Paulina (17 years), an indigenous Quechua woman, was waiting on the 'porch' (a concrete slap about 2’x5’) in front of Dr. Cerillo’s home and clinic when we arrived at 7am today. We were 5 hours from Santa Cruz and another hour and a half from our base in El Puente. Paulina’s two children, David (4 years) and Claudia (11 months), are bundled up against the cold morning air. Paulina has walked, gotten rides and paid a minibus fare to get here – about an hour and a half journey from her village. She is worried about David and an abrasion looking rash on the right side of his face (skin problems are often associated with vitamin A deficiency). Both children have runny noses, colds and respiratory problems, conditions which can be life threatening for children who are chronically malnourished. Paulina tells us that she recently lost her two month old baby because the roads were impassable and she couldn’t get to medical help in time.

After a consultation with Paulina, our group along with Dr. Cerillo and two local health nurses, Lila and Maxima, drove another hour and a half to reach to Arca de Noe for a first round of distributions and then traveled on to Monte Sinai. The road was honestly invisible for 45 minutes as our Land Rover plowed its way through the 8’ tall grass (watch the video). In the communities we visited distributions were run out of open-walled buildings with a dirt floors, thatched roofs, and nothing but wooden plank benches inside. The mothers and children all waited patiently as Fatima and Felicidad, from our partner organization World Concern, made sure every child under 5 received vitamin A and antiparasitics. The posters Felicidad made to explain the importance of vitamin A and deworming were a major attraction for the children. We saw them repeatedly pointing to the pictures and diligently reading every word. Dr. Cerillo and his nurses spent time with each family, listening to the children’s lungs, consulting on health problems and charting heights (most are stunted due to chronic malnutrition) and weights.

Marcia Furst and Tom Schott, our friends from Vitamin Shoppe who joined us on this trip, helped interviewed some of the women and children in Monte Sinai and later Lagunillas. We meet Flores Monteno who tells me her daughter Silma will not eat, one of the signs of chronic food insecurity. Children’s bodies know there is not enough food and often go into starvation mode with reduced appetite only exacerbating the problem. In addition to the vitamin A, we gave Flores a bottle of children’s multiples provided for this trip by our partners at Vitamin World.

Later we met, Marybell (8 years), Jose (11 years) and Rosemary (14 years) whose mother died three years ago during childbirth, again because it was winter, the roads were impassable and she couldn’t get to doctor or hospital in time. Rosemary, hardly ever smiles, a reflection of toll raising her siblings while her father searches for work to feed his family has taken. Essential nutrients will not solve every problem and yet they would be a step in the right direction towards assuring healthy outcomes for mothers and babies.

These individuals face many challenges in achieving health, obtaining the nutrition they need, and finding the medical care that can be a matter of survival. We talked with Fatima about ways to expand our program and continuing reaching those no one else is reaching. We know these children need so much and also know the vitamin A is a really good and important start.

Check out new photos from the trip and look for new field stories from Bolivia coming soon!