A Girl Named Dilia

Dilia and her mother, the day she came to the Casita Feliz

La Casita Feliz – the heart of the Pan American Health Service Nutritional Rehab Center – is decorated for Christmas. On the wall is a mural where Santa Claus is pulling a sleigh filled with presents… except these presents are the photo of each of the 32 children who are patients receiving nutritious foodand tender loving care. What a precious gift each childis!

This Christmas is a particularly special one for Dilia – the most fragile patient to be admitted to Nutrition Center in 2013 – it will be her first away from her family however it will be a happy one regardless, for she has received the gift of life and restoration of health. In her short 13 years this very small teenager has experienced the extreme effects of hunger in ways that few can survive. Dilia arrived at la Casita Feliz on October 31, 2013 having been referred to the PAHS program by another nutritional rehab program in the city of San Pedro Sula.

Dilia’s medical treatment had begun sometime in late September when she was admitted to the acute care government hospital in the city with third degree malnutrition – extremely swollen and bloated by the protein deficiency in her body. Additionally she was profoundly anemic and presented with a parasite infestation. Worst of all the nutrient deficiency had an effect on her neurological health and she had cerebral atrophy and the motor and verbal skills of a one-year-old baby. The medical personnel knew she would need long-term care and they eventually found placement at PAHS.

The irony is that Dilia’s struggle for survival was waged on the fringes of the most prosperous city in Honduras – its industrial capital, San Pedro Sula – on the edges of the river where thousands of families, seeking a way out of extreme poverty, gather in hopes of finding a better life for themselves and where in many cases their misery grows instead of dissipating.  Such is the story of Dilia’s mother, a woman who collects plastic bottles and aluminum cans from the garbage to sell in order to have money to feed her three daughters. She relates that many days she would return home empty-handed and experience the pain of watching her children suffer hunger pangs just like herself.

To make matters worse Dilia suffered from a speech impediment and although she had been referred to therapy which was free of charge her mother could not manage the logistics of transportation when she could barely feed her children.

Dilia smiling after two weeks in our Campus

One month after her arrival at the PAHS Nutritional Rehab Center in Peña Blanca, Dilia – who had been getting around in a wheelchair – took her first steps unaided. The love, good food and motivation received from her caretakers have made a profound difference in her life. Her mother came to visit shortly after Dilia started walking. Hardly able to believe what she was seeing her eyes filled with tears as she repeated: “She’s walking”.

Dilia’s speedy recovery is miraculous and a joy to behold. Perhaps soon she will be able to be more self-sufficient and be able to enjoy a childhood which hunger has stolen from her.

I Have No Food For My Children

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, then imagine how much more our Heavenly Father can give to those who ask Him. This is the only hope that the little Muñoz siblings have as the conditions in which they have been living are far from what would be considered appropriate.

Six of the seven children in this family were admitted to the Nutritional Rehabilitation Hospital. Maryuri and Xiomara, the two youngest ones were admitted on Friday with a diagnosis of Third Degree Malnutrition. Doctor Maldonado had to count their teeth in order to determine which one was the oldest sister. Later the family returned to the Nutrition Hospital with the four older children who were also admitted for treatment of their malnutrition. Their parents were accompanied by the pastor from their community church in Yojoa, 50 kilometers from Peña Blanca. This good man had provided the desperately poor family with a humble amount of food and a place to stay, and in spite of the charity of the pastor, the situation for the family remained disheartening: an unemployed father, a mother caring for a newborn, without food or a roof of their own.

All these circumstances have reduced these parents to a painful existence of watching powerlessly as their children grow weak and ill as a result of the scarcity. Mahatma Gandhi once said: “There are people in this world who are so hungry that God can only appear to them as a loaf of bread”.  Indeed this seems to be the situation for this particular family. In spite of the extreme poverty from where these siblings have come, it is admirable to witness the protective instinct these little ones have for each other. In their short stay, we have noted that Maria, 9, the oldest sister, automatically takes charge of the two youngest ones. It is evident that she has been the right-hand helper of her mother, and one can imagine what she has endured in her short life. Shortly after her arrival Maria picked up both little sisters, one in each arm, and did not want to put them down. One of our Staff Nannies came close and said to her: “We will take care of them now. You can go play”.PLAY? That was not a word in Maria’s vocabulary... but now it is. There are so many new things to be experienced! Like the flavor of a warm bite of food, eating three meals a day, the feel of a new pencil between her fingers, and the ability to doodle on a piece of paper -- up until now she has never been to school -- the feel of a warm blanket on her skin on these cold and rainy nights. We are conscious of the fact that for these parents it has not been easy to leave their six small children with us.

They have done so with a new faith in the God they are just getting acquainted with; a God who has now provided them with a new home, health care, and adequate living facilities for their children.