Update on Maguerite

Remember Maguerite.  She has been coming to the clinic since 2006.  She got pregnant in 2007 and had a little baby girl.  When she was 9 months pregnant she only weighed 104 pounds.  She became ill after she gave birth and was unable to breastfeed her daughter.  She become so ill she could not get out of bed for many months.  She is 20 years old but really does not have much family. The father of the child came and took the baby home with him to his wife (yeah nice huh?) and other kids.  The daughter become sick and lost a lot of weight.  So her daughter was admitted into the RC and was there for several months.  The day she went home (with the father), Maguerite somehow got herself down to the clinic/RC to visit her.  It took her over a day on a mule to get here.  When she arrived we had to let her know that her daughter had just left with the father.  She was somewhat discouraged.  But the father lived close here in Cazale.  I called for him and we all sat down and had a talk.  We all decided that Maguerite would stay in the RC for a while to see if she could get well and gain some weight.  He would bring the child to see her each week.  So that is what we did.

Nov 2009 (70 pounds)     March 2010 (105 pounds)

So she recovered.  She gained weight.  She is well.  I did not want to send her home.  She did not have a real home to go to.  Her family only visited once and they only stayed for a few minutes.  I kept praying that the Lord would help me find a place for her.  I kept telling her once she reached 100 pounds she could get her exit papers from the RC 🙂 meaning she was well again.  Earthquake….injuries everywhere…..comfort ship….patients all over Lori’s house.  One patient came that was injured in several places her back, legs etc.  She also had a small baby that had to have its lower arm amputated.  So we had a solution for them.  Marguerite would move in with her and take care of her and the baby.  So that it what she has been doing for about a month now.  We are all happy that RHFH can now employ her and she can begin to get her life on track.  She is so happy.  This past week the father of the baby came and told me that she needed to start giving him money to take care of “her” child.  Nice guy.  I let her decide what she wanted to do.  She wanted her daughter to move back in with her, she is happy, the child is happy, and the father is happy.  So it all worked out.

Here she is today with her little daughter.

A small side note to add….She was also on the medika mamba program.  It is not really set up for adults.  We just gave her a big bowl each day to eat.  But it helped and she is well now.