Christmas Catalog: Feed Our Hungry Patients

(from Eric)

Once again this year, KibuyeHope.com is presenting an alternative Christmas Catalogue: ways to support the work and community of Kibuye as a gift in honor of someone during this holiday season.  Click here for the full list of this year's options.

We would like to draw your attention to one item in particular: Our hospital feeding program.  Similar to many hospitals in our part of the world, there is no kitchen or feeding program for patients hospitalized here.  Patients depend on their family to bring them everything to eat and drink.  Given the poverty and hunger of Burundi at baseline (Burundi was recently given the dubious distinction of "hungriest nation in the world"), this only gets worse in the hospital, resulting in even worse nutrition right when they most count on it for their healing.

So, the problem is more than discomfort.  It is wounds that don't heal.  Moms that don't have enough milk for their premature babies.  Kids who can't beat their otherwise treatable infections because their bodies aren't strong enough.  In short, it is the cornerstone of all we're doing.

For this reason, we are starting in 2015 the first hospital feeding program.  2 meals a day, a mix of "Busoma", a nutritional grain mixture already made on site here, and other nutritional staples available in the region.  How much does it cost to feed one hungry patient at Kibuye for a week, thus enabling the healing of their whole body?  $3.

A few suggested pricing options for Christmas ideas:

$3 - feed a patient for a week

$13 - feed a patient for a month

$40 - feed the entire hospital for a day

$100 - feed the entire pediatric service for a week

$270 - feed the entire hospital for a week

$425 - feed the entire pediatric service for a month

You guys are bright folks who have likely already figured out that you can donate any amount to get any permutation of the above numbers.  All you have to do is click here, and enter your dollar amount (where it may already say "$3").  Gifts are tax-deductible.

Thanks for thinking of Burundi this Christmas season.  We are convinced that there is no better way to support the work of this hospital and this community than to follow one of the simplest mandates we've ever been given, to provide food for those who are hungry.

Here is a video of Alyssa (done by Carlan) with some great information about malnutrition in our area and the Busoma community feeding program already in place (not to be confused with the hospital feeding program to be soon implemented.)

 

HopeBurundi/HUNGER from Kibuye Hope on Vimeo.