By Laura Failla Manship – Executive Director
Recent report from our Nutrition Team:”Enermila has four children, three of which are receiving the nutritional supplement Chispuditos. She lives in a very small village and she is very poor. Her husband is very strict with her. He won’t let her have visitors in the house. He won’t allow her to go anywhere. He is, as we say here, very machista.
Enermila has to walk over an hour with her four children to have them weighed, measured, and receive the nutritional supplement. She has to figure out a way to do it that won’t cause her husband to get angry and not allow her to go. We had to figure out a way to get to see her in her home. We managed to find out when her husband was not there and visited her. She was so pleased to see us and offered us hospitality in her humble home. She was very grateful for the program and told us that her three children in the program are having less health issues since getting the supplement. She has a great deal of difficultly buying milk for her children so the Chispuditos is a godsend. Her husband will not give her much money as he has other families to take care of.”
Every 3 months, the Shoulder to Shoulder staff go out into 15 different communities to ensure that vulnerable babies and small children receive the micronutrient supplement called Chispuditos. Children who are lacking in necessary micronutrients suffer from poor brain development, anemia, stunting and under-nutrition. The children live in mountainous areas and it is extremely difficutl to get to those areas.
Want to get a feel for what it means to “Climb Mountains to Feed Children”? Watch this great video, produced for Shoulder to Shoulder by Mallory Brown.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=2xVWW0V1QG4
This project would not be possible if not for the generosity of two important donors:
Mathile Institute — provided us with a $50,000 grant; and
Tim and Kathleen Gunderman — provided us with $22,000.
Not everyone can provide gifts as large as those. But, we are equally grateful to the 135 Individual Donors who made contributions to this project in 2018.