Chubby babies need loving too...

Manna Project was very active in La Chureca this past week. On Tuesday, Matt, Erin and I made our weekly trip to check up on the mothers in our program. In two hours we visited between 15 and 20 houses and we spoke with many families. All of the reports from the mothers were good. We had recently had a milk day so no one was running low. Most people were still running off their last month’s supply. One family stuck out to me during the visit. There was a mother with her child sitting on her lap. When looking at the child she appeared very chubby to me, even fat. I brought this up with Erin as we left La Chureca. She is more familiar with each family because she meets with them individually each milk day. She told me that this particular mother is HIV positive and therefore cannot breastfeed her child. This chubby baby is not in our program because of malnourishment, but because there is no other safe way to feed the child. It made me realize the difficulties of feeding a child, especially in the developing world.

A group went on Wednesday to administer our weekly health talks, but I didn’t return to Chureca until this past Friday, when there was a party at the school in La Chureca. Our friend Norman, who is the preschool teacher at the school, invited us to attend a school wide party. The reason for the party was not very specific, but the kids all turned out wearing costumes. There was a little red riding hood, a gypsy, superman, a power ranger, three queens, and of course, a clown. The kids played, while everything was being set up, then they lined up outside the school and marched through the community, ending up back at the school. The march was followed by many presentations which were very entertaining, which included some plays, dancing, and singing. It was such a joyous day, it was easy to forget that we were in the middle of a dump. I had a child sitting on my lap, in my arms, or laughing with me pretty much the entire time. It felt so good to be with the kids and share with their happy time. I feel like I made many new friends that day. I will be sure to look for them next time I am in La Chureca.