2-year-old Edanson was abandoned at a hospital, sick and dying, weighing only 10 pounds.
Knowing that most mothers only abandon a child when they are afraid, desperate, and feel they have no other options, Haitian Families First asked hospital staff and members of the community to help us find the mother.
We’ve helped in this situation before and knew we could do it again.
The next day, we found Clamene who told us that she had searched for help for a long time, but was unable to find it, and now she didn’t think Edanson would live.
Because she had no money, she left him at the hospital, hoping doctors would care for him. If she’d stayed with him, she would have been forced to pay, otherwise, the doctors would have refused to treat him. Leaving him seemed her only hope of having him treated.
With our promise to help her, she came back to the hospital bringing along her infant daughter Nashka. Doctors took care of both children during their hospital stay and, true to our word, we helped with the bill. Edanson spent close to a month in the hospital recovering from illness surrounding malnutrition. During this time we also found that Clamene suffered from pneumonia and anemia. This meant that her infant daughter Nashka was not getting proper nutrients from breast feeding and was not growing adequately.
With the help of Haitian Families First’s basic medical and nutrition programs, Edanson and Nashka are home with their loving mother, and their older brother Esteven. Nashka is breast feeding and growing every day. Esteven recently started his first year of school. Edanson may not realize how close he was to not making it, but we will certainly remember in order to help the next family in need.
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