The Tuesday we were in Bundibugyo, I spent the morning at World Harvest Mission’s feeding program. This program serves children 0-5 who are malnourished.

The way this program began is really amazing. About five years ago, two women on the team, JD and Karen, were nursing babies. One day, a baby was brought to them. This was in the middle of wartime. The mother had been shot. The baby was four months old. There is a lot of maternal death in Bundi, and babies had been brought to the clinic before, but for some reason this time God spoke to Karen and JD’s hearts. They took the baby in. JD nursed the baby alongside hers in the daytime and Karen alongside hers at night. When the villagers saw JD nursing the baby for the first time (she went into a villagers home for privacy but about 200 people crowded around , in and and on the roof of the house to check out the scene!) they could not belive it. For them there were two major problems. First of all, clearly the baby was cursed as it’s mother had died. If JD nursed the baby the curse would go into her and then out to her baby as well. Secondly, surely the Ugandan baby would turn white if she nursed it!

Over time, the villagers were amazed to see that clearly there were no curses (both babies were fat and happy!) and they continued on in their own skin colors! Then the real fun began as more and more people began to bring babies to Karen and JD. Not being in a position to personally take on more children, the women sought out surrogate “moms” - to breastfeed the babies. And provided extra nourishment and encouragement for those who took on the task.

Eventually, as Kobu (the baby) outgrew the need for nursing and was returned to her fathers’ family, Karen and JD began setting up a more concrete program for meeting the needs of mothers and children, particularly motherless babies.

The program now operates somewhat like a WIC. It is open two mornings a week and services about 100 children each week. The children come on alternate weeks so the total enrollments is currently about 200 (that is such a lot for this fairly small village, many mothers walk over from Congo, about four miles). Of those 200 about 30 are motherless babies under one. As the morning begins the women and babies (or sometimes children and babies and very rarely men and babies) arrive and sit under a covering on mats on the ground. As the place is set up you hear babies crying and frequently see them being nursed. Their is no sense of the lactating breast being a sexual object, so women will just pull theirs out the tops of their dresses to respond to their babies cries!

First the babies are weighed, it is pitiful to watch their mothers pull of the one meager, thin, and ragged garment (if they are clothed at all) to put them on the scale. (as if it’s weight would make a difference). Once a month there height is taken as well. These are charted on a height/growth chart that is specifically for malnourished babies. Otherwise most of these children would not show up on the chart! Afterward the babies have a chance to see the doctor if necessary, and they are given their food. For the very youngest ones they receive formula if there is no one to nurse or if the mothers milk supply is insufficient due to her poor health, malnourishment or a second pregnancy. The babies that are a little older are given goats milk (boxed). The ones who are able to take food by mouth are given a soymeal mixture that they mix themselves in front of the center. (it has been found that unless they mix it before leaving, the additives (sugar and oil for calories and fat) never make it into the babies but are used for cooking, tea, etc.) Most of the children take the soymeal mixture.

Some of these babies are truly in terrible shape, very tiny, or with Kwashiokor (that’s a wasting disease associated with inadequate protein that causes the huge belly you may have seen on malnourshed children). All desperately need this food. For the lactating woman, especially the grandmothers who are balancing both geriatric and lactating needs (!) the program provides eggs to supplement their food sources and provide extra calories.

Working in the program was amazing. Taking these babies from their mothers as I weighed them, despite skin conditions, pee spraying in my direction (no diapers of course), and a fair number of health concerns was faith building. Handing out cookies to the babies post-weighing was SO fun! Most of all, just watching the mothers handle their babies and respond to them was fascinating and enlightening. Having the chance to share a smile, touch, and encourage with my limited Lubwisi was wonderful. They are aching for the love of Jesus.

Their are great challenges in the program. Language barriers (local “translators” are used to help with difficulties, although the women running the program speak Lubwisi pretty well), cultural misunderstandings, and a lack of time. Trying to get the mothers to mix and feed the formula properly with a cup is difficult. The sanitation is not good enough for bottles and cup feeding takes lots of time that they are not used to giving their babies. There are issues with husbands stealing food items or medicines for their own use or for sale to others.

But this program is doing amazing work and was started and continues to be run by women with no background in medicine or nutrition. It amazes me to see how God has equipped them.