Haiti

Some of you may remember the Associated Press article I posted back in November about the food crisis in Haiti. Along with this article, I posted a picture of a little girl, Venecia, dangling in a strap while being weighed on a scale. My sister-in-law, Sara, sent me this article last month which touches on how Venecia is doing now. Praise God!

If you are interested in helping those affected by the crisis in Haiti, go to Christian World Outreach, an organization I went to Haiti through and that is headed by friends of the family. Although we weren't able to make it that day to help out, not long after I posted the first article in November, CWO came to Grand Rapids and collected truck loads of food for Haiti. They do amazing work around this world for God's glory!



4-YEAR-OLD VENECIA HELPED BY FOOD AID IN HAITI
December 15, 2008 - 5:48pm

By JONATHAN M. KATZ
Associated Press Writer

BAIE D'ORANGE, Haiti (AP) - It was late afternoon and the young mother was hiding in the kitchen of her banana-thatch shack, lighting a cooking fire she hoped her neighbors would not see _ she gets food aid while they must scrounge to eat.

Her 4-year-old daughter _ whose sunken eyes drew worldwide attention in an Associated Press photograph that showed her dangling limply from the strap of a scale _ grinned in anticipation.

It's been a month since little Venecia Louis got emergency treatment for malnutrition, and now she is walking, playing and even has a pinch of baby fat on her cheeks.

Venecia was among dozens of children suffering from severe malnutrition who were airlifted from this remote region in Haiti's southeast to hospitals in Port-au-Prince after 26 children died from starvation here.

As a result, Venecia and her family now get just enough food aid to scrape by.

Venecia smiled last week as her mother, Rosemen Saint-Juste, prepared a can and a half of rice that would be dinner for six people. She has gained some weight and her arms are plumper after treatment with antibiotics, anti-worm medications and enriched milk. But she is by no means cured from her life-threatening bout with malnutrition.

The child's 30-year-old mother hoards what she can to protect her children's health but says she must give away some to the hungry families who live nearby or risk their revenge _ by physical attack or the Voodoo spell she believes they might cast to kill her children.

"The food I have is going to last for three days" instead of four, she said after giving away some of her rice. "If I don't share it with my neighbors, the devil will eat my kids."

Four tropical storms that killed 793 people in August and September and caused $1 billion in damage made Haiti's ongoing food crisis even worse. Crops were wiped out and mountain roads destroyed, cutting farmers off from markets where they sell their crops and buy food for their children.

Little attention had been paid to the villages around Baie d'Orange, located on a muddy plateau 6,000 feet above the Caribbean, until doctors from nearby cities alerted the international aid groups Terre des Hommes about deaths and severe malnutrition there.

An AP report on the crisis and photos of Venecia, who was initially identified by the hospital as Venecia Lonis, and other severely malnourished children brought an outpouring of offers of help.

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, Democrat of Los Angeles, cited the AP report in urging the U.S. Agency for International Development to search for any Haitian children in danger of starvation and pledged to follow up with the Haitian ambassador and President Rene Preval. Two church congregations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania that raised $18,000 were among many groups moved by their plight.

In response to the children's deaths, aid groups have stepped up their work in this isolated pocket that in some places lies just over a peak from the capital's richest suburbs _ but a six-hour trek over a circuitous mountain highway, washed-out bridges and unmarked goat paths.

The U.N. World Food Program now feeds 5,000 people here every two weeks, delivering food primarily by helicopter. USAID has increased its nutrition programs by $4.5 million nationwide.

Medical aid organizations Doctors Without Borders and Medicins du Monde have set up clinics as they scour the region for more pockets of hunger. They have not found any as severe as Baie d'Orange, according to a Doctors Without Borders spokesman, Francois Servranckx.

Still, the donations are merely a stopgap measure, residents say. Far more critical is support for rebuilding their fields so they can feed themselves.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization delivered seeds to about 400 families last month, and Oxfam is also distributing farm aid. But the farmers say they are not getting what they need most _ supplies to restore their barren fields.

