Sofhie is a little girl, only twenty months old. She lives with her parents and four siblings in a small house made of bamboo and nipa leaves, similar to palm leaves. They live near the coastal area of the Philippines where her father works as a fisherman. Sofhie loves to play with her siblings.
One out of every five children under the age of 5-years in International Care Ministries (ICM) communities is either severely or moderately acutely malnourished. Worldwide, poor nutrition is associated with nearly half of all deaths in young children. In remote communities and urban slums of the Philippines, the lack of clean water and unclean environments add risk to potentially fatal childhood diseases.
Sofhie was enrolled into the Home-Based Feeding program on October 19. Now, Sofhie needs help to fund this $184 treatment.
ICM’s Home-Based Feeding program provides nutrient enriched food packs to ensure malnourished children get the additional food to regain normal weight, and achieve optimum physical and mental development. After identifying a child being malnourished, staff and community volunteers make weekly visits to monitor this child’s progress. To help sustain the health of the child, ICM’s professional staff educate the mother, guardian or other family members about proper nutrition, sanitation, hygiene and organic vegetable gardening.
“I hope my daughter recovers from malnutrition to become healthy and strong. I pray also that she can finish her schooling someday and have a stable job and can help our family,” says Sofhie’s parents.