Bondeau Baby

I enjoy taking a walk in the evening from Kay Timoun down the rocky driveway to the main road.   A few evenings ago I was taking that walk when I met a woman I have known for a long time.  She was carrying a baby.  We stopped to talk.  I fussed over the baby, talking baby talk. Very often a young child will cry the moment he/she sees me.  It's the light skin that scares them.  But this baby just looked with no reaction.  I quickly noticed that the baby, a girl, was very thin and had tired looking eyes.  Mama told me the baby is one year old.  I know enough about babies to know that a one-year old will either cry or smile or do something when greeted by a stranger.  This baby did nothing!  She just sat in her mother's arms.  So, now I was curious.  Why isn't the baby reacting?  I asked mama if the baby is breast feeding.  No, mama doesn't have milk.  Is the baby eating, drinking milk?  No, no money for milk, no money for baby formula or baby food.  I had seen a little girl in this condition before and in a short time, even though I tried to help, the baby was dead!  So, I talked to the mother about the importance of the baby eating.  She knows, but doesn't have money.  I immediately invited her to come with me to Kay Timoun, where I prepared a small amount of cooked oatmeal with milk and sugar.  (I never did finish my walk!)  I watched the baby while mama tried to feed her.  It was obvious that the child was not familiar with eating from a spoon.  She cried weakly, hardly making a sound.  I asked mama if she would come back every morning and I'd have good nourishing food for her baby.  She agreed to return every morning.  So, added to the shopping list that day was vitamin fortified baby cereal.  When she returned the following day, the baby was munching on a soggy cracker.  While cookies and crackers are OK for snacks, many mothers here think it replaces good nourishing food.  So, I tried to explain  to mama that crackers are not a meal and have very little food value.

Last year, we all at Kay Timoun took on a commitment to prepare breakfast, usually oatmeal with milk and sugar, or baby cereal, for twin baby girls that were undernourished when they showed up on our door step at two months old.  By the time the twins were a year old, they were chubby, happy babies, taking their first steps.

So, keep the little girl in your prayers.  She is very much at risk for malnutrition and who knows what other disease.  She needs good nourishing food, which she will receive as long as her mother brings her here to Kay Timoun.