Round 2

me babysitting while the mothers got a break to eat

Just completed the second round of the nutrition program dubbed HEARTH. Seven more mothers and seven more adorable little babies. Just as last time we conducted a cooking course of sorts, adding local ingredients rich in vitamins and proteins directly to porridge. Without  meaning to I chose all young mothers and consequently young babies (only one is over a year old). When walking around with my MUAC bands, a tool to measure the Mid Upper Arm Circumference to determine the baby's nutritional status, it was a whole lot easier than last time. Women already were well aware of the program from just conducting it once in the village, months earlier. I actually had women coming to my home instead of traveling to a whole bunch of homesteads. 

MUAC bands

This HEARTH was a little rougher than last time, mostly due to the lack of crops from Winter. Certain adjustments had to be made to the recipes, and the alternatives were not as yummy. The delicious mangoes will not grow for months, so it was replaced with cabbage. But little babies, 7 and 8 months, do not eat cabbage as readily as soft porridge with scrumptious pumpkin, which also will not grow until at least December. Another unexpected obstacle came with the yogurt. After Winter there is very little grass for the cows to eat, this significantly affects how much milk they can produce. When I requested milk from my host mother's crawl I didn’t even question the trouble we would go though to get it. I went over there at 5:30 am to meet her and my host brothers. My only job was to hold the bucket while my host brother did the milking. However, I had no idea that I would literally have to fight off the calf while doing so. (The calf is present when the mother is being milked because if not she does not cooperative.) But this calf was pissed off at me for stealing the little milk her mother produces. We had about 2 cups full before the calf finally got broke through my weak arm barrier and knocked me FULL ON into the manure. I picked myself up, mortified, to find three people looking at me, their faces reading 'stupid white girl'...I not only lost out on the ingredient that would serve 7 babies that day but also the wasted effort left a calf hungry for the day. They had a second cow we could try. When watching my replacement, host brother Praise, with the bucket holding/calf fighting I can see where I went wrong. Praise (age 11) was literally punching the calf in the nose and grabbing his legs to knock him over every time he ventured near the utters of the cow. Of course I couldn’t do that! I am flattered that they considered me 'village enough' to give me that job in the first place. Praise was able to get just enough milk from the second cow. After we picked out all the little hairs and heated it, it was ready to add in the active bacteria cultures. This is always the favorite recipe of the bunch for the babies. 

Just like last time, there was a baby that stood out above all the rest. He was the oldest of the bunch, at only 1 year and 1 month. The first 3-4 days he would come and scream the whole morning until the food was ready to eat. He had just recently moved in with his aunt, his mother is a known drunk in the community. Combine that with being HIV + and 5 months pregnant, everyday this baby was crying out of hunger from lack of food and breast milk. Drunk mothers, like this one, have been known to slip their baby some of their traditional beer, to stop them from crying. And it works, it does stop the crying. Luckily this mother did abide to her medication while pregnant/during the first few months of breastfeeding to not transmit the virus to her baby. I liked this baby so much because he would just dive into the food, since he was old enough to feed himself (versus the others that were still so young). After he was fed a proper meal he would actually smile and interact with others. I am so impressed with his new young care giver, who was just thrown the responsibility of raising a toddler. She has been so motivated to learn the lessons and recipes we are trying to incorporate into their lifestyle.

With the last HEARTH I was just happy that all the women showed up everyday and the encouraging response I had to the program. But with this group I was a lot more strict, really encouraging them to adjust their child's eating habits as well as the mother's habits to make for an overall more nourished upbringing. It does seem a bit hypocritical of me- to preach to these women about better practices for raising a baby when I have never actually had to care about anyone besides myself. Which is why I really try to have the village mother do most of the 'preaching'. For example, during the breastfeeding session I was mute almost the whole time. What did I have to add to that?? While each woman whipped out their breast and spoke warp speed in Thimbukushu about various breastfeeding problems I felt a little out of place, with my well secured under wire bra and lack of toddler grabbing at my chest. The results for this round showed that 6 of the 7 babies gained weight. The smallest weight gain being 0.2 kg and the biggest weight gain at 1.2 kg. 

the hammock my mom bought served as a napping place 

weighing

group shot