Program Update: Milk Program

While Emily was at church camp this summer, the children's minister sent us a picture of her in the middle of the week.  It made our day.  We assumed she was doing good, but nothing compared to seeing our girl's smiling face pop across the text.

I think this update is like that for you.  These are your kids.  We couldn't do any of this without your support.  But you are far away and I am here with them, so here is your update about your kids.

First, this week we were able to help three new families in which the mama died, each one leaving behind a one-month old baby.  By the end of the week, Philip expressed how crazy it was to have three families experience this tragedy in such a short time span.  The local response was, "This is the season for losing mothers."

I wanted to stomp my foot and yell, "NO!  There is no season for that.  It is not okay!"  But I knew what he was saying.  Rainy season brings mosquitoes, mosquitoes bring malaria, malaria brings loss.  No amount of foot stomping from me is going to change that.

This brings the babies in the formula program up to nineteen.  One of the babies new to us this week came a week after losing his mother.  For that whole week the family had been feeding him reconstituted powdered milk, and not the kind designed for a baby's tummy.  The baby was showing signs of being malnourished and his stomach was rock hard, so our ministry leader took him to the local hospital for care (and thankfully he is now at home doing well).  Other babies in the program include three who were found abandoned.  At least two other babies are from families who wanted to abandon their babies at the mother's death, but who have been able to care for their children with the help of formula.  There are also three sets of twins and a set of triplets who are not orphans, but whose mamas needed a little help supplementing their breastmilk.  There are even a couple families who take five or six hour bus rides to come to our town to get the formula.  (It's not that far, but the rains also make muddy roads hard to travel.)

These are your kids and, in some cases, they are alive because of you.  Thank you for looking at hard things and caring.

"If you say, 'But we knew nothing about this,' does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?  Does not he who guards your life know it?  Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done?"  Proverbs 24:12