Where He leads...: April 2013

Imagine if you woke up tomorrow morning to read the above headline. I assume, like me, you would be shocked. Later that day as you head out to meet a friend for lunch, you turn on your car radio to hear another grim report of a second jumbo jet of children crashing. Again, no survivors. By this time you are really starting to wonder what is going on and how this could happen. Dinnertime... the evening news terrifyingly reports yet another incident of the same exact thing. Plane crash. All children. No survivors. Imagine the buzz that would be created by this news. Imagine the emotions... Disbelief. Outrage. Confusion. Sadness.

Obviously the odds of such events happening like this are not realistic. What is real, however, is this same number of children (and more) who are dying every day by apparently less news-worthy causes.

The truth is:

And if you add in the global problem of malnutrition, even thousands more children are dying every single day. I've seen figures as high as 2.6 million children under 5 dying every year due to illnesses related to undernutrition1. When you take the problems of lack of clean water and sanitation together with the global hunger issue, it is a giant and compound dilemma. Diarrhea alone kills over 2,000 children every day. That's more than AIDS, malaria, and measles combined²! As you can imagine, children who are undernourished are going to have a higher risk of frequency and severity of diarrhea which further reduces their ability to consume foods, absorb nutrients, stay hydrated, and so forth3. It's a perpetual cycle for these children, and a deadly one.

Statistics are often the result of years of grueling research, observations, surveys, program implementations, and everything in between. Yet statistics often fail to connect with us in a powerful way--in a way that demands action. With social media at its peak, most of us have these statistics in front of us. They prick us during the moment we first hear of them, but we quickly move on to focus on the tangible tasks right in front of us. Perhaps it helps to translate statistics into a hypothetical story like I've done here. Even still, I'm afraid that is not enough.

So what does it take to call us to action? To rattle us enough that we stop what we're doing, listen, and respond? For me, it's giving the numbers a face and a name.

Her name was Michnaida.

Michnaida came to our nutrition clinic in the beginning of January. In fact, I met her during my first week with CNP and on my first day observing our Outpatient Therapeutic Program (PTA). She was beautiful. But she was tiny. After completely our intake form, measuring her, and going through a basic health check-up, we referred her to a stabilization center about 40 minutes away. Our driver took her there along with another little boy around the same age and in the same grave condition. When it was time to follow up with Michnaida, we discovered that her mother had discharged her prematurely and Michnaida had once again fallen into a serious state of malnutrition. On top of that she was having constant diarrhea and was dehydrated. Our staff encouraged her to seek medical care immediately. The mother took Michnaida to the hospital where the doctor made preparations to admit her. For whatever reason, the mother refused and despite all attempts by the hospital to keep her there, she left with Michnaida and headed home. On the way home, Michnaida lost consciousness and with pressure from those in her community, the mother went with her to yet another hospital. Michnaida was put on oxygen, given fluids, and kept for nearly two weeks. After being discharged, she and her mother returned to their home in the mountains. Our staff is required to continue following up on these children and encouraging the mothers to keep their weekly appointments. This mother, however, continued to miss appointments and unfortunately Michnaida became sick again and this time did not recover. We just received word today that she passed away this month.

Despite our best efforts, Michnaida did not survive. Can we point fingers? Perhaps. Though I'm reminded at how complicated the realities are in the developing world. And those complicated realities could fill a book of their own! The point is: children are dying. I'm seeing it down here more than I would like to report. As if the loss of Michnaida weren't enough, 25,999 others died on that same day4. And 26,000 more the next day, and 26,000 more the next day, and 26,000--you get the point.

My heart is saddened by the loss of Michnaida and countless others. I want to do more. And my hope is that you do too.

So what can we do?

LEARN more about what organizations are doing around the world to fight global issues of safe water, sanitation, and nutrition. I'm confident that a simple Google search will give you more than enough information to get started! Our What We Do page on our website shares about a number of our programs that are impacting and saving the lives of thousands of Haitian women and children.

SEEK out opportunities to get involved in your community and on a global level to make a difference in the lives of those suffering most from these issues. Invite your friends to join you on your journey to make a positive difference in this world.

GIVE a voice to those who have no audience. Give your time volunteering or interning with local and global projects. Give a donation towards organizations and programs you believe are making an impact and encourage others to do so as well.