"If they give us seeds and they don't give us fertilizer, we can't grow anything," said Enock Augustin, whose severely malnourished 5-year-old daughter, Bertha, was also hospitalized last month.

A single sack, enough to cover half an acre for a three-month growing cycle, costs $62.50, he said _ more than twice what most Haitians make in a month. And the price has tripled over the past three years.

Both of Saint-Juste's young daughters show signs of extreme protein deficiency _ distended stomachs, protruding ribs and frail limbs. But it was Venecia who turned dangerously ill.

For a month, the mother watched as her daughter's frail body swelled and the circles under her eyes darkened. With no money and no hospital nearby, she could only pray as word spread of children dying.

Finally Saint-Juste heard that Doctors Without Borders had come to the region. Carrying Venecia, she walked for hours from their village of Mabrignol to the makeshift clinic, and the child was airlifted by helicopter Nov. 9 to the aid group's hospital in Port-au-Prince.

"I didn't think she was going to make it to the hospital," Saint-Juste said. The child stayed there for 15 days.

Now home, the girl nicknamed "Manushka" scrambles to keep up with her older siblings, wearing a smudged gray Eeyore sweat shirt. The circles have faded under her eyes, and a healthier color has returned to her cheeks.

But like her 6-year-old sister Minush, her stomach remains swollen. Their 14-month-old brother, Roselin, is pale and listless. Only the eldest, 9-year-old Silner, appears in reasonably good health.

Saint-Juste and her children huddle each night on a single cot in their shack of dried banana stalks; their former home was burned down by thieves while Saint-Juste was with Venecia at the hospital. Her two eldest children narrowly escaped.

The children's father, a shoeshine named Edner Louis, lives in Port-au-Prince and sometimes sends money. Saint-Juste also earns a ration of food and about 62 cents a day working in her neighbors' fields during the spring.

On Thursday, volunteers from the Greater Works Outreach church in Monroeville, Pa., and St. John's United Methodist Church in Turnersville, N.J., distributed food and other aid to some 600 people in nearby Baie d'Orange.

Emaciated children and desperate parents rushed a balcony to grab peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, rice, beans and canned fish.

As they handed out the food, Venecia _ the little girl whose image had inspired their generosity _ was just a few miles away. Her mother did not know a distribution was going on.

(Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

ONE YEARS OLD!

from a baby.....


to a big girl!


**CLICK HERE to see more BEAUTIFUL pictures that my sister, Tara, took to celebrate our one year old!** (once there, click "slideshow" for the best view)

It's hard to believe that our "baby" turned ONE last Sunday, January 4! It's amazing and humbling to look back at the past year and see the way we all have changed and grown. Thinking back to those 10 days in the hospital, so exhausted, running on adrenaline and praying for healing for our tiny babe who was hooked up to all those monitors and IV's and feeling anxious about what life was going to be like as new parents ....to now...having 'survived' the newborn phase and watching our "big girl" laugh and run to us, draping her arms around our necks, and giving us a big, open mouthed kiss. :) God is good!

It's difficult to put into words the kind of JOY and LIFE that Teagan Alise has brought us this past year. We are humbled and grateful that God has chosen us as her parents! We love her more than she will ever know!

We excitedly planned a 1st birthday party for Teagan last Sunday, inviting our parents and siblings to join in the festivities. Sadly, three days before the big party, she was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection, double ear infection and pink eye! Per the recommendation of the doctor, we ended up canceling the party and letting our lil' one have more time to heal and not expose her sickness to other people. Nonetheless, being the sentimental mother that I am, Tim and I enjoyed throwing our birthday girl our own lil' party...complete with the birthday sign on the fireplace mantle (an Oosting tradition), :) balloons, singing, and cupcakes! She was not so much a fan of eating her birthday cupcake. A little bit of frosting on her finger tip and on her mouth was enough for her! We gave Teagan a riding toy (the "Dora The Explorer's Fairytale Adventure Ride-On" to be exact!) which she loves. It plays a lot of different songs which she loves to dance to. It also has a storage area underneath the seat. This is ideal as one of her daily rituals is to take things in and out of drawers, baskets...anything that you can store stuff in. :) Despite the original party plans not working out, we ended up having a really fun and memorable day with just the three of us!


