Baby Madalitso

Almost 3 months ago a severely malnourished 16-month old baby was brought to Hope Village by his aunt and uncle.  He was barely 9 pounds.  His name is Madalitso, which means "Blessings" in Chechewa.  

Nearly 2 months ago we realized Madalitso (or "Mada" as we affectionately call him) could not survive the harsh village life until his weight gain was consistent and his strength improved and his body could fight off constant infections. So, we took him into our home. We have seen awesome improvement in him over the last 2 months, but know he still has a long way to go. 

I want to document his journey in our blog.  So this is the first Mada update.  I am copying and pasting the blog that Tracy Gill wrote for her own blog when Mada first came to Hope Village.

Pay close attention to the photos below. You won't believe Mada at 16 months old - a mere skeleton.  Also, take a look at the last photo, the one of his twin brother, Joseph.  He is healthy and almost twice the weight of Mada.  Joseph died just 2 days ago from what appears to be dehydration. A travesty, a heartbreak. 

--Leanne

In desperate need

Posted by hopevillage on July 23, 2012 at 2:25 PM

Today was a very emotional day.  Today I met a set of twins and Madalitso one of the twins broke my heart. Today I saw the worse case I have seen since being in Malawi.

It was as if I was seeing a baby from the TV when all those years ago we watched images of literally starving children from Ethiopia.  

This baby is one of a set of twins, he is 16 months old.  His mum died when he was a month old and he was given to his grandmother for her to look after him.  The caring of the baby fell mostly on a younger girl of 9 who also lived in the house.  The other twin went to live with his Aunt, but the Grandmother and the Aunt live quite far from each other so his Aunt didn't see Madalitso until she received a message that he was sick.  They brought him to us for help.  The pictures below will show the severity of the situation.

We have offered his Aunt a place to stay at Hope Village for a week so we can monitor his progress.  We really need to find a sponsor for this child, if you can help or know someone who can, please pass on this information or share this on your facebook page.

I was so overwhelmed when I met this child, I felt God's heart and had to go into a separate room while the tears flowed.  Please join with us in prayer and pray for his survival and for a sponsor.

Madalitso is the reason we help babies who have lost their Mums...this is why we help, so that they don't end up like this.

The above picture is of Madalitso and his twin brother, they are both 16 months old.  Neither child can walk or crawl.  Madalitso is sitting on his Aunt's knee.

This is Madalitso, he weighs just 9lb and after I weighed him I put a new born babies nappy on him.

This is his twin brother, he is double the weight of Madalitso.