Is She Worth It?

Her photo came across my desk a few months ago. I just stared at it - it was hard to believe that a child who was 14 months old could weigh 6 pounds. People say someone is skin and bones but she literally was - you could see her bones right below her skin. She was sitting in her grandma's lap. Her grandma looked depressed like there wasn't much hope left. That was the doctor's assessment, they didn't think she would survive. It was obvious that a simple thing like diarrhea would have killed her. She had lesions over her body and the doctors as this medical clinic in Haiti tried multiple treatments on her, gave her grandmother a two month supply of nutritional support (rice and beans) and a year's supply of children's multiple vitamins and said there was nothing else they could do. This was in January, 2006.

In January 2007, the medical team was back in Haiti and while doing an assessment, the medical director noticed an elderly woman with a child playing on her lap. Mary Ellen, said she would never have recognized the girl, it was the grandma's face that made her remember.

I show this girls photos to audiences when I give talks, tell them that 1/2 of the children who die on the planet every year, the underlying cause is chronic malnutrition, share how many of the kids we work with have an average daily caloric intake of 450 calories - what you would get from eating 1 bagel or a muffin on the way to work, and that we have the solution in our hands right now. We know what it will take to help these kids, it is just getting basic nutrients to them.

We have the relationships, we can do the logistics, all we need is to harness the will to say 'NO!' - We are not willing to let these kids die. And I always end with one question. Showing the audience the photo of this girl, one year after she got some vital nutrients to help her body begin functioning normally, I say; "Is she worth it?"

Vitamin Angels is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing vital nutrition in the form of supplements, to developing countries, communities and individuals in need. Vitamin Angels has set its sights on the issue of childhood blindness, with plans to eliminate childhood blindness by the year 2020 through the systematic distribution of vitamin A to at-risk children. Just $1 provides sufficient funding to preserve the sight of one child. In addition, Vitamin Angels sponsors programs to supply multivitamins to at-risk children and vital supplements to expecting mothers. Vitamin Angels programs and initiatives are funded through the support of generous monetary and in-kind donations from companies and individuals seeking to making a difference.

Visit our website for more information at www.vitaminangels.com.