“It is impossible for us to send Joyce to a hospital because we are poor,” shares the mother of four-year-old Joyce. “We want her to become healthy and walk if possible.”
Joyce and her seven siblings live in a house in the Philippines with their parents. Her father is tricycle driver, and his income is just enough to meet the family’s basic needs.
Her mother cannot work because of Joyce’s health. Joyce has cerebral palsy and a heart problem, and she cannot walk or speak clearly. Despite these difficulties, she is always smiling.
Joyce is also severely acutely malnourished. One out of five children under five in communities served by our medical partner, International Care Ministries (ICM), 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.
Fortunately, on October 18, 2016, Joyce began ICM’s malnutrition treatment program.
ICM’s Home-Based Feeding program provides nutrient-enriched food packs to ensure malnourished children get additional food to regain normal weight and achieve optimum physical and mental development. After identifying a child as malnourished, staff and community volunteers make weekly visits to monitor the 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.
Joyce’s family needs our help to pay for this $268 treatment.