Our sick lil' one a few days before her birthday.












Daddy being goofy


Bailey, the party animal!






A birthday bath to end the day!

Christmas 2008

Despite the massive amounts of snow (meaning loss of sleep for Tim and a missed Dock family Christmas party), last minute shopping (never fails. My New Years resolution is to be a better planner!),the traditional craziness of traveling to get togethers and throwing a one year old out of routine, we had a wonderful Christmas 2008 and hope you all did as well!

Starting new family traditions, going to Engedi on Christmas Eve and being home on Christmas morning, eating a lot of (unhealthy) food, listening to Amy Grant's "Tender, Tennessee Christmas" (an Oosting favorite), :) sitting by our warm fire, spending time with friends and family, watching our beautiful lil' girl run around in her pj's on her first Christmas morning, and most of all, celebrating our Savior's birth....our everything...made this Christmas season one of the best!

Here are some highlights:


Getting our Christmas tree....a cold, interesting, but fun and traditional experience! :) We cut a slice of the trunk off at the bottom and made it into Teagan's 1st Christmas ornament...something we think would be a fun tradition to keep with our future children as well!


Teagan waiting for Daddy to put the tree on the car so we could go home. Did I mention it was REALLY cold that day?!! I think the 4 wheel drive golf cart ride through the tree farm in the blistering snow traumatized her. Poor baby!


Our lil' helper!



Riding the carousel at the mall (she was too scared to ride the actual ponies) after a failed attempt to meet Santa (he was on a break and the line was too long to wait in).


Having fun with Daddy on Christmas morning!


Me and Mommy in our pj's.


Opening (with Bailey's help) one of my presents from Mommy and Daddy...


... a new car! :)


One of my other gifts from Daddy and Mommy....my "Alphabet Pal," Edison. Because his leash was too short for me to pull him around, Daddy made it longer by attaching one of Bailey's collars to it. At one point, Daddy attached the collar to my waist so I could learn how to pull Edison better. I liked that! :)


Reading the Christmas story out of my 1st Bible.


I love to give my "big brother" hugs!

HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

It's Her Time!

My twin sister, Jessica, is ENGAGED!!! Mike did a great job of planning a surprise proposal on Friday night (although Jess claims she had a strong inclining it was going to happen that night), including dinner at Till Midnight followed by a walk in the deep, snowy paths to the gazebo in beautiful, Christmas-lit Centennial Park. This was followed by a TRUE surprise...family and friends waiting to celebrate with them at Via Maria!

I can't begin to explain how happy I am for my "wm" (aka "wombmate"). We have walked through many good but also difficult paths together, wondering what God had planned for her life and in finding her soul mate. I praise God for his faithfulness and for giving Mike and Jess to one another. My heart was full when I watched her enter that room, be tearfully overwhelmed with joy, soak in the moment, and after many years of her being on the other end, have us say to her "it's YOUR time!"

** FOR MORE DETAILS ON THIS STORY, CLICK HERE!**

Entering the room at Via Maria restaurant.







Mike's friend from work sings in this tenor group and serenaded us with some great songs!


I love my wm! ...and her ring is gorgeous!!


Teagan rubbing Mike's head. :) We couldn't find a babysitter so we took Teagan with us despite it being WAY past her bedtime. She was a trooper and was happy to celebrate with her Auntie Jess and soon-to-be Uncle Mike!


I thought this picture was funny. Can you tell Teagan was partying too?! :)


The sisters (minus Tara - we missed you!).


We love you, Jess and Mike! Blessings on the journeys ahead!

Teagan Alise ...

