By Mary Beth Winkler
As the Sponsorship Coordinator of Northwest Haiti Christian Mission, I travel to Haiti three or four times a year. One of the programs that has always been dear to my heart is our nutrition program, which is for children between ages 1 and 4 who have been identified as being in at least second-degree malnutrition – though more often, we find them in third-degree malnutrition.
These children come to the mission five days a week and receive two meals a day. They receive medical care and, when they are old enough, they attend our mission schools. Food and fuel costs in Haiti rose significantly in 2008, and while we continued the nutrition program, we were not always able to provide the most nutritious food.
The food supply was also dramatically affected by the hurricanes that hit Haiti late last summer. Countless gardens were destroyed. When I was in Haiti in September, many of the children did not look as healthy as I would have liked.
Judline, 3, with her mother at NWHCM's Saint-Louis du Nord nutrition program
Fortunately, it was right at this time that God blessed us with a container of food from Feed My Starving Children. It could not have come at a better time. We served the children this food every day, and when I returned to Haiti in January I could see a great difference in the children. Their little bodies had filled out, their skin looked better and they seemed to have more energy.
The biggest difference I saw was in a little girl named Judline. Judline is 3 years old and has been in our nutrition program for a couple of years. She has cerebral palsy and, while it is not a particularly bad case, she has never been able to walk. In the past, she would stand, and I would work with her and her mother to do exercises to strengthen her legs, but she still wasn’t walking.
But in January, I walked down to our nutrition center and the first thing I saw was Judline walking over to greet me. As I spent some time with her, she clearly had better control of her arms and her facial muscles. Certainly, she still has cerebral palsy, but she has made great strides, and I believe it is due in large part to the nutrients she is getting in the Feed My Starving Children food.
Judline’s body is much stronger and healthier, and she can better compensate for her physical challenges. I am so grateful for this food and the difference it is making in our kids’ lives, and I know that the children and their mothers are, as well.
Mary Beth Winkler is a child sponsorship coordinator for Northwest Haiti Christian Mission. For more than a decade, she has facilitated life-changing donor relationships in Haiti for babies, malnourished children, special-needs children and the elderly. She lives in Versailles, Kentucky.
Click here to learn more about NWHCM’s life-saving nutrition programs.
You can make a real difference today in the life of a hungry child by providing a meal for as little as 5 cents.
To make a donation, click here.
