Medica Mamba

So we have a new product. Susan, from the Washington team, has hooked us up. While she was here in PC for several weeks, she and Anne-Marie flew to Cap Haitian and met with a doctor who is pioneering a new treatment for malnutrition in Haiti. Medica Mamba aka peanut butter that is detailed to a T that contains everything to combat severe malnutrition including the correct ratios of oil, sugar, proteins, vitamins and minerals and that, luckily for the kids, tastes just like the middle of a receese pieces. And it seems Jesus already orchestrated the situation a bit. We were worried how to actually get the product here to rural PC, but it somehow worked with delivery to House of Hope and then a member of our team just happened to be there with Rob’s truck to drive some home for us! AND the week before we admitted two kids, older kids, with severe malnutrition.

Wadlene, 9 year old girl, and Fagenson, 7 year old boy, both weighing in at about 26 pounds, white to no hair, and swollen feet. We started them on the Unicef milk right away, which yes was a fight. Wadlene liked to play grump all the time and gagged on the milk most of the time. I usually made her cry every time I came in the room because she hated the milk so bad. And Fagenson threw up the milk maybe half the time because his stomach just couldn’t handle it. But nevertheless, down went the milk and all their swelling too. And so a week or two ago we started them on the medica mamba. And they LOVE it. They each should take about 15 tablespoons a day (that’s the goal at least). Yes really that much. And this week they are both beginning to change. Instead of spending the whole day between their beds and the latrine (diarrhea) they are up and about and yes even smile when I come in the room. Wadlene still tries to pretend she’s a grump but it’s getting harder to hide the laughing. Yesterday I caught them in a photo sitting on the bed laughing together.

I’m excited about the medica mamba though. It’s precise and detailed and gives a specific protocol for each patient. It’s made to be used for outpatient treatment but right now we are using it for a few of our patients staying at the hospital, so we still need to figure out how to use it for outpatient kids. The challenging part is implementing it and making it all work with Haitian culture. And there is only one of me and one of Anne-Marie. Yeah…pray for us if you think of it. That this could really turn into something valuable and sustainable. And also I will put in the plug here for Susan! We need sponsors to be able to continue buying the product. I’m not sure how we can do this yet, but we are thinking it would cost about $100 to take one child through 8 weeks of treatment. Just think about it, mull it over and let me know your thoughts! We are excited about this.