Over the last two months since our move I have mainly used this blog to share the details and milestones of our move to Guatemala. Today I want to change directions and share something that has been weighing heavily on me recently.
Malnutrition here is just a part of life. Each day on the street I pass children that are underweight, and already I have become somewhat immune to the sight. But occasionally I will encounter a child that breaks my heart due to the impact of malnutrition on their small body and it shakes me out of my numbness. I would like to introduce you to three of these children.
Two weeks ago I was at Hermano Pedro and strolled up to the malnutrition ward to spend time with the kids. Over in the corner was a young boy that was in a playpen instead of a crib. He was rail thin with sad eyes and his name was Nelson. As I approached he extended his hands to me and I reached out to take them in mine. As I did, he frantically tried to climb up my body, so I picked him up and held him. He melted into me as if he wanted every square inch of his body to touch mine. At that moment, my daughter Krishauna approached and he reached out for her. Assuming he wanted her to hold him I started to hand him to her, but instead he grabbed her hand and simply placed it on his side. I realized that he simply wanted as much human touch as possible. Krishauna held him for a while, so he reached out to place my hand on his side while she did. It was hard to leave the malnutrition ward that day.
In the same ward is a little boy named Mario. He has a cleft lip and came into Hermano Pedro severely malnourished, and the effects of which are obvious. The skin on his arms and legs hand limply from his bones, much of his hair is missing, and his skin has a sickly pallor and has flaked off. His body, working to keep his vital organs functioning, has diverted resources from those less crucial areas to keep him alive. As I held him and sang to him, he gave the largest smile his cleft lip would allow. Tears came to my eyes as I imagined this little guy gripped with hunger pains but without a means to ease them.
And yesterday in Casa Jackson, a malnutrition center in San Felipe de Jesus, I met a little guy named Esbin. Esbin is 11 years old but looks like he is only four or five as his growth has been stunted by the lack of sustenance. He is brain damaged from the same absence of nutrition, so he is cognitively delayed and shows the signs of Cerebral Palsy. As I stroked his thin legs he looked at me with trust, and I wondered why he would choose to trust anyone.
These are just three of the thousands of malnourished children in Guatemala. In a nation in which almost 50% of the children are malnourished (and that rate climbs to over 90% among rural villages) they are far from alone. Fortunately, these three have found help. But last night, as I lay in bed, I thought about the rest.
These children are the motivation behind our 4-wheel drive ministry and why we are working so hard to secure the funding we need to begin the work. Would you please pray with us that God will make a way and do it soon?
Jesus, da pan a los tienen hambre y da hambre de ti a los que tienen pan.
(Jesus, the bread for those who have hunger and the hunger for those that have bread.)
Good night from Guatemala.
Daryl, Wanda, and the Crew