RAISE awareness. Post relevant articles, projects, stories, and statistics on social media to educate your friends and families. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook... retweet and share our posts. Host an event and invite guest speakers to share about the work they are doing to raise up healthy generations. (We would love to chat with your group about what CNP is doing!) Help raise funds for projects, organizations, and social change.

I believe that within each of the above steps are opportunities to discover your passions and how you can uniquely contribute to making this world a better, safer, and healthier place. Together, we can give these statistics a face and a name. We can help keep the next Michnaida alive. So far CNP has one mobile nutrition clinic in operation. It is our hope to get four more going to spread our reach into the rural mountainous areas. If we'd had one operating in Michnaida's community, the mother could have more easily kept her weekly appointment and received the treatment she needed for her daughter. And that's an example of how your help can make a difference in the lives of these children. The more we can do, the more we can spread out to touch as many communities as possible, the more lives can be saved.

So what will you do?

_________________
1 Source: Levels and Trends in Child Mortality, UNICEF, 2011

2 Source: Global, regional, and national causes of child mortality: an updated systematic analysis for 2010 with time trends since 2000. WHO and UNICEF, 2012

3 Source: Diarrhoea: Why children are still dying and what can be done. WHO and UNICEF, 2009

4 Source: The state of the world's children 2008. UNICEF, 2008

I've gotten very behind on blogging so to speed things up, I'll keep my introduction short and you can just check out the photos and captions. For Easter weekend we packed up the car and headed for Jacmel. It was a long weekend with both Friday and Monday off from work. We made the best of it!! Here are some highlights...

Someone wanted to make sure she didn't get left behind! Lacy had had a tough week already. We've had little puppy Dez running around everywhere and Lacy has been less than thrilled with all his antics. She was ready for a vacation too!

Cute little Dez enjoyed the long car ride. MOST of the time he was sweet and cuddly. Which was a blessings because trying to appease a rambunctious puppy inside a moving vehicle is quite a task!

The Easter holiday is a big deal in Haiti. From Protestants to Catholics to Voodoo-ists(?)... festivities abound! We were happy to be escaping Leogane for the weekend as Voodoo/Rara happenings are at their peak. But this is what we found as we entered Jacmel. And of course there is only one road in. Thankfully they turned off the main road about 15 minutes after we were stopped. This was a Protestant group. We had already passed a few other smaller groups along the way. They seemed to be doing a Passion Walk of some kind. Walking together as Jesus had walked to his own death. At the front of each group someone was carrying a cross high up on a stick so everyone behind could see.

On Saturday, Lesly, Molly and I escaped for a day-trip to Bassin Bleu. It was Molly's first time and of course she loved it. I mean, who wouldn't love hiking to a secluded waterfall?! We took a long taptap ride to town from the hotel and then found three moto drivers who were ready to make a deal. We ended up paying $12.50 per person for them to take us up, wait on us, and bring us back down. I quickly realized not only was this a good day's work for them, but a fun adventure too. All three of them stripped down to their skivvies for a dip in the crystal blue water. Not a bad day's work at all!

Molly thoroughly enjoyed the moto ride and everything about our day! As did we all!

To top off our already amazing adventure, we stopped at Jacmel's "Mexican and Italian" restaurant and ate some tacos and pizza!! The tacos were especially delicious! Lesly ordered chicken fried rice. It even came in a little Chinese takeout box. And yes, a Mexican/Italian restaurant in Haiti is SUPER random! Turns out the guy lived in Tulsa for 20 years, studied aeronautics and had a Creole restaurant there which got rave reviews. He told me to call ahead next time and he'll make me up a special pot of gumbo!

We almost drove right past this! I looked over and thought there was a black plastic bag by the mama goat. Then I realized it was a newborn kid! I had them turn the bikes around and we got some photos and videos. So cool!!!

On Sunday afternoon we went to "Church on the Beach". I had asked around to see what churches were around where we were staying. I got a response from a group of missionaries. They told me about "Church on the Beach" that meets every Sunday at 4:30pm. Sounded perfect for us! And it was. :)

On the way back from church, we encountered at least half a dozen rara parades marching down the street. Again, there's the one main road so you're stuck with that route. This was the last and biggest group we passed. All the other groups were kind enough to leave a space for traffic to pass. This group wasn't as concerned. See the video below for a closer look. Oh the joys of Haiti!! :)

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