... is growing up too fast! Teagan has been so much fun lately! She is such a little explorer, climbing on everything and gaining more confidence in her walking skills (she's made it across most of the living room but will usually just take a few steps at a time). We're teaching her how to sit down as she likes to stand up on everything that she's climbed on and often times has no fear. She's definitely had a few more bruises than ever before.
She has been into mimicking us lately, moving her mouth when we are chewing gum, sniffing if we sniff, shaking her head if we do. It's quite funny to play games like this with her.
She has a total of three teeth now....one on the bottom and two on top (big ones)! Our lil' independent one will rarely let us feed her "baby food" anymore (although I am still nursing a few times a day) as the challenge of picking up food pieces off her tray and mashing them into her mouth with her fist is way more fun. She loves cheese. :)
She's been very expressionistic and vocal lately, shrieking in joy (especially if Bailey is near her or if her puppets come out to play - thanks Uncle Matt and Aunt Kelly!), saying "baba" while trying to dribble a ball, "mama," and "dada" (daddy has been her favorite lately...looks like I'm getting replaced!). ;) One of her favorite books is the Touch and Feel Farm Animal book and she's been learning all of the sounds that the animals make. She says (not all times of course...especially when you ask her to do it in front of other people) "oof oof" when we ask her what Bailey says. It's really cute, especially when she says it really quietly, almost like she's just making little grunting noises. I just love that she is starting to sit still on my lap long enough to read a book as before she's been such a lil' squirmer! In addition to making these consonant noises, she's also been picking up on the baby sign language that we are teaching her! She knows "more" and "all done" and is learning "eat," "water," "help," "please," and "thank you." She loves to point her little finger at things and has been especially passionate about waving lately, waving "bye bye" to people, Bailey, WalMart....it doesn't matter. Depending on what mood she's in, you could either get the whole floppy hand wave or just some slight movement from the fingertips. Either way, we're smitten!

Here are some pictures of our little joy!

Waving "bye bye" at the cars passing our house. :)


Her favorite chair to climb up on. It rocks which makes this even more of an adventure to be in!


In action...



Having fun dribbling the big ball with Daddy!


Reading her favorite book to Bailey!


With her favorite puppet...Mr. Seal. :)

Hunger

This article touches on the devastation that is occurring in Haiti right now, much of the devastation due to the storms that have wiped away 60% of the crop that families rely on to survive. I had the honor of visiting Haiti 8 years ago and can picture much of what this article describes although I know it has only gotten worse since then. My heart is heavy with grief for this country and wrestles with understanding why people suffer like this when just a few thousand miles away, other people obsess about diet plans and say (including me at times)"I'm starving" if they happen to miss lunch that day.

AID WORKERS: HUNGRY KIDS DYING IN HAITI
At least 26 malnourished children have perished; scores others treated
The Associated Press; msnbc.com

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - The 5-year-old teetered on broomstick legs — he weighed less than 20 pounds, even after days of drinking enriched milk. Nearby, a 4-year-old girl hung from a strap attached to a scale, her wide eyes lifeless, her emaciated arms dangling weakly.

In pockets of Haiti accessible only by donkey or foot, children are dying of malnutrition — their already meager food supply cut by a series of devastating storms that destroyed crops, wiped out livestock and sent food prices spiraling.

At least 26 severely malnourished children have died in the past four weeks in the remote region of Baie d'Orange in Haiti's southeast, aid workers said Thursday, and there are fears the toll will rise much higher if help does not come quickly to the impoverished Caribbean nation.

Another 65 severely malnourished children are being treated in makeshift tent clinics in the mountainous area, or at hospitals where they were evacuated in Port-au-Prince and elsewhere, said Max Cosci, who heads the Belgian contingent of Doctors Without Borders in Haiti.

One evacuee, a 7-year-old girl, died while being treated, Cosci said, adding: "The situation is extremely, extremely fragile and dangerous."

Toll on bodies
At a makeshift malnutrition ward at a Doctors Without Borders hospital in the capital, 10 emaciated children were under emergency care Thursday, their stomachs swollen and hair faded by pigmentation loss caused by malnutrition. Several had the puffy faces typical of kwashiorkor, a protein-deficiency disorder.

