On a recent outreach to Tikonko village, the Mercy medical team saw an extremely sick baby named Adama, who was suffering from severe diahrrea and vomiting.  The child was restless, irritable and disoriented.  The team brought her back to the hospital for treatment, accompanied by her mother Hawa. At the hospital, Adama was diagnosed with severe malaria.  
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On admission, Dr. Sao Amara prescribed medication, which was provided free of cost.  The nurses administered the drugs and Adama was kept under observation in the hospital until the vomiting and diarrhea stopped.  Hawa stayed with her baby for two days until she was alert, oriented and stable.  Dr. Amara reported that "the mother is  very  happy for  her child's health and the child has been discharged."  There is no doubt that the outreach team saved little Adama's life.

Tikonko village is one of the places served by Mercy Hospital's outreach team.  

Baby Betty was rescued from severe malnutrition by the Mercy outreach staff, and her story was shared in the April 2017 newsletter.  A year later, and Betty is out of danger, a healthy and beautiful little toddler.  Last month was Betty’s 12th visit to the nutrition program (her mother has been one of the most consistent participants). It was also the first time she was in the “green” range of the MUAC*, and she may be eligible to graduate from the program this month.

Last year we also shared stories about Baby Mamie (original story here and update here) a severely malnourished infant first encountered by the Mercy outreach team in Tikonko village. A year later, and Mamie has made significant improvement; although still small, she is a healthy, active toddler. Mamie is on her 6th visit to the nutritional clinic, and she is “yellow” now, moving towards green.

*Interpretation of Mid-Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC) indicators

• MUAC less than 110mm (11.0cm), RED COLOUR, indicates Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM). The child should be immediately referred for treatment.
  
  
• MUAC of between 110mm (11.0cm) and 125mm (12.5cm), RED COLOUR (3-colour Tape) or ORANGE COLOUR (4-colour Tape), indicates Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM). The child should be immediately referred for supplementation.
  
  
• MUAC of between 125mm (12.5cm) and 135mm (13.5cm), YELLOW COLOUR, indicates that the child is at risk for acute malnutrition and should be counselled and followed-up for Growth Promotion and Monitoring (GPM).
  
  
• MUAC over 135mm (13.5cm), GREEN COLOUR, indicates that the child is well nourished.

In early May, staff of the Child Rescue Centre and Mercy Hospital participated in a training held by OneVillage Partners to learn community mapping and other concepts for effective community development. The skills learned in the training will help the CRC and Mercy to connect with the community, religious, and government leaders, as well as members of the community to make it easier to identify and support the most vulnerable members of the community. 

OVP is a Sierra Leone-based organization that helps rural communities train, empower, and mobilize leaders, so that they can address their community’s most pressing, self-identified problems. By including the community in the process of identifying problems and developing solutions, OVP empowers people to solve their own problems and strengthens community investment in solutions. 

OVP trainers Musa Gangha and Muje Josephine Lansana taught the CRC staff critical communication skills including focus group facilitation, appreciative inquiry (how to interview without leading the subject), and the Mercy Staff power-wise ranking (how villages can vote for their own priorities), and social and resource mapping. OVP trainers also coached both staff in identifying stakeholders, to ensure good representation in data collection.

The staff learned skills specific to developing and including voices which are often more difficult to hear, especially those of women and children.

“We found the OVP training very important as it directly relates to our present job,” observed Child Support Program assistant coordinator Victor Kanu. “The training has changed my perception about community development. In any community work I am doing, I will involve community people for better participation.

Ismael Vandi, Mercy Hospital statistician, found the training very worthwhile.  "I really learned so many things I did not know before. The mapping for example, I never knew there were so many types of mapping. It was really interesting to learn about the power wise ranking method. It really helps make the decision making process easier and clear. Bringing the community people on board and making them really involved means that it will be easier to understand the community. Participation by community members is key. They know best what they want and need in their community. We need to ask them and involve them in any development project so they benefit and understand it."

OVP’s central concept is the “sharpening stone” (see video below). When a person tries to farm with a dull machete, he cannot do the work well, he needs a sharpening stone to make the machete effective. The “sharpening stone” of community empowerment is the teamwork involved in community mapping.

Scenes from Mercy Hospital's training session with OneVillage Partners.

Below, the Child Rescue Centre training.

A one month old set of twins (a boy and a girl) were orphaned when their mother died in childbirth.  Their grandmother is raising them, but had no means to nourish the infants, so Mercy Hospital is providing formula for them.

As the nutrition outreach program expands, Mercy is seeing more cases like this one, and providing care that is not otherwise available. There is no other facility in Bo that provides formula to motherless babies.