The Sumba Foundation Malnutrition Program commenced in January 2008 with the development and implementation of a health and nutrition education program that was taught in the eight schools we supported at the time.
We also started to identify the scale of the problem in our area and to research the best ways to deal with it. By June, one of the first nine children enrolled in the pilot program had been discharged and seven others were taken off of the critical list. Now all those children are fully recovered and leading normal lives again.
Since then, this project has grown considerably. We now have 77 children enrolled in the program with more being added every month. Team leader Rainy Octora now has Dr Irwan available to help her and a new assistant to cope with the greatly expanded workload.
The program is constantly evolving now and new ideas and solutions are coming to light. Mothers are being taught how to cook nutritious meals for their children and we provide them with beans to make a tasty porridge that is working well.
Now on a trial basis, this coconut bean porridge is being introduced to children at two of the schools we support. For the next three months, we will be monitoring the success or the need to further fine tune before expanding to other schools.
Read below for background on this project and look for more updates and news in the coming months.
Jon and Apliana are twins and are the youngest of 9 children. Two of their brothers have already died from malnutrition. When first enrolling on the programme Apliana aged 9 months weighed 3 kilos and her brother Jon weighed 4 kilos. This is the weight of a newborn baby in the Western world. Both children were lethargic and had very little energy to sit up or play. After 6 months of working with their parents and teaching them how to enrich food with local products and also supplementing their diet with vitamins milk and eggs they have doubled their weight and are walking, smiling and undertaking activities of a similar child their age.
Oskar is an 18 month old. He first attended the clinic after his mother spilt boiling water over him in an accident. It was noted by the clerk at the clinic that the child was severely malnourished and was referred to the malnutrition programme. Okta attended with his mother who has physical and mental handicaps. Due to education supplementary feeding and training the child has gradually been gaining weight and has achieved his ideal weight for height. He will now be monitored in the monthly posyando, (clinic). Oskar was the first child that initiated the introduction of the programme. He was introduced after returning from Bali following an intestinal operation. He was discharged back to Sumba with his parents basically being told there was nothing they could do for him and sending him home to die. He was so malnourished and weak he could barely hold his head up to drink or eat. His father had to carry him onto the scales in order to weigh him. After surgery in Bali he also had a large wound which due to lack on nutritional intake was not healing and was becoming infected. After visiting Oskar daily and educating his mother not only in dietary advice but also wound care and supplementing his diet with vitamins and fruit Oskar is now a fit and healthy 7 year old child able to go to school with his fellow peers.