In poverty-stricken parts of the world, the battle for life is real. Too often, malnutrition robs precious lives that God has given. Especially those of innocent children.
In Nicaragua, little Erick Samir’s life was wasting away when he came to CAM’s Waslala Medical Clinic. Although he was two years old, he barely tipped the scales at eighteen pounds. “His arms and legs looked like miniature sticks,” one of our staff members said.
When his foster parents found him, Erick and his brothers didn’t even have shirts to wear. The children were so hungry, they had resorted to eating hard dry beans, yet barely got any nutrition to support their growing bodies. Little Erick was suffering severely because of it. The clinic staff gave Erick some nutritional supplements to start him on a path to recovery and good health.
What causes malnutrition?
Every night, one in nine people around the world goes to bed hungry.* The battle continues each day as parents struggle to find sufficient food for themselves and their children. Without the financial means to provide enough protein or a balanced diet, many parents watch their children suffer relentlessly from undernourishment. Many of these children also have severe parasite issues from poor sanitation, which can result in serious, life-threatening malnutrition as well.
Our foreign field staff encounter many situations where precious little ones suffer from undernourishment. While some of the children are in the beginning stages of malnutrition and can be easily treated, others are very near to death. This was the case for three-week-old Favor when she came to our base in Liberia. Her caretaker said Favor had cried the entire night from hunger. Her ribs could easily be counted.
CAM prepares to purchase several semi loads of nutritional items
Through CAM’s Save-A-Life program, we try to provide nutritional food supplements and life-saving medicines for clinics throughout Haiti, Nicaragua, Liberia, and other countries. Parents walk for hours to come to these medical centers to find help for their sick, malnourished children. Nutritional items are a huge blessing to clinics that operate with minimal resources.
In the past we typically depended on donated nutritional items for malnourished children and adults, but our available supply is not nearly enough to meet the huge demand. This year we hope to purchase several semi loads of nutritional drink mix and a peanut-based nutritional supplement for severely malnourished children and adults. The peanut-based product provides a life-saving source of protein. A $42 case of this product can take a child from severe malnutrition to recovery in only 6-8 weeks. Although the help sometimes arrives too late, for many malnourished little ones, this nutrition is a rescue from death, giving them a chance to live the life God has given them.
Our budget goal for this project is $500,000. If you wish to help provide life-saving nutritional items for malnourished children and adults, your contribution will be a blessing.
