WeNourish Stories - Against All Odds, Jefferson Survives
In April 2021, Jefferson was born weighing 3.9 pounds. His diagnosis was difficult: severe malnutrition, really short stature, and abnormally weak. With this diagnosis, Jefferson joined the Early Childhood Program, where his mother received nutritional counseling for both herself and her baby and weight and height control.
With the support of a grant from Direct Relief and food provided by Feed My Starving Children, Jefferson's mother has consumed rice with high nutritional content. Jefferson's mother has improved her nutrition and the quality of her breast milk with which she feeds and nurtures Jefferson. By receiving healthy breast milk, the baby boy has managed to gain weight, currently weighing 12.5 pounds. He has a suitable size for eight months as of December 1st.
Jefferson is a very happy boy and we hope he continues to develop and grow not only with the help of his family but with the help of our WeNOURISH program that will be there to help him as he continues to develop. Jefferson will turn one year old in April 2022.
SAHF's Early Childhood Program started in 2004 originally as Libras de Amor. The program was designed to address malnutrition in children under five years old who live in El Salvador's rural areas. Today Libras de Amor or 'pounds of love' is called our WeNourish Program. It services 5 departments or states, and 293 communities. The program has been successful over the years in helping reduce malnutrition in communities like Apaneca from 47% to 11%.
As our WeNourish program continues to grow into communities and departments, the number of people we reach and teach about good nutritional values grows exponentially. In 2021 453 mothers were helped or supported during their pregnancy and/or during their child's critical growth period up to 4 years old. The program also saw 7,357 active children under the age of 4. Click here to learn more about the WeNOURISH program.
If you like the work that SAHF's WeNOURISH program is doing please consider supporting us so that we can help families that are in similar situations like the one that Jefferson and his family faced!
UPDATE: February 2022
Jefferson no longer consumes breast milk but must take a doctor-recommended formula and eats MannaPack Rice as a supplement. FUSAL's nutritionist visits Jennifer, Jefferson's mom, constantly to explain how to get the most out of MannaPack Rice and prepare various recipes for Jefferson. "Jefferson loves to eat rice, and he already eats by himself. So I sit next to him to eat, and I watch how he eats his food by himself, but with me next to him, as the nutritionist explained to me," mentioned Jennifer.
Update March 2022
Feed My Starving Children has featured our story beneficiary story on their website and in their direct mailing campaign. Check out the story on their website and learn more about our in-kind partner. FMSC has been a partner of SAHF and FUSAL for many years and has helped ship thousands of meals to vulnerable Salvadorans in need of our support.
With the help of our donors and sister foundation FUSAL, we have been able to help countless souls like Jefferson, increasing their rate of survival and helping work towards a better life. Click here to learn more about our sister foundation FUSAL and if you would like to read other moving stories from our past please visit our reports and credentials page.
To learn more about SAHF and our programs please visit the home page of our website for a general overview, for specific information please reach out to communications@sahf.org.
