Will you sponsor a World Vision child today? When you call 1-866-819-HOPE or go to http://www.fish959.com/ (and click on the World Vision banner) you change a life. You can help a child just like this little boy--this story is from a World Vision caseworker.
Child: Sabiou
Country: Niger
The past two hours of hunger, fever, and diarrhea had pushed Sabiou to his limit. After being ill for more than two weeks, his 10-month-old body deteriorated at an alarming rate in front of my eyes. His hands stopped grasping for unseen relief, his legs ceased kicking, and his head fell back in his mother’s arms. Most worrisome of all, his eyes rolled back in his head. His half-closed eyes revealed only the edges of his pupils. At any moment it seemed his little lungs would stop gasping for air.
“For three days he’s had a fever. He has nothing in his stomach,” said Hasia Halidou, Sabiou’s mother. “I see he has diarrhea and a fever. He won’t eat food well. His body isn’t the same as other children that are the same age as him. He doesn’t have health and they do.”
We ushered Hasia and her baby into the local clinic run by a World Vision trained health attendant. The biggest danger of Type One malnutrition is the dehydration. A combination of malnutrition, diarrhea, and a fever had depleted Sabiou’s body, leaving little fluid and destroying vital fatty tissue.
“Muscles and fats atrophy quickly when children have diarrhea or pneumonia,” explains Zakaria, a World Vision trained health attendant. “In two to three hours you can see all the muscles and fat disappear. Their arms will get skinny.” Sabiou’s arms were not the only skinny part of him. His skeleton was visible throughout his entire body.
Sabiou was given antibiotics, paracetamol (for fever and pain relief), malaria medicine, and a 10-day supply of plumpy’nut with instructions to eat two a day. Plumpy’nut is fast-acting solution to malnutrition. Composed primarily of peanuts, with vitamins and minerals, it is very rich in protein and highly nutritious. Packaged in individual servings, the product is completely ready-to-use. The mother can simply tear off a corner of the package and if her child is healthy enough, let him or her feed himself.
Sabiou listlessly swallows a few tastes of plumpy’nut, but the lack of food and the diarrhea have already wiped him out. His body hardly flinches and he falls back asleep. We take the mother back home with a blanket to keep her son warm, hoping, yet unsure that plumpy’nut will be the miracle it claims.
Four days after meeting Sabiou at the clinic, we found him at home surrounded by happy relatives. His eyes were wide open and though he was still small, his body has life in it. His arms were moving rapidly and his head moved all over trying to take in the excitement around him. His mother, Hasia, greeted us with a huge smile. “Truly it’s much better now,” she said. “Before he couldn’t sleep well because he had diarrhea so he would wake up all night. But now, he sleeps through the night. He can even feed himself now. Before, he didn’t really eat by himself.”
Today, Sabiou will grab a package of plumpy’nut and happily lick his lips after a few bites. His face has filled out a little and his arms look stronger. His fever is gone and his diarrhea is almost over. “You and God are the reason he is better,” Hasia stated, “Thousands of Thank you’s.” “Isn’t one thank you enough?” asks Zakaria playfully. “No, thousands,” says Hasia. “We thank God and we thank you.”