Five-year-old Mackenson Duclair, his ribs protruding and his legs little more than skin stretched over bones, weighed in at 19.8 pounds, even after days of drinking milk enriched with potassium and salt. Doctors said he needed to gain another five pounds before he could go home.

Dangling from a scale mounted from the ceiling, 4-year-old Venecia Lonis looked as limp as a rag doll as doctors weighed her, her huge brown eyes expressionless, her hair tied with bright yellow bows.

Mackenson's grandmother, who has raised him since his mother died, said she barely has a can of corn grits to feed herself, the boy and her 8-year-old granddaughter each day.

"These things did not happen when I was growing up," 72-year-old Ticouloute Fortune said.

Rural families already struggling with soaring food prices in Haiti, the Western Hemisphere's poorest country, lost their safety nets when fields were destroyed and livestock wiped out by the storms, which killed nearly 800 people and caused $1 billion worth of damage in August and September.

U.N. World Food Program country director Myrta Kaulard said she fears more deaths from malnutrition in other isolated parts of Haiti, and search and medical teams were fanning out in the northwest and along the southwestern peninsula to check.

'Always a bottleneck'
The World Food Program has sent more than 30 tons of food aid — enough to feed 5,800 people for two weeks — into the remote southeastern region since September, and other groups funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development have sent food as well, she said.

But the steep, narrow paths and poor visibility make it difficult to deliver the food to the mountain communities where hunger is worsening. In one case, a WFP truck flipped over while struggling up a hill and slid into a ravine, killing an aid worker.

"There is always a bottleneck. The same situation that the people are facing is the same situation we're also facing," Kaulard told The Associated Press Thursday.

Aid shortages may soon compound the problem. Donor countries have funded only a third of the U.N.'s $105 million aid appeal for Haiti following the storms, and resources could run out in January, Kaulard said.

Shriveling frames
At the hospital Thursday, Enock Augustin sat beside the bed where his 5-year-old daughter Bertha was sleeping. The fragile-looking child was evacuated by helicopter Nov. 8 with vomiting and diarrhea. When she arrived, nearly a quarter of her body weight was due to fluid retention, a sign of severe protein deficiency.

The swelling gradually receded as she was fed nutrient-enriched milk and treated with antibiotics and anti-worm medicine; she shrank to just 21 pounds.

She has since gained about two pounds but can't go home until she reaches 26 pounds, doctors said.

For months, the Augustin family had gotten by despite the soaring prices of corn grits and imported rice because they grew potatoes, which they could eat or barter for plantains, yams and breadfruit that did not fluctuate with the world market.

But then, in August, Tropical Storm Fay hit, followed by Hurricane Gustav, Tropical Storm Hanna and Hurricane Ike.

"Every time a hurricane came through, it killed our animals and plants," said Augustin, a father of six. The road was washed out, markets became unreachable and "the price of everything went sky high."

The entire family subsisted on two cups of corn grits, and Bertha began shrinking — and then swelling — before his eyes.

"She was really bad. We put her in the helicopter and they brought her here," Augustin said. "I hope the government will hear about us and bring more support."

I'M NOT OKAY WITH THIS, ARE YOU? WHAT IS OUR ROLE IN ALL OF THIS? WHAT CAN WE DO BESIDES FEEL SAD? ANY THOUGHTS?

It's That Time Of Year!

When big coats and boots get pulled out of storage and big white, cold cottonballs are falling from the sky and the smell of a wood buring fire fills the home and 105.7 is already playing Christmas music and some days are just better curled up on the couch in sweats with a cup of freshly "brewed" hot cocoa. :)

It also means runny noses, projects waiting to be done around the house, a chill that sometimes never leaves and PLOWING season. Yup...Tim just left for his first plow of the season! Please keep him in your prayers this winter as he goes out in the stormy snow and slippery roads when the rest of us stay in! I am so grateful for how hard he works for his family!