Maria Hernandez, Magbenteh Therapeutic Feeding Centre, Sierra Leone
In just seven months VSO volunteer Maria Hernandez has transformed the Magbenteh Therapeutic Feeding Centre from a tired and unwelcoming building into a haven of care and centre of education for seriously ill babies and their mothers. But with malnutrition the biggest threat to the life of a child born Sierra Leone there is still much to be done, which is why VSO is committing to a new programme of work that will focus on maternal and child health.
Two-year-old Mohammed Koroma was close to death when he arrived at Magbenteh Therapeutic Feeding Centre, near Makeni in northern Sierra Leone. He was severely malnourished and very ill with TB and other related illnesses. It had taken his mother two days to travel to Makeni from Fadugu in the extreme north of the country.
His mother, Saimu, explains how she came to hear about Magbenteh: “I was sick, so was forced to wean Mohammed early but he became very ill. He was feverish and coughing and I thought he was going to die. One day I was out working and a lady I did not know came up to be and told me that her baby had lived after she came to Magbenteh and I should go there quickly.”
Saimu’s husband was supportive, so leaving her other three children in the care of her mother, she travelled to Magbenteh. Once there Mohammed was put on a strict programme of milk therapy. Supplied by UNICEF the milk provides very sick children with the nourishment and essential vitamins they need to survive.
After almost two months at Magbenteh, Mohammed is chubby and healthy and ready to go home. While he has been undergoing his feeding therapy Saimu has been benefiting from the health education classes offered to her and other mothers. These classes help mothers to understand the causes of malnutrition and how to avoid it, plus raise awareness of other factors contributing to illness, such as personal and general hygiene practices.
Saimu’s story is not unusual: malnutrition in the biggest threat to the life of a child born in Sierra Leone. Currently, more than a third of children under five are chronically malnourished and with one in every four children dying before their fifth birthday the country has one of the highest child mortality rates in the world.
Talking about her imminent return to Fadugu Saimu says: “When I return home I will visit other women in my community and share with them what I have learnt. A stranger helped and in doing so saved my baby from dying, so it is my duty to now help other mothers.”
VSO volunteer Maria Hernandez had been working at Magbenteh Therapeutic Feeding Centre for just five months when Mohammed arrived. In that short time she established the Centre and its education service for mothers, plus created a crèche for children to play in. Her next commitment it to introduce a community education programme that will draw on the commitment of mothers like Saimu to share their learning.
VSO has now committed to opening a health programme Sierra Leone with a focus on maternal and child health. We are aiming to recruit 13 volunteers in the first year.