In the Bible, Jesus asks: “ Which of you knowing your children are hungry and asking for bread would give them a stone instead?” He goes on to point out that if people who are imperfect know how to give good things to their children Read the rest of this entry »
Suyapa take a look at Ingrid's delicate condition
As we move farther into the beautiful mountains of Santa Barbara, (located in Northwestern Honduras) I can’t help but admire the natural beauty of this place;
Our beloved Papi
Stephen A. Youngberg, born in South Dakota, was the son of Norwegian immigrant parents who took him to the mission field in India when he was one year old. Stephen grew up in India observing as his parents served the poorest of the poor, thus was born his love for the less privileged.
After marrying Verlene DeWitt in 1942, he attended Loma Linda University Medical School graduating in 1946. He was commissioned as a Captain in the United States Army and received an honorable discharge in 1954. During the 1950′s Dr. Youngberg worked in Southern Mexico helping to establish a medical mission there, he later owned succesful medical practices in South Texas.
Maria Suyapa
How many Suyapas are outside there?
When she was two years old, our Suyapa had the appearance of a six month old baby. She did not speak or walk and she could not eat by herself. She looked extremely thin; her case is one of the most serious in our hospital ward. When we realize how dreadful malnutrition can be, we simply asked ourselves, why? How can this happen? , It is probably the negligence of both the parents and the society. Is it our country, Honduras; that faces the problems? Suyapa almost died because she did not have milk on a daily basis. And the questions continue to come. Cases like Suyapa´s are frequent to our staff. We need a regular education program for parents, and for responsible leaders of each town. We need to teach cooking classes and sponsor programs for gardening. We have to do all we can to be helpful for society. The innocent children are not the guilty once. One of our objectives is to fight against the malnutrition in Honduras, and stop the unnecessary death march. It is estimated that fifty children in Honduras died each day from malnutrition.
Rosita
Is enough to observe her little smile and her beautiful eyes to feel that you love her, she is a sweet and beautiful girl who arrived at PAHS three years ago, with only 14 months of age, finding in our institution her new home, she is Rosalinda Pineda.
To Rosita, life has taught her really hard lessons since she was a baby, first she lost her sister, three years ago, because of the malnutrition, she died the day before that personal of PAHS arrived to her community, she did not have the opportunity that Rosita had to recovery. The center of health of the community of San Antonio, place where the family lived, communicated with PAHS to ask for aid for the older sister of Rosalinda, nevertheless her state health was very serious and she died before we could arrive at the community, but Rosita, that seemed was destined to suffer the same fate, if she did not receive immediate medical attention, had the blessing to recover her health. Then, another tragedy for the baby, her father died and the abandoned mother does not have to whom to resort reason why is maintained to itself gathering sweepings in the streets.
Rosita does not have a stable home to go, that is the reason for her remain in PAHS, the place that has become in her new home, the only home that she knows, and it will continue being while it allows it to God. Thanks to the will of our God, Rosita is now five years old, the same age that had her older sister when she died by malnutrition. But the destiny of Rosita has been different, doubtless God has very special plans for her. Rosita will attend to the kinder garden the next year, and from now she is really excited for going to school.
Ramoncito
Even when he is three years old, little Ramon had to be taken part of a surgery attach to parasitism. He had abdominal surgery a month ago in a publical hospital, parasites (amoeba,) were causing an obstruction, nevertheless Ramoncito could not remain in the hospital for his recovery, and his father, desperate, went in search of aid for the recovery of his son, who besides suffering parasitism was severely undernourished. The boy came to PAHS three weeks ago, with a second degree malnutrition. Ramon can not speak or walk, because of his undernourishment, but he just start to eat by himself, and repeat words.
His father comes to visit him every once in a while. Let´s pray for Ramoncito´s recovery and for all the children in PAHS. Thanks.
You can write to us at:
Pan American Health Service , Inc.
PO Box 888
Keene, Texas 76059