Praying for Hope

I have loved the time I have spent at Mvou Mvou Baby Creche. I have been able to go at least once a week.
The children there are so starved for love and attention. They cling to you when you pick them up, as though they are afraid you might leave them and never come back. The women working there are very good at keeping the children clean, fed, and clothed, but they don't have much time for snuggling and cuddling. Love is such an important part of raising a child, but in orphanages so often the children just don't seem to get the love that they so desperately need.
That is why volunteers from the ship are given the opportunity to go to local orphanages here in Congo. To give all the love and attention we can to these love-starved children.
Seeing little Malachi brings joy to my heart. He recognizes me now when I come. He rolls over in his crib when I come into the room and waits for me to pick him up. Though we have been working with the orphanage for several weeks now, Malachi is not gaining weight, in fact, he has lost weight. He is still as thin and fragile as the first day I met him. I have begun to fear that perhaps, for this sweet little one, life here on this earth will not be long. I try to prepare myself for the worst.
Still, with all the love and attention he has received in the last month, Malachi has improved in one way. He interacts more. The first time he reached out to grab for a toy that I held in front of him, I could have cried for joy. He only has the strength to hold the smallest and lightest of toys, but his eyes look everywhere, so alert. I hope and pray for the best, for the hope that he will begin to gain weight through the efforts of the orphanage staff and the nurses working with them from the ship. That he will grow to be a healthy and robust little boy. That perhaps he might one day be adopted. I want this story to have a happy ending.

Holding His Favorite Toy!

Such Beautiful Eyes



My Precious Little One

My first shift. I can't tell you how exciting it was to get my schedule and see on that spreadsheet my name, and work schedule. After two months working in housekeeping, and then two weeks of cleaning and putting the hospital together and orienting the new nurses, I can finally be a "real" nurse again, taking care of my patients.
On my time off I have been going to a local orphanage, called Mvou Mvou Baby Creche. I have fallen in love with the babies there. Many of the babies are malnourished when they reach the orphanage, and the staff are working to get them back to a healthy weight. One particular little boy has caught my heart. Malachi is fourteen months old, with limbs as thin as twigs. His body is not digesting his food the way it should. Though the orphanage staff has been feeding him well, he continues to lose weight. He has been placed on the infant feeding program through the ship, and we have provided the orphanage with a special formula that is predigested, in the hopes that his body will be able to absorb the needed nutrition. He is the length of an average 3 month old infant, and weighs only 3kg. For those of you who are not familiar with metric measurements, this comes to 6.6lbs, the size of a small newborn. His skin clings to his skull and his eyes fill up his face, old and wise like an old man. When I hold him I can feel every bone and angle of his little body. He is so lethargic and hardly moves, and when he cries there are no tears, but his little hands have hold of my heart. I pray that in the time that I spend here in Congo I will see him heal and grow to be a healthy toddler.

My Precious Little Malachi