First, let me explain why The Casa Jackson Center for Malnourished Infants exists. Malnutrition is a huge problem in Guatemala with 49+% of children under the age of six suffering from chronic malnourishment. The clinic is equipped to treat up to 20 children at a time and the children who are admitted receive in-house care for anywhere from 3 to 26 weeks. When the children are nursed back to proper health and before they are discharged from the center and back into the care of their families, there is a team from Casa Jackson that educates the families on proper nutrition, provides a new home with proper flooring and roofing when necessary, provides cooking supplies, and sets up follow-up visits to ensure a successful return home. Casa Jackson has an excellent success rate and rarely is it ever necessary to re-admit children to the center.
Casa Jackson is currently home to nine children from two months of age through 12 years of age. I really don’t know where to start in explaining how this ministry month is touching my heart and life, so, I will simply begin by telling you about one boy and let that be all that needs to be said for now.
Luis. At 12 years of age, Luis entered Casa Jackson at around 25 pounds. I have only learned a small part of his story, but what I do know is that his mother passed away while giving birth to him and his dad has largely abandoned him. He is autistic and it is difficult to know whether the autism came first or the neglect and malnourishment. Luis is now weighing in at almost 50 pounds. I have had the pleasure of caring for Luis each day. When I arrive in the morning I greet him with “Luis! Como estas?” and help him stand and walk to take a shower. After I bathe him, I put a diaper on him and dress him. Throughout the day, we go on walks around the clinic, we sit on his bed and he listens and smiles as I sing to him, and often, we just sit side by side in the common area. I also get the joy of feeding Luis his lunch. He eats the whole bowl of food every time…it is such a fulfilling thing to put that spoon to his mouth each time knowing that it is filled with the nutrients his body needs so desperately.
Although Luis is non-verbal, his personality still shines through. We have a running “joke” that began like this: One of the times we were walking around the clinic, we went into the room where his bed is and found 2-year-old Alberto “Beto” standing next to the bed having stripped it of all of its blankets…I said: “Oh no! Que haces con su cama, Luis?” (in my broken Spanish)…and he laughed! I say it is a running joke because later that day whenever we walked around the clinic and started approaching his room, Luis would start laughing before his bed was even in view in anticipation of seeing all his blankets on the floor! I love it! We connected. Luis and I share a joke. I love loving him the way Jesus would love him. I love being His hands and feet…and in a beautiful way, Luis shows me Jesus every day too.
P.S. I am happy to tell you that Luis has an aunt and uncle who are going to be taking him under their care once he regains his health and is discharged from the center!
