Gifty's Field Trip

Today we took Gifty on a field trip.

Gifty is getting stronger and more alert. The other day she was sitting up on her own, this was the first time I have seen this in the 3 weeks I have been here. She is playing more and even waved goodbye to me as I left her room.

Gifty is still fighting it out in the hospital. Even though Her lung infection is responding to the antibiotics and the cough is much less, the pediatrician is not ready to discharge her yet.

Today we received the OK to take her to the local "Action Against Hunger" clinic to have her evaluated for their feeding program. Piko (one of Gifty's wonderful caregivers) and I piled into a hospital truck with Gifty and 2 other children, their mothers, a Liberian nurse and the driver. After a bit of a hard time finding the place (neither the nurse or the driver knew exactly where it was) we piled into a room with at least 20 other mothers and children.

Gifty (now 15 months old) weighed in at 5.2kg and a whopping 63cm long.

She definitely qualified for the feeding program. This is what we wanted because now she will be supplied with Plumpy'nut nutrition supplement to aid in her healing, growth and malnutrition. Plumpy'nut is a peanut butter type food that has vital vitamins, minerals and other nutrients added. Now Gifty will get to chow down twice a day on the good stuff and hopefully we will see her gaining more weight and strength in the weeks to come.