Kevin, Collince, and Sharon

“Eat your dinner. There’s starving children in Africa.” We’ve all heard that line. We’ll let me put a name and a face with those children. Their names are Kevin, Collince, and Sharon. They are some of those starving kids and there are millions more just like them.
These siblings were brought to the hospital by a social worker. She filled me on their story. Apparently they were living with an alcoholic father who neglected them. Dad kicked the mother out of the house so she now lives in a different part of the country. All they had been eating was maize from neighbors’ farms. And Kevin, the 8 year old, stopped going to school so he could take care of his two younger siblings. Can you imagine a second grader in America dropping out of school to take care of his family?!
They came from the Children’s Ward for chest x-rays one morning. They patiently waited while their x-rays were taken. None of them made a sound. They just sat in a daze, too weak to really do exert any energy. I looked at these kids and wondered when the last time they had eaten. They were wasting away with distended bellies and stick thin arms and legs. Chigger bites covered their legs, the result of sleeping on a dirt floor every night with no covers. These are the faces of the starving children in Africa! All they need is some food and some love!
So for the next week they stayed at the hospital receiving food, medicine, and some TLC. Sharon, the tiny 3 year old, and I became pretty good friends during her stay. She just wanted to be held, something that she’s probably never experienced in her life. The first day she arrived she threw up all over me because her stomach didn’t know what to do with all the food it was receiving. I’ve never seen so much vomit come out of somebody so little. And by the end the week she referred to me as her, ‘Obama Mama.’ (Obama is synonymous with American here in Kenya.)
Collince, was the most malnourished out of the three kids, and he also started treatment for TB. He’s the most selfless 5 year old I have ever seen. One morning I was sitting with them as they ate breakfast. They each had a chuck of bread and some tea. Every tiny crumb that fell into their lap was scooped up and eaten. There was one remaining chuck of bread. Collince took is and split it in half and gave a piece to both of his siblings. This child is literally starving, and he’s giving the little food he has to his siblings! Wow.
By the end of their stay all three of them were bouncing off the walls, causing trouble around the hospital. A welcomed site compared to the condition they were brought to the hospital in. It’s amazing what a little food and love can do. They left with the social worker and hopefully were placed with a relative or foster family.