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| May 22, 2008 |
In February 2007 in the town Bossangoa I met with a large group of women with their children. I was with Esther Guluma, UNICEF Regional Director and a wonderful UNICEF photographer-Giaccomo Pirozzi. It was he who spotted the tiny girl in a red dress. He told me that she was very ill. Among so many malnourished children I don't think I would have noticed that this little one was so close to death. In speaking with her mother I learned that the child named Niege had stopped eating and had not taken any liquids for two days. Her kidneys had already shut down and her tiny body was so swollen that the skin on her feet and hands was cracking apart (see picture at right). She was three years old but looked like an infant. We drove her, with her mother to the nearest clinic where we waited a long time for a doctor to arrive. The doctor
said they could do nothing for her in Bossangoa. In Bangui they could save her, but it was unlikely that she would survive the journey, a five hour drive. Also, treatment cost money and Niege's family was destitute. I paid the money and it was decided that if the child survived the night she would be taken to Bangui.Niege did survive the night. She spent more than a month at the hospital in Bangui. May 2008- Niege is still being monitored by UNICEF supported feeding center. She is still getting 'Plumpynut' an emergency peanut vitamin product but just look at her now (with me yesterday)! She is in nursery school.