If anyone has read the newsletter, they will have heard of Beth, our community liaison worker. She is dedicated; spending every day in the slums, when she could quite easily make her excuses and spend more time in the office. She has that quiet way of steering you towards the things that matter. One day we had a tight schedule; trying to organise help for a mother who has a spinal tumour, finding uniforms for children who have been sent home for being too scruffy....there was a lot to do. However, Beth suggested that we met the mother of one of our sponsored children as she was back in town after being away for a long time. It didn't strike me as a priority, but I agreed. What Beth hadn't told me was that the mother had reappeared with her youngest child, 11 month old Peter. As soon as we saw him, we knew everything else could wait. He was undoubtedly the skinniest child I have ever seen. He weighed just 5.4 kilos, the average weight of an 8 week old. He had no body fat, so clung to whoever held him for warmth. Yet at the same time you could tell that every movement, even swallowing was painful and he tensed when you tried to move him. He had terrible diarrhoea and his mouth was dry and full of sores. His mother was said to be positive in the past, but she was saying now that she had been cured with a miracle and was not taking any medicines. She was clearly sick and malnourished herself and seemed to have given up on life for both her and the baby.
We took the baby to the excellent clinic (run by a German Charity, Arzte fur die Dritte Welt); despite her protestations that they weren't interested. Not surprisingly the doctors started him on intensive feeding, antibiotics and mouth treatment immediately.
Seeing such a tragic case has made me ask questions: How many children did the feeding programme see like this? The answer was 40 this month, double what they saw in February. Why is the referral rate going up? No it wasn't just the good reputation of the clinic, all centres were seeing a rise. Food prices rocketed last year and they have stayed up, people have used up their fat and money reserves and now just can't buy enough food. How well do children on the programme respond to treatment? It
usually takes three weeks. The success rate is high as long as all the accompanying diseases are treated successfully.
It also made me ask more questions. How important is nutrition at this age? For Peter, it was clearly a matter of life and death. But, for many of our children, they are more likely to suffer from chronic underfeeding: if the mother gets work that day, everyone eats, if she doesn't, they sleep hungry.
It seems that the first thousand days of a child's life are the most important. This thousand days is from the moment of conception to the child's second birthday. The levels of glucose, stress hormones and micro-nutrients in-utero has an impact on the rest of the child's life. For a girl, the life of her own children is affected, as a girl child is born with her eggs ready to mature. The quality of breast milk continues to have an impact on the child's development and early weaning, with foods with low nutritional value being used, further add to the problem.
This, and frequent infections can lead to stunted growth, not only in stature, but in brain development. Stunting usually occurs before age two and its effects are largely irreversible. (www.thousanddays.org)
Where can Tushinde help? If the future of a child is determined by a mother’s health during pregnancy and breast-feeding; then how can we help if we are a charity which provides support to children with education and nutrition hand in hand?
There is one area that is sorely neglected: Often in Mathare, children are left in ‘daycare’ whilst the mother goes out to look for work. This is completely unregulated and mother’s pay around 15p to leave their child with an unqualified worker who will have up to 20 pre-school children and babies at one time. The babies are kept in a small, unlit room (houses in the slums don't have windows), rarely given anything to substitute their mother’s milk and often just have one portion of water and porridge the whole day.
This is where we can help. The first thousand days are not only important with regards to nutrition, but also stimulation and interaction; in other words- early education. We see that no charity or community group is acting on this. When a child is most vulnerable to damage, but also the most receptive to intervention, many in the slums are being locked away in dark rooms.
We are about to embark on an ambitious new project to try and make a difference. In partnership with the feeding programme, some enthusiastic volunteers, and a Nairobi playgroup for the wealthy, we are going to transform a daycare unit into a safe
environment where small children can eat well and play.
We have very little funding; Tushinde is giving some and two volunteers are reaching in their own pockets. It will only run for three months and this will give us the opportunity to iron out any difficulties and make sure it is right for the community. But we all hope, for the sake of babies like Peter that it will be a success and that we don't just have one day care facility that continues to run, but many. We hope that each child, at the most vulnerable, yet receptive time in their life will be given a better start.
If you would like to support this venture or just find out more, then please contact me on megan@tushinde.org.uk
