Life for Newborn Children

There are many challenges that face children in Haiti.  These challenges begin at birth.  The child is delivered at home, and the cord is often cut with non-sterile utensils.  Next, the mother’s first milk, rich in vitamins and protein, is usually discarded.  In its place the child is given a power purgative with ingredients like grasshoppers, garlic, castor oil and nutmeg. It is given to help the baby pass its first stool.  No mother will risk not giving the purgative.  “After all,” they say, “we’ve always done it this way.”  As a result, the baby develops colic.

The next item is newborn care is to fix the baby’s misshaped head.   A head fixer "specialist" is called in to reshape the baby’s “broken” head.  We would try to tell them that the misshaped head is natural and will fix itself.  “Maybe you’re right,” they say, “but why take chances?”

After the head has been fixed, it is powdered with ground nutmeg or tobacco.  Then it is covered tightly with a bonnet for at least a month.  Woe is you if you remove the bonnet and wash the head before the month is over!

Examining Newborn

The baby is started on food right away.  Usually this food is some type of starch cooked into an un-nourishing pudding that just gives diarrhea.  If we tell them that the newborn only needs mother’s milk they reply, “but it always cries because it is hungry.”

Once they can crawl, children are usually left undiapered on the bare ground of the yard. The dog, the chickens and the pig also share this same yard.  The yard is swept every day, but you can only get dirt so clean.  The child, like any other, likes to stick his fingers in his mouth.  No wonder he has diarrhea all the time.

Giving Vaccines

In Haiti, there are a lot of traditional medical practices.  The challenge in medical work is encourage people to follow good traditions while also offering alternatives to others.  The task is difficult because one does not always know whether a practice is harmful or helpful.

What is truly important, though, is Haiti’s spiritual health.  Poor spiritual health gives rise to many of Haiti’s other problems.  Dishonesty, stealing, corruption and vengeance impede development.  Pray that the Haitians might turn from these unhealthy practices.