Malnutrition and Medicine

Note: Recently I have been doing a lot of writing about our group home, Hogar de la Esperanza. Obviously, that has been where a lot of my focus has been over the last two months. That may leave the impression that nothing has been happening in our rural village ministry, but nothing could be further from the truth. Dale Beyer has been gradually assuming more responsibilities in that area of ministry to enable me to focus on our growing home. You will be seeing me share his updates regarding that ministry in the near future, and your prayers and support of that ministry is still very much needed.

The last week has been a whirlwind of activity in our home. About 10 days ago we received a call from a judge in Jalapa asking if we would take three children, a brother and sister and another little girl who all have cerebral palsy. After discussion it was decided that we would accept the brother and sister and, given a couple of weeks for adjustment, would accept the other little girl as well. Last Tuesday the judge called back and asked if we would take the sister and the other little girl because she felt the were both in the worst condition. We agreed, so on Wednesday morning we headed out bright and early to pick them up.

In my last blog I told you about the corruption in the judicial system and a couple of very bad judges we encountered. I am very pleased to say that this judge has been wonderful and has worked great with us. She knew we were driving a long distance, so she arranged for workers to transport the children two hours toward us and meet us in the town of Comapa. We were pleased to find the children and the proper paperwork waiting for us when we arrived.

Unfortunately, what we found were two little girls who were in trouble. Let me introduce you to them:

Thania (pronounced Tanya) is 13 years old. Due to malnutrition she is the height of a normal three year old and only weighs 19 pounds. Her teeth are rotting and she has regular seizures. We also quickly realized that she has hip dysplasia (both hips pop completely out of joint when her legs are straightened). Our son, Joshua, had this condition, though not as severe, and he required two major surgeries and eight weeks in a spica cast to correct it.

All of this, and more, cause her to be a very fussy and needy child, requiring a lot of care. One of the challenges is getting her to eat. Because of her long-term malnutrition, she has very little appetite, and we have to work hard to coax her to eat. She tolerates very little food in a sitting, so she has to be fed frequently. And we have found that she is very difficult to comfort.

Our doctor has seen her and ordered quite a few tests. Today our Neurologist examined her and ordered more tests. We anticipate that the total costs of appointments and tests will top $400.00 US, and that does not include treatment an surgeries. Please pray for God’s provision and for this precious little girl.

The other little girl that was added to our home that day is Angelita (little angel). She is seven years old, but due to malnutrition the size 18 month clothes we are dressing her in are too big. When we picked her up we were told that she did not suffer from seizures. We quickly determined how incorrect that was as we realized that she was in an almost constant state of seizuring. She, too, is struggling to eat and we are working hard to get nutritional food and formula into her.

She has now been seen by both our doctor and neurologist and has been placed on anti-seizure medication. We are already seeing an improvement, but she still has a long road ahead. Once she is gaining weight and seems to be stable, we will need to get her to the dentist. All of her teeth have rotted away to the roots.

I confess, this is one of those times that I feel overwhelmed. The road to recovery for both of these little girls will be both long and expensive. And it would be easy to fall into despair regarding both their condition and our finances. But God keeps reminding me of something important. He loves them both, far more than I ever could, and He is with them. He also reminds me that the money we are spending is not on big TV’s, expensive clothes or luxury items. We are spending money providing care and attention to His children. Do I really think that God will not give us what we need to take care of them? Of course He will.

One of my favorite quotes is by Hudson Taylor who said this:

“God’s work done in God’s way never lacks God’s supply.”

We are relying heavily on this scripture-based truth these days.

On a much lighter note, Friday was a big event for our home. We loaded up our vehicles and transported the childre to the Zoo in Guatemala City for a special day out together. Thanks to a big discount given by the Zoo to homes such as ours, we were able to get admission for the children for only Q.5 each (about 62 cents). We met Krishauna there, and she had the 13 boys from Casa Samuel (the house she work in at Casa Bernabe) along with the house parents and volunteers. This brought us to a grand total of 25 children and 9 adults who enjoyed the day together. (We were pushing 6 wheelchairs and 2 strollers as a part of the procession.)

What a great day we had enjoying the animals and one another. Almost all the kids were well behaved and had a wonderful time. And, I will admit, every adult was exhausted by day’s end.

As we were preparing to leave that morning I suddenly realized something important. Most of the children who are in our group home have never had an outing like this. Almost all of them come from extreme poverty and have not seen life outside of their own little towns until now. It was exciting to see their faces as they took in the sights throughout the day, and I feel so humbled and amazed that God lets me be a part of things like this.

So, I will end with a few pictures below of our special day. Thanks so much for you prayers and support of this ministry! We could not do it without you!

Daryl, Wanda and the Crew