-sealable plastic bags (kind of like what trail mix is packaged in). This formula is made of peanut butter and packed full of all the essential vitamins, proteins, fats, and oils that kids (ages 6 months- 5 years) need for proper growth and development. It tastes like the inside of a peanut butter cup, except a bit grittier in texture.

Every Tuesday, kids come to the clinic from Montrouis or surrounding towns. They have either heard about the program by word of mouth or been referred by the nurses at the medical clinic. We “screen” each child to see if he or she qualifies to be in the program by finding their weight, height, MUAC (middle upper arm circumference) and then plugging all those numbers into a chart that determines their nutritional status. If the child qualifies as severely or moderately malnourished, then we start the child on the Mamba immediately. The child comes back every Tuesday to be re-weighed and we do a quick interview with the caretaker to see the child’s response to the Mamba (if the child has had diarrhea or vomiting etc). The child continues to come into the clinic every week until they reach their goal weight; this normally takes 8-10 weeks. Jess and Chels have mastered the interviewing, while I take care of getting the kids weekly weights and snapping a photo for our files. Then at the end of the day, we take all the files and new pictures and update each kids file with their current weight and picture. It’s incredible to see the change in just a few short weeks.

However, we have to be very stern with the mothers/caretakers if the child isn’t gaining the proper amount of weight each week. It’s often hard for the moms to understand that they can’t (for example) leave their 9-year-old daughter in charge of feeding the Mamba to their malnourished child while the mom goes to the market all day. The child has to be fed the Mamba in certain dosages at certain times. It’s a big commitment to be in this program, and if the moms don’t take it seriously, then the child is discharged. We are all learning how to make that call and when to give leeway. And even though the idea of discharging a sick child (because of the mother’s irresponsibility) seems harsh, Bobi explained that we can’t waste the Mamba on families who won’t take on the challenge when there are MANY other families/mothers that will use the Mamba in the proper way to help their kids gain the weight!

Okay- that was longer than spark notes. But that’s what we do, well, starting to get the hang of doing!

Everybody please keep on praying! Pray for Neslie, the burn on his arm is healing so well (an American doctor saw it and was VERY pleased with the progress). Also, shoot up a prayer that Jess and I would be able to find encouragement in the little things here at Canaan. The stomach bug definitely kicked our “routine” out the window and I find myself tempted to fall into a funk of some sort. So anyways, just pray that our eyes will continue to be open to the little joys of Canaan and how we can best serve while we’re here. Love you all much.

-Morg

p.s.- Searcy, Arkansas Team- we miss you guys already and are praying that you will have QUICK recovery from the stomach bug. Jen, enjoy that pedicure for all of us :). Ms. Kelly- thank you for the yoga mats and skirts- we have already washed and worn them! And the chocolate cookies were delicious!!! Thanks for leaving us all y’alls goodies, you have no idea how much you all encouraged us during your time at Canaan. Love you guys. We just might need to make our first Searcy road trip.