Chinsisi Jonasi

Chinsisi Jonasi is one of the children in my sponsor program. The mother of Chinsinsi is an epileptic patient and is mentally unsound; she was raped and got pregnant. After birth the grandmother took over the care for the baby. The mother however was refusing to breastfeed and the grandmother was not able to afford the Lactogen baby milk. She was feeding the baby maize phala. Chinsinsi arrived in Nkhoma hospital in July 2015. She had severe malnutrition and was severely dehydrated. She stayed in the hospital for almost a month. After discharge Africare foundation started assisting the grandmother with Lactogen milk powder, likuni phala and other basic needs as soap, bottles and clothes. 

Last month the mother of Chinsisi walk away from the house, since then nobody has been able to find her.

The grandmother separated her husband and has no house and no food. She was living with her three daughters and granddaughter in the kitchen of her brother. One of the daughters is pregnant. Recently the brother went to Mozambique to look for a job. She is living in the house of her brother now however the condition of the house is very poor. The family of Chinsisi is not the only family without food. This year there will be a lot of hunger. Last years harvest was very poor due to a lack of rain. There will be many families who will need food assistance. Most families finished there maize this month (September). They live day by day trying to find some food. The next harvest will only be April 2016.

 

Aricare foundation is assisting the family in many ways. We are funding a small but safe and dry house so the family has a place to stay. Also we are providing maize up to the next harvest season. We are paying the hospital fees for the pregnant daughter so she will safely deliver in the hospital and not at home. We are teaching the grandmother about farming God’s way and crop rotation so her harvest will improve next season.
One of the daughters is 16 years old; during a village visit I asked her why she is not in school. She could not really give me an answer. We counseled her and explained the advantages of schooling. After a long talk we managed to convince her to go back to school. We bought her 10 notebooks and 2 pencils.

Africare foundation is not just helping the babies admitted in the program. We look at the complete family. We counsel them, teach them and try to make them sustainable again.

 

 

Love,

 

Nicole